New Bill Proposes 32-Hour Work Week—Here’s How It Would Work - Newsweek

A new bill in Congress would move the United States toward a 32-hour standard workweek, with supporters arguing that workers should benefit from productivity gains linked to artificial intelligence and automation.

The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, introduced this week by independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Representative Mark Takano of California, would gradually lower the point at which many employees become entitled to overtime pay from the current 40 hours a week to 32. It would also seek to prevent employers from cutting workers' pay or benefits because their standard hours get reduced.

The measure does not mean American workers would automatically be ordered onto a Monday-to-Thursday schedule or something similar. The bill would change federal overtime law, effectively making it more expensive for employers to routinely require covered workers to put in more than 32 hours.

Under current federal law, most workers covered by overtime protections must be paid at least one-and-a-half times their normal rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a week, according to the Department of Labor.

The new legislation would lower that threshold gradually rather than making an immediate switch. The standard would fall to 38 hours in the first year, 36 in the second and 34 in the third before reaching 32 hours.

That would not stop an employer from asking someone to work longer. But once the new limit was fully phased in, an eligible employee working 40 hours would generally be entitled to eight hours of overtime rather than receiving overtime only after their 40th hour of work.

The proposal would also introduce nationwide overtime requirements based on the length of the working day. Covered employees would generally receive time-and-a-half after eight hours in a day and double their normal rate after 12 hours.

It says employers could not reduce an affected employee's weekly compensation or benefits simply because the standard working week had been shortened.

It would not, however, guarantee everyone three days off each week. A business could arrange 32 hours over four days, but the proposal itself does not prescribe which days employees must work.

It would also not apply equally to every U.S. worker. The proposal would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act, and federal overtime law already includes exemptions for some categories of employees, including certain executive, administrative and professional workers as set out by the Department of Labor.

The idea has been circulating in Congress for several years. Takano introduced a similar 32-hour workweek bill in 2021 and another version in 2023. Sanders followed with Senate legislation in 2024, when the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on whether the country should move toward a shorter working week.

When Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, it initially set the overtime threshold at 44 hours. That later fell to 42 hours and then to the 40-hour week that has become the U.S. norm. The law did not prohibit people from working longer; instead, it required employers to pay a premium for additional hours. The Department of Labor describes that transition as part of the development of modern federal wage-and-hour protections.

There have also been smaller experiments at the state and local level, with Maryland lawmakers considering legislation in 2023 that would have created a voluntary four-day-workweek pilot and offered tax incentives to participating employers, although the measure was ultimately withdrawn.

In Washington state, San Juan County moved much of its workforce to a 32-hour week in 2023. After running the system as a pilot, the county said in late 2025 it would make the model permanent. Officials reported benefits including lower sick-leave use, more job applications and estimated cost savings, while also acknowledging difficulties around scheduling, public-facing services and maintaining coverage.

In the United Kingdom in 2022, 61 organizations involving about 2,900 workers tested a 20 percent reduction in working time without a reduction in salary. Researchers at the University of Cambridge reported that sick days fell by 65 percent and staff departures dropped by 57 percent compared with the same period a year earlier. Most participating employers said afterward that they intended to continue with a reduced-hours working week.

However, it was a voluntary experiment, not a national requirement, and the U.K. trial has not resulted in any new working laws.

Supporters argue that advances in technology mean businesses can produce more with less human labor and that employees should receive some of those gains as additional time away from work. Sanders has said AI and automation should improve workers' lives rather than simply increase corporate profits.

“A 32-hour workweek is not a radical idea," he said in a press release announcing the bill. "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. It’s time to pass this bill.”

Opponents have previously warned that shortening the standard week while maintaining workers' pay could increase labor costs. During a 2024 Senate hearing, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy argued that employers could respond by raising prices, reducing hiring or moving jobs elsewhere.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Sam Wilson.