A group of lawmakers is pushing the Thirty-Two-Hour Workweek Act, which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to redefine the standard full-time workweek from 40 to 32 hours, triggering overtime after 32 hours and after eight hours in a day, while aiming to protect workers’ current pay and benefits during a multi-year phase-in.

In the past, the bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Mark Takano and in the Senate by Sen. Bernie Sanders. It changes the legal threshold at which overtime must be paid for non-exempt workers from 40 to 32 hours per week and sets eight hours as a standard workday. Employers would owe time-and-a-half for hours beyond eight in a day and beyond 32 in a week, and double-time for workdays exceeding 12 hours. Sponsors emphasize that employers may not reduce “total workweek compensation” (pay and benefits) as hours fall, so the hourly rate rises even if weekly pay stays flat.

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Members of Congress explicitly call for establishing a 32-hour workweek for full-time employees without any reduction in total pay or benefits.

The transition to 32 hours is phased in over several years (three or four years in different descriptions), and the bill does not cap the total hours an employee may work; rather, it increases the share of those hours that must be compensated at overtime rates. Supporters frame the Act as a way for workers to share productivity gains from technology, expand work-sharing opportunities, and improve work-life balance, while critics warn that it effectively raises labor costs by roughly 25 percent, potentially forcing some employers to reduce hours, raise prices, or move production offshore.