too many hours

I am from Illinois. Are there any laws that can dictate how many hours an employer can make you stay at work. We have just been informed that we will have to work 12 hour days ( at least) until further notice. There have already been 3 days that went over 15 hours. Is there a point when we can legally leave. This is not a volutary situation. It is manditory!

Unless you are a member of a union or have an employment contract which specifically states hours of work (or live in Sweden - LOL), the employer is only required to give you at least 8 hours off between shifts and to pay overtime at time and one-half after 40 hours. Illinois also has break periods and lunch periods spelled out in its state labor laws though. Surf the web, go to your State's website and read through the labor laws if they are posted. Nowadays employers don't want to spend money training, interviewing, etc., so they are forcing their workforces to work longer hours -- a good book to read would be "The Jungle," by Upton Sinclair -- because it's aheading that way again -- and it's just downright sickening.