A bill presented last month is trying to end the 40 hour work week, and it might be what workers need.
H.R. 1332, or the Thirty-Two Hour Work Week Act, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives Friday, Mar. 1, and later in the U.S. Senate on Mar. 13.
If passed, the bill would reduce the maximum work week with standard pay from 40 hours to 32 hours incrementally over a period of four years. The bill mandates employers must pay overtime totaling time and a half for any hours worked over eight hours in a day, and double time paid for workdays extending beyond 12 hours. It would also protect workers from loss of pay and benefits due to a federally mandated reduction in working hours.
The bill could represent the first change in the federally allotted work week since the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938 by President Franklin Roosevelt. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I–Vt., vehemently supported the bill citing the fact American workers’ productivity has increased four times since passing the FLSA.
“It’s time that working families — not just CEOs and wealthy shareholders — are able to benefit from increased productivity so that they can enjoy more leisure time, family time, education and cultural opportunities, and less stress,” Sanders said.
Sanders also cited a study from Boston College which followed 33 companies as they did a trial run of the four day, 32 hour work week. More than 70% of workers reported less burn out, higher productivity and increased satisfaction with their employer. All companies that participated in the study adopted the four day work week in a follow up a year after the trial.
A researcher from Boston College, Professor of Sociology Juliet Schor, cited COVID-19 as one of the major motivating factors for the study. Schor stated that “the pandemic created such levels of stress and burnout, and led many employees to say, ‘I want to live my life differently.’”
In 1940, widespread poverty and unemployment resulting from the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression created a labor market rife with abuse. Child labor was commonplace in factories across the U.S. Workers who were able to avoid unemployment experienced an average pay decrease of 42.5%, forcing much of the workforce to compensate by working extremely long hours. It was these strenuous conditions that led to passing the FLSA which protected workers rights.
The parallels between this moment in workers rights’ history following the COVID-19 pandemic and 1938 is striking. When adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage has continually shrunk since its all time high in 1968, and currently sits at its lowest value since.
While the purchasing power of the minimum wage has diminished over the last 56 years, the average work week has stayed the same for the last 86. American workers spend hundreds more hours at work annually when compared to workers in similarly developed nations. The toll that this takes on the workforce is apparent as almost half a million workers participated in a strike in 2023.
Despite all of these stressors on the American workforce, the proposed bill faces heavy opposition. Republican lawmakers voiced their concern for small businesses, arguing businesses operating on small margins cannot survive when decreasing hours worked while maintaining pay.
This bill has the opportunity to drastically change the way Americans work. If passed, it could add up to six years of off time for the average worker. Considering the opposition the bill is facing, whether or not it will pass is up in the air, but it may spark legislative reforms on the state level.
Featured image: Photo by Ben Rosett on Unsplash
Edited by: James Sutton
