Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) has unveiled a bill that would establish a standard four-day workweek in the United States without the reduction of pay for employees.
The bill from Sanders would revamp the standard work schedule for Americans, following in the footsteps of numerous European countries that have recently made the jump to shorter workweeks and longer weekends.
In Sanders’ Thirty-Two-Hour Workweek Act, there is a four-year onramp period, which would see the threshold required for overtime pay reduced from 40 hours to 32 hours.
The bill would also look to shorten work days, requiring employers to pay their employees at the overtime rate of 1.5 times a worker’s regular salary for any shift longer than 8 hours. For work days longer than 12 hours, employers would be required to pay double a worker’s regular salary.
Pay and benefits are also addressed in the bill, with the legislation ensuring no loss to either if enacted into law, according to a press release.
The press release sharing more on the bill described it as “an important step toward ensuring that workers share in the massive increase in productivity driven by artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology.”
“Moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea,” Sanders said in a statement. “Today, American workers are over 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages than they were decades ago. That has got to change.”
He continued, saying that the financial gains companies make from artificial intelligence and new technology that increases productivity “must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street.”
“It is time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life,” he wrote.
The bill was introduced with Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), who introduced companion legislation in the House.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is scheduled to meet Thursday. The chair of the committee, Sanders, is expected to bring up the legislation as a topic, as well as hear from United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain and others.
The 40-hour work week has been in place since 1940, but two years prior, the federal standard was 44 hours.
Meanwhile, other countries have moved to shorter work weeks, including France, which is currently at 35 hours, and Norway and Denmark, which are both at 37 hours.
Sanders noted this and several studies that show productivity improved when companies implemented four-day workweeks. The studies reported that workers were happier having more time off, resulting in more productivity and less burnout.