4-Day Work Week: What It Means for Employers

What it means in practice

A 4-day work week has no legal definition in federal wage law. The U.S. Department of Labor's flexible schedules page says the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) "does not address flexible work schedules" and that alternative work arrangements are a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee or the employee's representative. The Department also says the FLSA does not define full-time or part-time employment, which is generally for the employer to determine (see full-time hours). Compare flextime, where employees vary start and end times.

The two models. A compressed schedule keeps the same weekly hours and fits them into fewer, longer days. The federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) describes its "Four-Day Work Week" model as 10 hours a day, 40 hours a week and 80 hours a biweekly pay period. A reduced-hours schedule cuts total weekly hours, for example to four 8-hour days, or 32 hours. Compressed schedules raise state daily overtime and child labor questions; reduced-hours schedules raise pay, regular rate and exempt salary questions.

The federal overtime baseline. Covered non-exempt employees must receive overtime at not less than one and one-half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. The Department of Labor says there is no limit on the hours employees aged 16 and older may work, and the regulations say the Act does not generally require overtime for hours over eight per day or for regular days of rest, though contracts or state laws may (29 CFR 778.102). The workweek is a fixed, regularly recurring period of 168 hours that may begin on any day and at any hour; it may be changed only if the change is meant to be permanent and is not designed to evade overtime (29 CFR 778.105). Hours cannot be averaged across two or more weeks (29 CFR 778.104). See overtime and hours worked.

Example: a 4 x 10 week under federal rules. As our own illustration of those rules, a non-exempt employee paid $20 an hour who works four 10-hour days works 40 hours and earns $800, with no federal overtime due. If the employee also works 8 hours on the usual day off, the week totals 48 hours: 40 hours at $20 ($800) plus 8 hours at $30 ($240), or $1,040.

9/80 and split workweeks. Some compressed schedules run over two weeks, such as OPM's 5/4-9 model of eight 9-hour days and one 8-hour day. Because each workweek stands alone, a private employer cannot average 44 hours one week with 36 the next. Alaska's Department of Labor describes 9/80 plans that shift the start of the workweek to the middle of the alternating day off, most commonly noon on Monday or Friday, so that each of the two workweeks contains 40 hours. Under the federal rule, that workweek start must then stay fixed (29 CFR 778.105).

Reduced hours for non-exempt employees. Department of Labor Fact Sheet #70 says the FLSA does not preclude an employer from lowering an hourly rate or reducing scheduled hours, as long as at least the minimum wage is paid for all hours worked, and that the FLSA does not require pay for hours not worked. If hours fall but pay stays the same, the regular rate rises, because it equals pay divided by the hours it covers (29 CFR 778.321, 778.322 and 778.324). As our own illustration of the regulation's method: $800 for a fixed 40 hours is $20 an hour, but $800 for a fixed 32 hours is $25. If the understanding is that the salary now covers 32 hours and no more, an employee who works 41 hours is owed $800, plus 8 hours at $25 ($200) under the employment contract, plus 1 hour at $37.50, for $1,037.50. The parties may instead agree that the salary covers a variable workweek of up to 40 hours, in which case overtime in weeks over 40 is figured on the old rate (29 CFR 778.323).

Reduced hours for exempt employees. An exempt employee must receive the full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work, without regard to the number of days or hours worked, and deductions for absences caused by the employer or the operating requirements of the business are not allowed (29 CFR 541.602(a)). Fact Sheet #70 says an employer may prospectively reduce the predetermined salary during a slowdown if the change is bona fide and not a device to evade the salary basis rule, while day-to-day or week-to-week reductions based on operating needs would cost the exemption. The salary must still meet the salary level, which 29 CFR 541.600 sets at $684 per week (equivalent to $1,368 biweekly or $2,964 monthly) in the text amended May 15, 2026. See exempt vs. non-exempt and exemption.

Holidays and paid time off on 10-hour days. The Department of Labor says the FLSA does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or federal or other holidays; these are matters of agreement between employer and employee. So for a private employer, whether a holiday on a 10-hour day is worth 8 or 10 hours, and how paid time off is charged, is set by policy or agreement. Holiday or vacation pay roughly equal to normal earnings is excluded from the regular rate and cannot be credited toward overtime, and a regularly scheduled day of rest is not a "holiday" for that rule (29 CFR 778.218). For exempt employees, a week with a holiday and any work still requires the full salary (29 CFR 541.602(a)(1)).

A real-world model: federal compressed schedules. Federal law lets each agency "establish programs which use a 4-day workweek or other compressed schedule" (5 U.S.C. 6127(a)). A compressed schedule for a full-time federal employee is an 80-hour biweekly basic work requirement scheduled for less than 10 workdays (5 U.S.C. 6121(5)), and overtime is any hours worked beyond that schedule (5 U.S.C. 6128(b)). In a unit without a union, employees cannot be required to participate unless a majority vote to be included, and an employee who shows personal hardship must be excepted or reassigned (5 U.S.C. 6127(b)). An agency head must stop a schedule found to reduce productivity, diminish service or increase costs (5 U.S.C. 6131). OPM says credit hours are not permitted under a compressed schedule, and that if a holiday falls on a 9- or 10-hour workday, the employee's holiday is 9 or 10 hours. These rules apply to federal employees only.

Where states differ: California (example). California's Wage Order 4 (professional, technical, clerical, mechanical and similar occupations; IWC Form 1104, Rev. 11/2025) says eight hours is a day's work, with time and one-half for hours over 8 up to 12 and double time over 12. An employer does not violate the daily overtime rule by adopting, through the order's election procedures, an alternative workweek of not more than 10 hours per day within a 40-hour workweek. The schedule must be proposed in writing and adopted by secret ballot, before the work is performed, by at least two-thirds of the affected employees in a work unit. The employer must first disclose in writing the effects on wages, hours and benefits and hold a noticed meeting at least 14 days before the vote (also in another language if at least 5 percent of affected employees primarily speak it); failure makes the election null and void. The employer pays for the election and must report the results to the Department of Industrial Relations within 30 days after they are final. New hours cannot be required for at least 30 days after the results are announced, and employees can repeal the schedule by a one-third petition and a two-thirds vote.

California pay under an alternative workweek. Under a valid schedule, work beyond the scheduled day up to 12 hours, or beyond 40 hours a week, is paid at time and one-half; work over 12 hours, and over 8 hours on an extra unscheduled day, is paid at double time; and the regular hourly rate cannot be reduced because a schedule is adopted or repealed. The employer must make a reasonable effort to find an 8-hour schedule for an eligible voter who cannot work the new one. As our own illustration: without a valid election, a $20-an-hour employee working four 10-hour days earns 2 daily overtime hours each day, so pay is 32 hours at $20 ($640) plus 8 hours at $30 ($240), or $880 instead of $800. See California labor laws.

Where states differ: Alaska (example). The Alaska Department of Labor FAQ says overtime is owed after 8 hours in a day and/or 40 in a week, though an employer with three or fewer employees can pay straight time. Alaska allows a voluntary flexible work hour plan (AS 23.10.060 and 8 AAC 15.102). The Department's May 5, 2025 notice to employers says a plan must be voluntary, approved by the Department before it is offered, at least four workdays and 33 hours a week, and no more than 10 hours a day or 40 a week, with overtime for work beyond either. It is valid only if the employee is also offered an equivalent schedule with overtime after 8 hours, and deviations are limited to 20 percent of weeks. If a plan is invalidated, the employer may owe up to two years of back overtime for hours over 8 a day plus an equal amount as liquidated damages. Other states differ.

Other federal rules that interact. Minors aged 14 and 15 may work no more than 8 hours on a day when school is not in session and 3 hours on a school day (29 CFR 570.35), so a 10-hour day is not available for them. Under the FMLA, the actual workweek is the basis of leave entitlement: an employee who would otherwise work 40 hours and takes 8 hours off uses one-fifth of a week (29 CFR 825.205(b)), so on a 4 x 10 schedule a missed 10-hour day is one-quarter of a week. See FMLA. For the Affordable Care Act employer rules, the IRS defines a full-time employee as one employed on average at least 30 hours of service per week or 130 hours per month, so a 32-hour schedule meets that test. By contrast, BLS Current Population Survey statistics count people who usually work fewer than 35 hours a week as part-time (see part-time hours).

Recordkeeping. For non-exempt employees, employers must keep the time of day and day of week the workweek begins, hours worked each workday and in total each workweek, the regular hourly rate in any overtime week and the basis of pay (29 CFR 516.2). Daily hours matter for state daily overtime even though federal overtime is weekly. Alaska employers also keep the approved plan, signed by each participating employee, in personnel records.

What the data show. The Bureau of Labor Statistics news release Job Flexibilities and Work Schedules (USDL-26-1533, September 24, 2026), from the American Time Use Survey Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, reports that 68 percent of wage and salary workers usually worked Monday through Friday and 8 percent usually worked on Saturday and Sunday. It does not report four-day or compressed schedules as a separate category. BLS notes that no data were collected in October 2025, so the 2025 figures are 11-month averages.

FAQ: Does a private employer need an employee vote to adopt a four-day week? The FLSA has no vote requirement. California requires the secret-ballot election for an alternative workweek that avoids daily overtime, Alaska requires Department approval and voluntary participation, and federal agencies need a majority vote in non-union units.

FAQ: Is a 32-hour employee full-time? The FLSA leaves that to the employer; the IRS ACA test (30 hours) and BLS statistics (35 hours) draw different lines.

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