Bernie Sanders is right about the four-day workweek – but wrong about how to get there

The senator proposed a federal overtime rule mandate, but incentives can better spur employers to reshape the workweek Bernie Sanders , the Vermont senator, recently proposed new legislation that would change federal overtime rules. The new law, if passed, would require employers to pay a minimum 1.5 hours of overtime for each hour worked past 32 hours in a week. Currently, overtime kicks in at 40 hours per week. The requirement would phase in over a few years. Sounds great.
Who wouldn’t want that? There’s just one problem: somebody has to pay for it. For business owners, this isn’t an ideological argument. It’s math.
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The GuardianSource headline and summary supplied via NewsData.io. First collected by NewsJaws on 2026-09-21. This is an automated news brief, not original NewsJaws reporting. Dates reflect the source publication. Feed delays may apply.