Takano, Sanders revive 32-hour workweek bill in Congress

Rep. Mark Takano, a California Democrat, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, have reintroduced federal legislation to lower the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours. The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act would require employers to pay time-and-a-half for any hours worked beyond 32 in a week, according to the bill’s text.

The two lawmakers have introduced versions of the bill multiple times since 2021.

Takano said in a media statement that technology such as cell phones, the internet and artificial intelligence have increased worker productivity.

“Work has fundamentally changed,” Takano said. “It’s time that labor standards caught up.”

The bill does not force employers to cut employees’ hours, but it would penalize any work beyond 32 hours a week at the time-and-a-half rate. The legislation allows employers to gradually reduce hours over a four-year period and includes provisions aimed at deterring cuts to salaries or benefits.

Sanders framed the measure as a way to spread the financial gains from new technology.

“At a time when artificial intelligence and robotics will radically transform our economy, it is imperative that the financial gains from this new technology benefit working families, not just a handful of billionaires and corporate CEOs,” Sanders said in the statement. “One important way to do that is through a 32-hour workweek with no loss in pay or benefits.”

Critics say the bill could hinder the economy, slow hiring and may not fit every kind of job.

“One risk is that we turn five days of work into four days of stress,” Jay Aldebert, with International Services, said in a Newsweek interview. “If making the model work requires higher prices, fewer employees, reduced hours or asking the same workers to carry a heavier workload, then the cost did not disappear. It just moved somewhere else.”

The nonprofit 4 Day Week Global has advocated for a shorter workweek for years. A 2022 pilot program run by the group placed 33 companies employing about 1,000 people in the U.S., Ireland and Australia on a four-day, 32-hour workweek for six months.

The pilot instructed employees to work 80% of their regularly scheduled hours in return for 100% of their pay and a pledge to deliver 100% of their standard output.

Eighteen companies said they definitely planned to continue a four-day week. Seven said they intended to continue but had not finalized plans, one was “leaning toward continuing” and one was “not yet sure.”

None of the participating companies said they were leaning toward stopping or switching back. The others declined to offer feedback as part of the report.