I am in need of some legal advice, preferably someone familiar with Illinois law. My Boss has started a new policy where everyone is required to work mandatory overtime. She is paying us for the overtime so the fact is we are being compensated, but can she force people to work past their 40 hours a week? And if so by how much? What is to stop her from making mandatory 120 hour work weeks? I know it’s an exaggeration but where is the limit. When someone drives an hour to work and an hour home your 40 hours is really 50 and is already stressful, without adding more time to the mix. Any advice would be helpful. I have 2 newborns at home and don’t want to pay for a lawyer unless I’m sure I have a leg to stand on.
Thanks for every ones help.
I am not a lawyer, but I went through a similar situation in Illinois, so here is what I was told at the time. Hopefully a real lawyer will be along to give you the specifics, but I thought I would help for now. Near as I know you do not have a leg to stand on. Illinois is an at-will employment state, which means you can be fired for no reason - you just can’t be fired for discrimination reasons. As long as you are paid for your overtime, and given 15 minutes break for every 4 hours you work, they legally can ask for anything. They can also leagally fire you if you don’t do it because of the at-will clause.
I know how you feel - that was why I found a new job when my son was a baby. I would make a personal plea for an exception in your case or find another job… I realize that it is easier said than done, but finding a new job is easier than a court battle. Even if you won the court battle, they would try to find some other reason to get rid of you. A job is like a marriage. Trying to force someone to do something they don’t want to do in the relationship never pays off. The only other thing I can think of is that you could try to get a doctor’s note saying you are physically unable to work those hours and then if they fire you, you would have a leg to stand on because then it would be discrimination of the healthfully challenged. Best of luck. 
Yeah, that’s what I thought too. It just doesn’t seem right though. So I can make anyone quit and not have to pay them severance or unemployment if I just schedule them for 167 hours a week?
She also has a habit of calling the night before and telling you she changed your day off from the next day to later in the week. It make it very hard to plan a social life ( I have new born twins and an 18 month old at home so the social life thing is just speculation 
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If I were you, I’d have a chat with the IL Dept. of Labor; I believe the correct department is called the Wage & Hour Division. They would be the folks in charge of investigating a complaint, anyway. Contact info:
http://www.state.il.us/agency/idol/
Good luck!