Titled the ‘Thirty-Two-Hour Work Week Act’ the bill will reduce the workweek from 40 to 32 hours|Gage Skidmore|CC BY-SA 2.0
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont proposed a bill on Wednesday to reduce the standard workweek in the US to four days without cutting employees’ pay.
Co-sponsored by California senators Laphonza Butler and Mark Takano, the Thirty-Two-Hour Workweek Act aims to provide more family time and foster a better work-life balance.
The bill would gradually trim work hours over four years. It would:
- Reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours.
- Mandate 1.5 times overtime pay if work exceeds eight hours and 2 times if the workday is longer than 12 hours.
The bill primarily targets non-exempt workers, spanning industries like hospitality, transportation and retail.
However, the bill faces challenges, particularly regarding its impact on businesses—especially small enterprises.
The standard 40-hour workweek under the Fair Labor Standards Act was established in the US in 1940.