LEBANON, N.H. (WCAX) – Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is pushing new legislation to adopt a 32-hour workweek. While many workers find the proposal appealing, some small businesses are less enthused.
Sanders held a hearing Thursday on the Thirty-Two Hour Work Week Act, which would reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 over the next four years. It would also lower the maximum hours required for overtime for nonexempt employees and require overtime pay at time-and-a-half for workdays that last more than eight hours and overtime pay that would pay workers double their regular pay if their workday is longer than 12 hours.
“Technology has made working people far more productive, and what has been the result of all of that productivity increase for working people? Almost all of the economic gains of that technological transformation have gone straight to the top, Sanders said. He says the Senate last discussed reducing workweeks in 1955.
Shannon Waln is a tech in the pharmaceutical industry and says Sanders’ proposal would be welcomed. “That would be awesome,” she said. “Everybody has to work so much and it would be nice to have that cut back and to have the more personal time.”
Sanders claims that since AI and computers are making businesses more efficient, workers should reap the rewards in the form of fewer hours, while still making the same salary.
Patricia Anderson, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, says the idea — which has been tested in other countries — could have an upside. “Potential benefits are that workers are happier, better morale, there is less turnover,” she said. But a 32-hour workweek would also potentially force employers to hire more people or pay additional overtime, added costs that could be passed on to the consumer. “If you were just paying an hourly wage for people, I don’t think it would make much difference. But, we expect benefits. There’s just the cost of hiring more people.”
Sanders’ legislation comes at a time where unemployment is low and as businesses and organizations across our region struggle to find qualified employees. “And we have already seen businesses that have had to limit their hours already, you know, restaurants that don’t open for lunch anymore,” said Tracy Hutchins with the Upper Valley Business Alliance. She says companies have become more flexible when it comes to schedules and in-person hours in an effort to increase retention. “Of course we do have some businesses where remote work is impossible.”
Waln’s job forces her to show up in person, but she says she wouldn’t mind doing that a little less. “As a single mom myself, I know I would love to have more time with my kids,” she said.
The potential change would be decades in the making. The 40-hour workweek has been the standard since the late 1930′s. The Fair Labor Standards Act established, among other things, a minimum wage and overtime pay.
