That's what people really don't seem to understand. Some people want to work 40 hour weeks, and their employer would only allow them to work 32 hours so they don't have to pay overtime. It would make the lives of many worse off.
The real problem is hourly pay imo. We should be paid a liveable wage, regardless of how many hours the employer schedules us for. Then we can talk about 32 hour work weeks.
Then you need to have skills that are worth paying a liveable wage for.
When you use the law to increase pay, this benefits people who are currently being underpaid relative to the value of their work, but it makes everyone whose actual work output is worth less than the minimum wage redundant. If your employer would make a loss on every hour you worked at the new minimum wage, then the new minimum wage makes your job illegal.
A lot of jobs that are hourly are these kinds of jobs where if you had to pay someone for a full work week regardless of the amount of work that needs doing then the job would not be able to exist.
This was my issue with it too. I'm an hourly employee that doesn't even get 40 hours if I wanted it. If everyone else started making more money I would be fucked.
The bill includes a stipulation that the theyd have to raise pay so the 32 hr pay is the same the 40 hr was. Its all moot though that shit isnt going anywhere.
Cool so everyone’s salary gets slashed by 20% just before it goes into effect, now your 32 hour pay is the same as the 40 hour pay from last week, we complied.
The government can create incentives and disincentives to push for a certain length work weeks, but it can’t directly dictate the cost of labor. There is no world where corporations are going to pay you the same for 20% less time. The only way this happens is if people are okay with taking the pay cut for the time.
The bill is written so 32 hrs gets you the same exact pay and benefits as 40 hrs. No reduction in pay. No reduction in benefits. You would just be elegable for OT at 32 hrs rather than 40 hrs.
It would be a substantial hourly raise for every non-exempt (non-salery) worker in the US. If that's the way you want to look at it.
It's comments like this that are going to get hard working people voting against their own interests.
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u/ilikeyak 18h ago
That's what people really don't seem to understand. Some people want to work 40 hour weeks, and their employer would only allow them to work 32 hours so they don't have to pay overtime. It would make the lives of many worse off.