Overview
- Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Mark Takano formally introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act that would lower the federal overtime threshold in steps from 40 hours to 32 hours over several years.
- The bill’s schedule reduces the standard workweek to 38 hours in the first year, then 36, 34 and finally 32, making hours beyond each step subject to overtime pay at time-and-a-half.
- Its text includes provisions intended to bar employers from cutting workers’ pay or benefits as weekly hours fall, rather than requiring a specific four-day workweek.
- Passage is unlikely in the near term because the measure is sponsored by Democrats and faces a Republican-controlled House and opposition from many employers worried about higher labor costs and scheduling challenges.
- Supporters frame the change as a way to distribute gains from automation and AI to workers, while opponents cite enforcement complexity, industry variation and potential cost and staffing impacts for round-the-clock operations.