Abstract
Emotional labor theories and studies have focused on identifying the nature of emotion work and related consequences in frontline or crisis response. We extend theory development by considering that work settings and responsibilities are often multidimensional in practice within a single profession. We expand the definition of emotional labor to include different degrees of interaction, not just direct personal or voice-to-voice contact. We consider how work settings and interactions may be incorporated into emotional labor theoretical frameworks. We then develop a case study of child protective services to examine how emotional labor beyond the frontlines may affect levels of emotion work, false face acting, and burnout. Degrees of interactions and work settings vary within the child protective services profession and are associated in different ways with false face acting and burnout. Additional research is recommended to operationalize and test differences in emotional labor within public service professions. Additional research is also needed on coping strategies, including status shields.