Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) today announced that this Thursday he will introduce legislation to establish a standard 32-hour workweek in America with no loss in pay – an important step toward ensuring that workers share in the massive increase in productivity driven by artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology. Sanders is joined on the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act in the Senate by Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) and in the House of Representatives by Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) who introduced companion legislation.
Read the bill summary, here. [PDF]
Read the bill text, here. [PDF]
The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act would:
- Reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours over four years by lowering the maximum hours threshold for overtime compensation for non-exempt employees.
- Require overtime pay 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.
- Protect workers’ pay and benefits to ensure that a reduction in the workweek does not cause a loss in pay.
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/1be2bg5/bernie_is_fighting_for_the_4day_workweek_in_the/
I've seen this idea gaining traction (with the public, obviously not a single person in congress will support this) but what is the enforcement method supposed to be.
Knowing how labor laws work in this country I'm pretty sure every single business in the country is just going to go "yea we aren't doing that you're free to go work somewhere that is though" which will be nowhere.
Starts at Federal level agencies where both regular Federal employees and something like "Qualified Contractors" (not sure if that's technically a thing, but covering my ass here) can't easily get around the change.
Probably pushes State level agencies to try to comply just to make things easier for scheduling purposes.
But only the largest private corps will have enough employees to fall into a category that this would apply to. Not a revolution but half a sandwich is better than no sandwich when you're hungry.
They did something like this with a minimum wage increase in like 2018 I wanna say. It hasn't trickled down yet lol
Vermont already ignores existing federal overtime laws for state workers. When a state worker sued them over it, the state's initial attempt to claim that all hourly employees are actually salaried was so flimsy that the federal judge just told the state to invoke sovereign immunity so they could keep breaking federal law with impunity.
TFW: A Federal Judge decides to copy/paste some soverign citizen wall of text into their decision and hit the golf course early.
They wouldn't enforce getting people home at 32 hours, but if the overtime is enforced(since hours are all on record), a lot of companies will adjust to avoid paying so much extra wages. Similar to a higher minimum wage.
Of course most of those adjustments will be worker-and consumer-hostile. Like "inflation" prices or how companies skirt by by giving people 31hrs (currently) to avoid providing health coverage at 32hrs.
Just seems like the enforcement would have to be massive for it to stand a chance and I've pretty much given up hope on the American government siding with workers in labor disputes.
Feels like everybody is either suddenly going to be salaried so the overtime rules don't apply or we all now get a 3 hour u paid lunch break every day that you're fired I'd you dont work through.