Legislation for 32 hour work week reintroduced

NY Times - A proposal to make the 32-hour workweek the new federal standard is back before Congress, renewing debate over whether Americans could work fewer hours without taking a pay cut.

Last week, independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Representative Mark Takano of California reintroduced legislation that would gradually reduce the federal standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 while protecting workers' existing pay and benefits. The bill would change federal overtime law, effectively making it more expensive for employers to routinely require covered workers to put in more than 32 hours.

"A 32-hour workweek is not a radical idea. What's radical is that, despite an explosion in technology and productivity over the last 50 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," said Sanders, arguing that automation and the proliferation of artificial intelligence should give workers more of their time back.