The Pennsylvania state legislature is currently considering two bills that employers should note – one that would increase the state minimum wage, the other that would enact a state paid sick leave law. This Client Alert addresses each of these potential new laws.
Potential Minimum Wage Increase
On June 10, 2025, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill that would increase the Pennsylvania minimum wage by a vote of 102 – 101. The Bill will now go to the Labor and Industry Committee of the Senate for review.
House Bill 1549 would amend the PA Minimum Wage Act of 1968 to increase the
minimum wage to different levels, and on different schedules, based on county:
Philadelphia County:
- Minimum wage of $15/hr would take effect on January 1, 2026.
Allegheny, Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery, Berks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Erie,
Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Luzerne, Northampton, Westmoreland, York, Centre,
Monroe, and Pike Counties:
- Minimum wage of $12/hr would take effect on January 1, 2026;
- Minimum wage of $13/hr would take effect on January 1, 2027; and
- Minimum wage of $15/hr would take effect on January 1, 2028.
All Other Counties:
- Minimum wage of $10/hr would take effect on January 1, 2026;
- Minimum wage of $11/hr would take effect on January 1, 2027; and
- Minimum wage of $12/hr would take effect on January 1, 2028.
For All Counties:
Beginning on January 1, 2029, and each January 1 thereafter, the minimum wage would increase based on an annual cost-of-living adjustment calculated by the Secretary of Labor and Industry using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland area.
The Bill would also make changes to the tipped minimum wage, requiring that a tipped employee receive 60% of the minimum wage required for the county in which the tipped employee is employed.
The current full text of the Bill is available online at this link.
While the Bill’s prospects for passage in the Senate are uncertain, Governor Shapiro supports increasing the state minimum wage. Because it adopts a lower minimum wage requirement for more rural counties, it is possible that the Bill may have a higher prospect of passage than previous efforts to raise the state minimum wage. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Pennsylvania has the lowest minimum wage – $7.25/hr – of any surrounding state.
Potential Paid Sick Leave Law
House Bill 899, introduced on March 13, 2025, would establish a paid sick leave law in Pennsylvania for the first time. If enacted, the Bill would allow covered employees to accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty (30) hours worked. An employee would be allowed to use up to eighty (80) hours of paid sick leave per year, and unused paid sick time would carry over from one year to the next. Employers would have the option of avoiding the accrual and carryover provisions by frontloading the full amount of an employee’s leave entitlement at the start of each year.
Employees would be able to use the paid sick time for:
(1) The employee’s:
- Mental or physical illness, injury or health condition;
- Need for medical diagnosis, care or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or health condition; or
- Need for preventive medical care.
(2) Care of a family member:
- With a mental or physical illness, injury or health condition; (ii) who needs medical diagnosis, care or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or health condition;
- Who needs preventive medical care; or
- Where, in the case of a child, the employee must attend a school meeting or a meeting at a place where the child receives care necessitated by the child’s health condition or disability or emotional difficulties caused by an act of abuse or sexual violence.
(3) Closure of the employee’s place of business by order of a public official due to a public health emergency.
(4) The employee’s need to care for a child whose school or place of care has been closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency.
(5) The employee’s need to care for oneself or a family member when it has been determined by a health authority having jurisdiction, a health care provider or the employer of the employee or employee’s family member, that the employee’s or family member’s presence in the community may jeopardize the health of others because of the employee’s or family member’s exposure to a communicable disease, whether or not the employee or family member has actually contracted the communicable disease.
(6) The employee’s inability to work or telework because the employee is:
- Prohibited from working by the employer due to health concerns related to the potential transmission of a communicable illness related to the public health emergency; or
- Seeking or awaiting the results of a diagnostic test for, or a medical diagnosis of, the communicable illness related to a public emergency and the employee has been exposed to the communicable illness or the employee’s employer has requested the test or diagnosis.
(7) Absence necessary due to an act of abuse, sexual violence or an act of domestic and other violence as defined in PA law if the leave is for the purpose of allowing the employee to obtain for the employee or the employee’s family member:
- Diagnosis, treatment, care or other assistance for a physical, mental or emotional injury or other medical attention needed to recover from a physical or psychological injury or disability caused by abuse or sexual violence.
- Services from a victim services organization.
- Psychological or other counseling.
- Relocation or taking steps to secure an existing home due to the abuse or sexual violence.
- Legal services, including preparing for or participating in a civil or criminal legal proceeding, related to or resulting from the abuse or sexual violence.
The current full text of the Bill is available online at this link.
The Bill is currently pending before the House Committee on Labor & Industry. Its prospects for passage are unclear.
This Client Alert is provided as general guidance only and does not constitute legal
advice. If you have concerns about how your business may be affected by either
of these legislative measures, please contact our office.
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