Can a employer make you go home early?

that is true. Even here in Virginia, you can only work 4 hours even if it is a Friday.

correction: she is 17, haha.

but i’ve been working since I’ve been 16 (18 now) and have never heard about any of this stuff. On average I work a 6 hour shift. I’ve always thought here in Illinois the 4 hour limit was only if your 15.

it applies to minors.

Yup, its 4 hours here in Arkansas too. Not everybody adheres to it though. If they were turned into the labor board, they would be in big trouble. In your girlfriends case, her manager did the right thing to save the company some trouble.

Same thing In Oregon.

4 hours here too in New Jersey. Most of the time you wont see or really hear about this if its in a family owned place or something like that, but if its a corporate company they are more likely to follow the rules more strictly.

I found something here on the U.S. Department of Labor website:

How many hours per day or per week can an employee work?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not limit the number of hours per day or per week that employees aged 16 years and older can be required to work.

Is anyone familiar with the law in Illinois?

who is 16. Use who or whom when you are referring to a person.

My apologies for my error, I hope I didn’t offend you.

I was going to fix it, along with the error with her age
but by the time I noticed my mistake it was past the 5 minute editing period.

No problem. There are a few of us who can’t help ourselves.

The manager can send her home early any time he sees fit, child labor laws or not.