Federal legislation to reduce the work week from 40 hours to 32 was reintroduced last month by Representative Mark Takano (CA-39), a senior member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Other countries, like France, Norway and Denmark have already reduced work week hours.

The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, first introduced by Rep. Takano in 2021, amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to reduce the standard work week from 40 hours to 32 hours for nonexempt employees over a period of four years.

Covered employees would be eligible to receive overtime compensation at time and a half for workdays longer than eight hours, and overtime pay at double a worker’s regular pay for workdays longer than 12 hours.

The Act would protect workers’ pay and benefits to ensure that a reduction in the workweek does not cause a loss in pay, according to Sanders.

“The 40-hour work week was established in law nearly 90 years ago,” said Congressman Mark Takano. “Since then, cell phones, the internet, and now AI have increased worker productivity, but the profits have been largely concentrated at the top by billionaires and corporations. Work has fundamentally changed. It’s time that labor standards caught up.”

The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act has been endorsed by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), the National Employment Law Project (NELP), the National Nurses United (NNU), Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Auto Workers (UAW), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and WorkFour.

“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. One important way to do that is through a 32-hour work week with no loss in pay or benefits,” Senator Bernie Sanders said. “A 32-hour work week 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. It’s time to pass this bill.”