A progressive Philadelphia Democrat wants Pennsylvania to study the impacts of moving 77,000 state employees to a four-day work week.
In a statement Monday, state Rep. Chris Rabb said he wanted a cost-benefit analysis of such a schedule to “enhance state government’s efficacy,” while still providing taxpayers the “level of service they both need and deserve.”
“We have to end this trope of the Protestant work ethic that demands an unrelenting commitment to work at the expense of the health of our households in our communities,” Rabb told the Capital-Star.
The legislation, likely the first to call for a four-day work week in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, asked for the state’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study the topic. The study would also look at “policies to incentivize all Pennsylvania employers to make the shift,” according to Rabb’s memo.
The bipartisan panel is often called upon to study topics of interest to legislators, from standardized testing and the dairy industry to a review of the 2020 election.
A 40-hour work week has been standard in the U. S. since the 1930’s, when Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act after decades of activism by the labor movement.
The law banned child labor, provides for a minimum wage, and requires that most, but not all,, companies pay most workers time-and-a-half if they work overtime.
A number of people, including most transportation sector workers, some agricultural workers, apprentices and...
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