• Workers in Kentucky may have to work seven days a week at their employer's discretion.cosntruction worker,carpenter image by Greg Pickens from Fotolia.com
  
  Kentucky has no law that guarantees a certain number of days off for employees. An employer can require employees to work as many as seven days a week--as long as the employer follows overtime compensation laws. Without a collective bargaining agreement or other contract, an employee's work schedule is completely up to the employer.
  
  

Mandatory Overtime

• Kentucky law allows employers to dictate an employee's schedule, including working overtime and weekends. An employer will be in violation of state and federal law if the company does not pay an overtime wage for every hour past 40 that an employee works in a week. The overtime wage must be at least 1 1/2 times the employee's normal rate of pay. A few categories of employee-- including most salaried employees who earn more than $455 a week, as of 2010--might not receive overtime pay regardless of how many hours they work.
  
  

Seventh-Day Overtime

• Employees who work seven days in a week must receive overtime pay for all hours they work during the seventh day. An exception exists for employees who, in accordance with company policy, never put in more than 40 hours a week even when they work seven days. Other exceptions are for employees of telephone exchanges with fewer than 500 subscribers, technical assistants for professionals such as doctors who have received their licenses from the state, and foremen and other supervisors.
  
  

Holidays

• Kentucky has no law that requires employers to give employees the day off on certain holidays. Such a practice may be a matter of company policy, or may be part of a contract between the employer and employees. If an employer requires an employee to work on a holiday, the employer does not have to pay the employee extra for his time, unless the hours qualify as overtime hours.
  
  

Mandatory Days Off

• Only a few states have laws that mandate at least one day off a week for employees. Those states are California, Illinois, Rhode Island, North Dakota, Massachusetts and New York. Employers in Kentucky can require their employees to work seven days a week.