Congress Bill Would Gradually Cut Overtime Threshold to 32 Hours a Week

A bill before Congress would lower the number of weekly hours after which many American workers must be paid overtime, moving the line from 40 hours to 32 without reducing their pay or benefits. Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, reintroduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act on Sept. 8.

The measure would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal law that sets basic rules for worker pay. Under current law, eligible workers must receive overtime once they exceed 40 hours in a week.

The change would be phased in. Overtime would begin after 38 hours in the first year, after 36 hours in the second year, and after 34 hours in the third year. After that third year, the threshold would settle at 32 hours. According to the official bill text, the first reduction would take effect at least 180 days after the legislation becomes law.

Employees would generally be entitled to at least 1 1/2 times their regular pay rate for hours worked beyond the threshold in force at the time. The bill also states that employers may not cut an affected employee's total weekly compensation, regular pay rate or benefits because of the shorter standard workweek. The provision is meant to let people work fewer hours without losing income.

The proposal does not amount to a mandatory four-day workweek. It would not require employers to schedule four eight-hour days or guarantee a three-day weekend. Instead, it shifts the point at which covered workers qualify for overtime, and employers could decide how to arrange schedules while meeting the new requirements. The changes would mainly affect nonexempt employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Takano and Sanders say federal labor standards have not kept up with gains in worker productivity or with developments such as artificial intelligence, automation and other technology. "The 40-hour workweek was established in law nearly 90 years ago," Takano said in a statement announcing the bill. "Work has fundamentally changed. It's time that labor standards caught up."

Sanders said the financial gains from artificial intelligence and robotics should benefit working families rather than being concentrated among corporations and their executives.

The shorter workweek is not law. The bill was introduced in the House as H.R. 10323 and referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Introducing legislation does not alter federal labor rules; the measure would need to move through Congress, pass both the House and the Senate, and be signed by the president before it could take effect.