A standard 32-hour workweek has been proposed under the introduced in Congress by Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Representative Mark Takano (D-CA).
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Just the News reports that the bill seeks to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to “reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours for nonexempt employees,” according to a press release.
The press release states: “Covered employees would be eligible to receive overtime compensation for any hours worked beyond 32 hours in a standard workweek.”
Bernie Sanders has introduced a new bill that would reduce the standard US work week to 32 hours instead of 40.
If it gets fully implemented, anyone working past the 32 hour mark would get mandatory overtime pay. pic.twitter.com/Rc5alKsZvU
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) September 13, 2026
, American workers are more than 400 percent more productive than they were when the Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted in 1940 and anticipates technological advances are likely to increase the gap between worker productivity and worker gains.
Under the new legislation, the standard federal workweek under the Fair Labor Standards Act would drop from 40 to 32 hours over a four-year phase-in period that reduces the work week by two hours each year.
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The Institute for the American Worker says that overtime pay (at time-and-a-half) would kick in for non-exempt employees working past the new lowered hour thresholds.
The proposal also introduces new daily rules, requiring time-and-a-half for workdays longer than eight hours and double-pay for workdays exceeding 12 hours.
Employers would be legally prohibited from reducing an employee’s total weekly compensation or benefits during the transition, according to Newsweek.
In a press release, Sen. Sanders stated:
A 32-hour workweek is not a radical idea. What’s radical is that, despite an explosion in technology and productivity over the last fifty years, millions of workers are working longer hours for lower wages while nearly $80 trillion in wealth has been redistributed from the bottom 90 percent to the top 1 percent. That has got to change. It’s time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow workers and their families to enjoy a better quality of life.
Fox 5 Atlanta reports that business groups and opponents warn that mandatory caps could raise labor costs, create staffing shortages, and lead to higher prices for consumers.
Sanders claims that 28.5 percent of the American workforce currently works over 60 hours per week and that Americans “work more hours than any other nation.”
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🇺🇸32 HOUR WORK WEEK? BERNIE SAYS YES!
“28.5% of our workforce now work over 60 hours a week.
40% of employees in America now work 50 hours.
Americans now work more hours than any other nation.”
204 more hours than Japan
279 UK
470 GermanySource: The Recount, CSPAN pic.twitter.com/3KA4iSUGCv
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 14, 2024