Four-Day Work Week

Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 has set the standard workweek at forty hours since October 24, 1940. The threshold has not been amended in the eighty-six years since. According to the Economic Policy Institute, net productivity in the United States grew 80.9 percent between 1979 and 2024 while compensation for the typical worker grew 29.4 percent over the same period. The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act (S. 3947 and H.R. 1332, 118th Congress) would amend section 7 to phase the standard workweek down to thirty-two hours over three years, add a daily overtime threshold at eight hours and double-time above twelve hours per workday, and prohibit offsetting reductions in pay or benefits during the transition.

What the forty-hour workweek does

Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. § 207) requires covered employers to pay nonexempt employees one and one-half times the regular rate for hours worked in excess of forty in a workweek. The forty-hour standard became effective October 24, 1940 under the original phase-in scheduled by section 7(a) of the Act, which set the threshold at forty-four hours in 1938, forty-two hours in 1939, and forty hours in 1940.

The Act covers most private-sector employees engaged in interstate commerce and most state and local government employees. Section 13 of the Act provides categorical exemptions for executive, administrative, professional, outside-sales, computer-occupation, and certain agricultural workers. The Act sets no maximum number of hours an employer may schedule. It requires the overtime premium for hours above the threshold and is enforced by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor.

The statute

The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act (S. 3947, 118th Congress) was introduced March 14, 2024 by Senator Bernie Sanders, then chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, with Senator Laphonza Butler as cosponsor. The companion House bill, H.R. 1332, was introduced March 1, 2023 by Representative Mark Takano of California, with cosponsors including Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Jan Schakowsky. The bill amends section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act with the following provisions:

• Phases the standard workweek from forty to thirty-two hours over three years. The overtime threshold becomes thirty-eight hours during a one-year period beginning not less than 180 days after enactment, thirty-six hours during the second year, thirty-four hours during the third year, and thirty-two hours after the expiration of the third year.
• Establishes a daily overtime threshold. Hours worked longer than eight but not longer than twelve in a workday are paid at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate. Hours worked longer than twelve in a workday are paid at not less than double the regular rate.
• Prohibits employers from reducing total workweek compensation, the regular rate of pay, or any other employee benefit during the transition.
• Maintains the existing categorical exemptions under section 13 of the Act.
• Preserves enforcement by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the existing private right of action under section 16(b) of the Act.

Precedent

The forty-hour workweek itself was established through the same statutory mechanism. Section 7 of the original Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set the overtime threshold at forty-four hours, with a scheduled reduction to forty-two hours after one year and forty hours after two years. The forty-hour standard took effect October 24, 1940. The Black-Connery Thirty-Hour Bill (S. 5267, 72nd Congress) passed the Senate on April 6, 1933 by a vote of 53 to 30. The bill would have prohibited the interstate shipment of articles produced in establishments where employees worked more than five days a week or six hours a day. The Roosevelt administration withdrew support during House consideration, and the bill remained in committee.

Two pilot programs run by Reykjavík City and the Government of Iceland between 2015 and 2019 reduced the workweek from forty hours to thirty-five or thirty-six hours for approximately 2,500 public-sector workers, more than 1 percent of Iceland’s working population. Researchers at the Autonomy Institute and Alda concluded that productivity and service provision were maintained or improved across most workplaces while worker stress and burnout decreased. Following the trials, Icelandic trade unions negotiated reductions in working hours covering approximately 86 percent of the country’s working population, or 174,000 workers.

A 2022 United Kingdom pilot organized by 4 Day Week Global with the University of Cambridge, Boston College, and the Autonomy Institute ran from June through December 2022 and included 61 companies and approximately 2,900 workers. Sick days fell 65 percent and resignations fell 57 percent compared with the same period the prior year. Revenue across participating companies rose 1.4 percent over the trial period. Of the 61 participating companies, 56 chose to continue the four-day week after the trial ended, and 18 made the change permanent.

Belgium enacted the Labour Deal in November 2022, granting employees the right to request a compressed four-day workweek (working the same total hours over four days rather than five) for a renewable six-month period, with statutory protection against retaliation. California Assembly Bill 2932 in 2022 would have applied a thirty-two-hour standard workweek to California employers with more than 500 employees; the bill missed the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee deadline and did not advance.

First 100 days

Day one. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issues a Field Assistance Bulletin reaffirming existing overtime obligations and announcing forthcoming guidance implementing the thirty-two-hour standard. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expands quarterly Current Employment Statistics reporting on average weekly hours, hours-paid, and overtime hours by industry and occupation.

Day thirty. The Department of Labor opens a public comment docket on implementation of the daily-overtime trigger and the no-pay-reduction provision. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of the Treasury, and the Council of Economic Advisers publish a joint analysis of expected effects on wages, hours, and employment, drawing on the Iceland and United Kingdom trial results.

Day ninety. The President signs the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act into law. The Wage and Hour Division publishes an initial Notice of Proposed Rulemaking implementing the daily-overtime threshold and the pay-protection clause. The first phase-in step (overtime above thirty-eight hours per week) takes effect 180 days after enactment under the bill’s transitional schedule.

Effect of the amendment

After full phase-in, hours worked in excess of thirty-two in a workweek require the one-and-one-half-time overtime premium under section 7. Hours worked longer than eight but not longer than twelve in a workday require the same premium. Hours worked longer than twelve in a workday require double the regular rate. Total workweek compensation, the regular rate of pay, and benefits may not be reduced during the transition. The categorical exemptions under section 13 of the Act remain in place.