One congressman wants a 32-hour workweek

We often hear people complain about how short the weekend is, while the workweek seems to drag. How is it that we work five days a week, but only get two days off? It doesn’t seem fair. One California congressman agrees and wants to add another day to the weekend.

Rep. Mark Takano, who represents California’s 39th congressional district, which includes Riverside County, reintroduced the 32-Hour Workweek Act, a bill that would reduce the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32. In order to accomplish this, the Fair Labor Standards Act would be amended.

In addition, the bill would mandate overtime pay for any work that is done after the “normal” 32 hours. It would apply to non-exempt employees who work hourly jobs in various sectors to include retail, transportation and wholesale, according to a news report.

Initially, the legislation was intro- duced by Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois. Takano is also a Democrat.

“Workers across the nation are collectively re-imagining their relationship to labor — and our laws need to follow suit,” Takano said in the news report. “We have before us the opportunity to make common sense changes to work standards passed down from a different era. The 32-Hour Workweek Act would improve workers’ quality of life, meeting the demand for a truncated workweek that allows room to live, play, and enjoy life more fully outside of work.”

It’s a concept that has been executed in the United Kingdom with a good amount of success. The trial four-day workweek pilot program recently wrapped up there and according to a news report, the companies that participated in the program said they would keep the four-day schedule.

Not everyone is in favor of it, however. Emily M. Dickens, chief of staff and head of government affairs at the Society for Human Resource Management, issued a statement opposing the bill.

“SHRM believes in workplace flexibility that works for both employees and employers,” she said in the statement. “We oppose the legislation because of its one-sizefits-all approach, which requires large organizations to pay overtime for any work in excess of 32 hours without reducing an employee’s regular pay rate.”

She said it would also cause a significant logistical burden for human resources professionals, especially in cases where companies have operations in multiple states.

In addition to Dickens’s concerns, it would also likely mean that each full-time employee’s pay would be reduced by eight hours per week, unless they worked OT.

The bill isn’t even close to becoming federal law, though. It still needs to be approved by the US House of Representatives and the US Senate before it would make its way to President Joe Biden’s desk.