FILE – Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., talks to the media as he walks to the House chamber before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol, March 7, 2024, in Washington. Sanders, the far-left independent from Vermont, introduced a bill Thursday, March 14, that would shorten to 32 hours the amount of time many Americans can work each week before they’re owed overtime. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

The 40-hour workweek has been standard in the U.S. for more than eight decades. Now some members of Congress want to give hourly workers an extra day off. Sen. Bernie Sanders this week introduced a bill that would shorten to 32 hours the amount of time many people in the U.S. can work each week before they’re owed overtime. The far-left independent from Vermont says U.S. companies can afford to give employees more time off without cutting their pay and benefits given advances in automation, robotics and artificial intelligence. Critics say a mandated shorter week would force many companies to hire additional workers or lose productivity.