From 40 to 120 hours: Elon Musk triples the traditional working week - is it legal?

Elon Musk, who has long boasted of his marathon working hours, says his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is pulling “120 hour” weeks as it seeks to slash federal spending in the United States.

While it appears there is nothing illegal about DOGE employees having to accomplish such feats of professional endurance, experts caution against the consequences that the practice can have on workers’ health, safety and productivity.

What is the limit on working hours in the U.S.?

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the country’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides no federal limit on the number of hours that employees can work each week, as long as they are aged 16 or over.

That said, the FLSA does include a provision for employees to receive overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours in a single week.

In 1930, the International Labour Organization (ILO) established a treaty that set maximum working hours at eight a day and 48 a week.

However, the ILO’s Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention does not apply in the U.S., as America is among the countries that have not ratified the agreement.

But is a 120-hour working week healthy?

In a word, no. In total, there are 168 hours in a week, so if you were to work for 120 hours in that period, you would be left with just 48 hours to enjoy free time - and, most importantly, to get the nightly sleep that your body needs.

And even if you spent every second of those non-working hours sleeping, your average night’s rest would still be below the recommended amount.

What happens if you don’t sleep enough?

According to the Sleep Foundation’s Rob Newsom and Dr. Abhinav Singh, adults should get at least seven hours’ sleep per night.

If you fail to sleep for long enough on a regular basis, this can leave you more vulnerable to health problems such as diabetes and heart disease, Newsom and Dr. Singh warn.

Insufficient sleep, they note, can also reduce the effectiveness of your immune system, making you more likely to pick up illnesses such as the common cold.

And regular sleep deprivation may also impact your mental health, the Sleep Foundation cautions.

In addition to a greater susceptibility to mood swings, you may suffer from impaired cognitive skills - a state of affairs which can have an obvious knock-on effect on your performance at work.

“Reductions in attention make a sleep-deprived person more prone to mistakes,” Newsom and Dr. Singh conclude.

“Working long hours doesn’t make you a better employee”

Sleep impairment is just one of several ways that overwork can damage employees’ long-term health and reduce both productivity and safety in the workplace, says the medical science publication The Lancet.

Other endangering factors include the fatigue and stress that can accumulate over the course of an excessively lengthy working day, and the unhealthy lifestyle choices that can be prompted by stress, The Lancet says.

“Overworking reduces work performance and results in productivity loss due to illness and occupational injuries”, says the publication.

Alison T. Wynn, a senior research scholar at the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, agrees. “The idea that working extremely long hours leads to increased productivity and positive results is not only outdated, but unfounded,” Wynn told MSNBC in February.

“Research clearly shows that working long hours doesn’t make you a better employee. In fact, it can lead employees to struggle or even make catastrophic mistakes.

“This is concerning no matter what job you’re doing, but it may be of special concern for the Musk team handling sensitive data systems that touch the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans.”

Ultimately, overworking has fatal consequences for huge numbers of people each year, warn the ILO and the World Health Organization (WHO).

“A serious health hazard”

In a joint report published in 2021, the two bodies estimated that, in 2016, over 745,000 people worldwide died from heart disease and stroke associated with working more than 55 hours a week.

“Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard,” said Dr. Maria Neira, the director of the WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health.

“It’s time that we all, governments, employers, and employees wake up to the fact that long working hours can lead to premature death.”

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