California’s four-day work week bill, Assembly Bill 2932, did not pass. Introduced in February 2022, the measure would have cut the standard workweek from 40 hours to 32 for large employers without any reduction in pay, but it stalled in the Assembly’s Labor and Employment Committee, never received a hearing, and died when the legislative deadline passed. No California legislature has reintroduced the proposal since.
So if you’re working in California today, nothing about your overtime threshold, your schedule, or your employer’s obligations has changed because of AB 2932. The 40-hour week remains the legal standard. Here’s what the bill would have done, why it collapsed, and what rules actually govern your hours right now.
What AB 2932 Would Have Changed
The bill targeted employers with more than 500 employees. For those companies, it would have shifted the weekly overtime trigger from 40 hours to 32, meaning any work beyond 32 hours in a week would require overtime pay at one and a half times the regular rate.1LegiScan. California Assembly Bill 2932 – Workweek: Hours and Overtime The daily overtime threshold of eight hours would have stayed in place. Employers with 500 or fewer workers were exempt entirely.
The provision that drew the most attention was the pay-protection clause. An employee’s compensation at 32 hours had to match what they previously earned at 40, and employers were barred from reducing the regular rate of pay to offset the shorter week.1LegiScan. California Assembly Bill 2932 – Workweek: Hours and Overtime A worker earning $1,200 for 40 hours would have been entitled to $1,200 for 32. That turned the bill into something closer to a mandated pay raise than a scheduling reform, and it shaped the opposition that followed.
The bill applied to non-exempt employees. California Labor Code Section 510 already excludes employees classified as exempt from standard overtime rules, and AB 2932 didn’t alter that structure, though the sponsor said the intent was for the 32-hour standard to reset what counts as a full workweek for salaried workers as well. The bill never addressed how its new weekly threshold would interact with alternative workweek schedules adopted under Labor Code Section 511 or with collective bargaining agreements under Section 514, which was one of several unresolved drafting issues.2California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 510
Why the Bill Died
AB 2932 never received a committee hearing. The Assembly Labor and Employment Committee declined to schedule one before the April 2022 deadline, and the bill expired without a vote.
The California Chamber of Commerce labeled AB 2932 a “job killer,” arguing that the jump in labor costs would be unsustainable for many businesses because labor is often a company’s single largest expense. Industry groups warned the mandate would discourage hiring. The Society for Human Resource Management opposed what it called a “one-size-fits-all approach,” pointing out that companies operating across multiple states would face serious logistical burdens applying California’s 32-hour standard alongside 40-hour norms elsewhere.
Some critics argued the bill could hurt the workers it was meant to help. If employers couldn’t absorb the overtime costs, they might cut schedules to stay under 32 hours rather than maintain full hours at higher pay. Others said the benefits would flow mostly to higher-paid salaried workers at large corporations rather than to the hourly retail, food service, and warehouse employees facing the most demanding schedules. For a bill framed as pro-worker, that criticism carried weight.
What California Overtime Law Actually Requires Now
Because AB 2932 never passed, California’s existing overtime framework is unchanged. Non-exempt employees earn overtime at one and a half times their regular rate after eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, and double time after 12 hours in a day or after eight hours on a seventh consecutive workday.3Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
If your employer has voluntarily adopted a 32-hour or four-day schedule, the legal overtime trigger doesn’t shift to match. You’re still entitled to overtime only after eight hours in a day or 40 in a week. Hours between 32 and 40 in a given week must be paid at your regular rate, but no overtime premium is owed unless you cross the eight-hour daily or 40-hour weekly line.3Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime
When an employer does violate overtime rules, California gives workers real remedies. You can recover unpaid wages, and if the employer willfully withholds pay after a separation, waiting-time penalties accrue at your daily rate of pay for up to 30 calendar days.4Department of Industrial Relations. Waiting Time Penalties California also allows individual employees to bring representative enforcement actions under the Private Attorneys General Act, so one worker can pursue penalties on behalf of an entire workforce for labor code violations.
Is a Four-Day Work Week Still Being Considered?
Not at the California state level. No successor bill to AB 2932 has been introduced, and the concept has not returned to the Sacramento agenda in any serious form.
The idea has continued to move at the federal level, though without success. Representative Mark Takano introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act in March 2023, which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to lower the federal overtime threshold from 40 to 32 hours for non-exempt workers nationwide.5Congress.gov. Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act 118th Congress (2023-2024) Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a companion Senate version in March 2024. Neither advanced beyond committee referral.
Within California, some legislators have taken a different approach, proposing bills that would make it easier for employees to request flexible or compressed schedules, including four-day weeks of 10-hour days, without changing the overtime threshold. Those proposals avoid the cost objections that killed AB 2932, but they also don’t deliver the reduced total hours that advocates of a shorter week want.
For now, the practical answer is simple. California’s standard workweek is 40 hours. Any four-day schedule you work is an arrangement with your employer, not a legal right, and your overtime protections continue to run from the eight-hour day and 40-hour week set out in Labor Code Section 510.