CA Bill Proposes 32-Hour Work Week: What To Know [SURVEY]

CALIFORNIA — California's legislature is weighing a bill that would shake up the work week for hundreds of thousands of Golden State workers.

AB 2932 would nix the traditional 40-hour work week and be reduced to 32 hours for companies with more than 500 employees. The workweek would shift likely to four eight-hour days. Employees working longer than four days would be owed overtime pay.

The legislation, authored by Assembly Members Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) and Evan Low (D-San Jose), is similar to a federal bill introduced by Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside). Takano is working to change the Fair Labor Standards Act.

"After a nearly two-year-long pandemic that forced millions of people to explore remote work options, it's safe to say that we can't — and shouldn't — simply go back to normal, because normal wasn't working," Takano wrote in a statement late last year. "People were spending more time at work, less time with loved ones, their health and well-being was worsening, and all the while, their pay has remained stagnant."

Supporters of these bills believe the four-day workweek would boost productivity among workers and have cited studies showing that the concept works.

"We’ve had a five-day workweek since the Industrial Revolution," Garcia told the Los Angeles Times, "but we’ve had a lot of progress in society, and we’ve had a lot of advancements. I think the pandemic right now allows us the opportunity to rethink things, to reimagine things.”

Several countries have tested the 32-hour work week in the last decade and the U.K. is gearing up to test its own four-day work week in June. At least 30 companies have signed up for the trial, Bloomberg reported.

In Iceland, the four-day work week was considered a major success, according to a report by think tank Alda and Autonomy.

"...there is an established and growing body of evidence supporting the hypothesis that reductions in working time can increase productivity and improve workers' wellbeing and work-life balance. A key to this is the re-organisation of work and established working practices," researchers wrote in the report.

READ MORE: 32-Hour Workweek For Americans Proposed By RivCo Lawmaker

According to Takano, a shorter workweek would benefit both employers and employees alike. Pilot programs run by governments and businesses across the globe have shown promising results as productivity climbed and workers reported better work-life balance, less need to take sick days, heightened morale, and lower childcare expenses because they had more time with their family and children, according to Takano. Shorter workweeks have also been shown to further reduce healthcare premiums for employers, lower operational costs for businesses, and have a positive environmental impact in some of the studies, he continued.

"People continue to work longer hours while their pay remains stagnant. We cannot continue to accept this as our reality," Takano said. "Many countries and businesses that have experimented with a four-day workweek found it to be an overwhelming success as productivity grew and wages increased."

According to the Economic Policy Institute, "Work hours are highly unequal. Millions of people want to work more hours to earn more income while others want to work less to achieve a healthier work/life balance. A 32-hour workweek will directly help those trying to achieve greater work/life balance, while freeing up hours that can be picked up by involuntarily part-time workers. In addition to that, shorter workweeks have important environmental benefits. Reducing Americans' average workweek is a key step towards achieving a better society."American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations President Richard Trumka argues that as workers become more productive, they deserve better pay and more time off.

"Reducing overall working time without any reduction in pay — through shorter workdays and a four-day workweek — makes all the sense in the world because it spreads work hours to more workers and minimizes unemployment," Trumka said.

Patch editor Toni McAllister contributed to this report.