State of Pennsylvania Labor Laws

August 24th, 2006 Posted by Sarah

I find that employers and employees alike are often interested in knowing more about the labor laws that may apply to them. If you live or work in Pennsylvania, here’s a quick overview of a few of the labor laws in your state:

When it comes to laws about payment of wages, there are a number of regulations. The minimum wage in Pennsylvania is automatically tied to the federal minimum wage, so it’s currently $5.15 per hour. If at some point Congress raises the federal minimum wage, the Pennsylvania wage will go up along with it. Under the Pennsylvania labor law, wages must be paid on a regular basis, but there is no particular mandatory maximum length between paydays. Employees who are separated from their jobs for any reason must be paid by the next regular payday.

Child labor regulations are another important part of the Pennsylvania labor laws. Minors under 18 must obtain an employment certificate in order to work in the state. The hours of employment and types of work that may be performed are regulated separately for minors under 16, and 16 and 17 year old minors. A special permit is required for minors who are involved in motion picture or theatrical performance work. A meal break of 30 minutes is also required for all minors working five or more consecutive hours.

Pennsylvania workers should be glad to know that they are covered by a variety of occupational safety and health statutes. The Pennsylvania labor laws contain a variety of standards designed to maintain a safe, healthful and hazard-free workplace. Standards exist to regulate all kinds of workplace hazards, from hazardous chemicals to ladders and power equipment. Employers may be inspected and fined if they do not meet these standards.

These are just a few of the many topics covered under the Pennsylvania labor laws. Other areas of the law include workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, prevailing wages for employees on public works construction projects, the licensing of employment agencies, and more. For a thorough and up-to-date listing of all the state and federal labor laws, check out the Pennsylvania Complete Labor Law Poster.

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13 Comments >> Posted in Compliance Issues,Department of Labor,Pennsylvania

  1. Posted by: Tom Pflueger

    Message
    i work as a full time vacation relief for a car rental agencey. they put my schedule out and it does not cover any employees vacation. I work day shift Monday and night shift Tuesday and from there it alternates day them night for the week. I would like to know if there is a law containing information about how they can make my schedule out? do they have to give me a specific shift and then put me in a spot for a vacationing employee or can they use me the way they want?

  2. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi Tom! There is no Pennsylvania or federal law that limits an employer’s right to schedule an employee. The employer can schedule the employee any way that he or she sees fit. It is entirely lawful for your employer to schedule you during the day on Monday, on Tuesday night and then during the day again on Wednesday. (There is not even a requirement that you be permitted 8 hours off between shifts.) There is no law that they must put you on either the day shift or the night shift. In fact, in many industries including tourism and hospitality (which is the business you are in) it is very common for employees to switch shifts back and forth within a single week.
    It sounds like you were hired to fill in when other employees are on vacation. If no other employees are on vacation, the employer would not have to give you any hours at all for the week. So they are actually doing you a favor.
    Sometimes an employer will write this type of schedule without realizing that they have scheduled you for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. If that is the cse, you can tactfully point it out to your supervisor. However, if it was not an error, the real question here is: do you want this job, or not? HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia

  3. Posted by: dave

    i work a 10 hour shift my job only gives us two breaks in that period 1 15 minute and 1 30 min for lunch. are they suppose to give us one more 15 minute break in between?

  4. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi dave! Sorry, but Pennsylania has no law requiring employers to provide any meal or rest breaks to employees over the age of 17. Nineteen U.S. states have such a law — Pennsylania does not. So the employer is actually being very generous by providing such breaks. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia

  5. Posted by: Confused

    My employer offers a 30 minute unpaid meal period from 12- 12:30. They are REALLY big on employees taking their breaks. They even go as far as docking an employee if they haven’t punched out, regardless of whether they have taken a break or not. Also, if the employee only takes 15 min, they adjust the times in the payroll system so that the employee gets docked a full 30 min… even if the employee has returned to work after the 15 min.

    I know that this is illegal and by docking these few min here and there adds up to a lot of lost wages. Can someone please point me to a specific PA law website that clarifies this FULLY so it can be printed out and given to the HR department?? It has been brought to their attention however no one does anything.

    Also, can the HR/payroll person be held responsible if they know that it is illegal however they continue to do so because that’s the orders from the owners of the company?

    Thanks so much!

  6. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi Confused! You’re right and the employer is wrong, of course. Some states have laws requiring the employer to give meal breaks to workers — Pennsylvania does not.

    The laws that require an employee to be paid for all the time he or she works are the federal minimum wage law (also called the FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act) and the Pennsylvania minimum wage law, as well as the Pennsylvannia Wage Payment law.
    Suppose employee June works 8.0 hours today and takes no break. The employer only pays June for 7.5 hours because they automatically deduct a 30-minute meal break. June has worked those 30 minutes and been paid $0 for them. Zero is less than the Pennsylvania minimum wage, so the company is in violation of the law. The company is also in violation of the wage payment law, which requires employers to pay workers for all time worked, on payday.

    This is true, even if the employer specifically told June that she must clock out for a 30-minute meal break each day. If June does not comply, she can be disciplined or terminated, but she must still be paid for the time she worked.

    It gets even worse. Under the federal FLSA, an employee who takes a break of less than 20 minutes must be paid for that break. A meal break of 20 minutes or more, where the employee is relieved of all duties, can be unpaid. So if one of your employees clocks out for a 15-minute break, he or she must be paid for the entire break.

    Employers are required to keep accurate payroll records of hours worked for 3 years. If an employee files a complaint with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry or the U.S. Department of Labor, the employer would be forced to pay back wages and overtime for 2 – 3 years, plus penalties. In 2008, Wal-Mart paid more than $6 million in back wages to employees at two locations, for automatically deducting breaks that the employee’s never took.

    The HR director is not financially responsible when the employer fails to pay employees — the company is. However, many employers would hold the HR person responsible, and fire them if the department of labor uncovered a violation. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia

    Read more about this at: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=553567&mode=2 and http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.pdf

  7. Posted by: Sotonius

    Message I work for a company that has been recently having network issues that cause our computers to go down. Is is legal for them to send staff home and tell us that if we want to be paid we have to use personal time or vacation time. The only other option that they gave us was to make up time but they only allow you to make up two hrs per week. I work for a company in Pennsylvania.

  8. Posted by: Sotonius

    Message I work for a company that has been recently having network issues that cause our computers to go down. Is is legal for them to send staff home and tell us that if we want to be paid we have to use personal time or vacation time. The only other option that they gave us was to make up time but they only allow you to make up two hrs per week. I work for a company in Pennsylvania.

    Thanks

  9. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi Sotonius! Yes, if you are an hourly employee this is legal. Under both Pennsylvania and federal law, an hourly employee is entitled to payment for all time worked. If you do not work, for whatever reason, you are not entitled to payment. Different rules would apply to exempt salaried employees. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia

  10. Posted by: Frank

    Hello! I was recently laid off and my employer said that I was not entitled to my vacation time because in Pennsylvania the laws do not require that they pay me my time. Is this true? Thank you!

  11. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi Frank! This is essentially true. Under Pennsylvania law, the employer must follow the written company policy for payment of unused vacation at termination. If there is no written policy granting payment at termination, then the employer is not required to pay the worker for unused vacation. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia

    Read more about this at: http://www.employmentlawhandbook.com/State/Pennsylvania.html

  12. Posted by: Joe

    I work full-time with disabled persons in a residential setting (in Pennsylvania). We work varying hour shifts…sometimes long. But occasionally I am scheduled for a 1/2 hour for a meeting, that I have to travel from home to go to, and that is all my hours for that day, or until much later in the day. Also, once in a while we have to travel further than our normal work location for mandatory training. We are told to carpool & only the driver gets any pay for travel time, no matter how long it takes due to traffic, accidents, etc. Is this all legal or not?

  13. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi Joe! It is legal for the employer to schedule you for a half-hour meeting, and pay you only for the half hour. (Different rules might apply if you were scheduled for 8 hours and sent home after working only a half-hour.)

    The federal FLSA covers travel time, and the regulations are complex. Basically, the employer is not responsible for paying travel time within the normal commuting range for the company. In a big city like Philadelphia, the normal commuting area can be huge. However, in a smaller town it can be shorter. If you are being sent on a one-day assignment to another city, outside the company’s normal commuting range, then you may be entitled to payment. This depends upon the number of miles traveled, not the time it takes to get there with weather and traffic, etc. It also makes a difference whether the travel time is during your normally scheduled work hours. If so, then you may be entitled to paymebt.

    The company is doing the right thing by always paying the driver. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia