Pennsylvania HB 899: An Act providing for the right for employees to paid sick leave from employers and for civil penalties and remedies.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 941
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 899
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY O'MARA, PIELLI, HILL-EVANS, SANCHEZ, McNEILL,
KHAN, GIRAL, STEELE, HOHENSTEIN, DONAHUE, SHUSTERMAN,
FIEDLER, DALEY, DEASY, GREEN, MADDEN, CERRATO, A. BROWN AND
BOROWSKI, MARCH 13, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND INDUSTRY, MARCH 13, 2025
AN ACT
Providing for the right for employees to paid sick leave from
employers and for civil penalties and remedies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 1. Short title.
Section 2. Scope of act.
Section 3. Definitions.
Section 4. Accrual of earned paid sick time.
Section 5. Use of earned paid sick time.
Section 6. Payment of earned sick time.
Section 7. Notice and posting.
Section 8. Employer records.
Section 9. Regulations.
Section 10. Confidentiality and nondisclosure.
Section 11. Other legal requirements.
Section 12. Exercise of rights protected and retaliation
prohibited.
Section 13. Complaint procedure.
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Section 14. Enforcement.
Section 15. Construction.
Section 16. Public education and outreach.
Section 17. Effective date.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Healthy
Workplaces Act.
Section 2. Scope of act.
This act relates to promoting healthy families, employees and
workplaces by establishing an earned paid sick time policy in
this Commonwealth in order to:
(1) Ensure that all workers in this Commonwealth can
address their own health and safety needs and the health and
safety needs of their families by requiring employers to
provide a minimum level of earned paid sick time, including
time to care for their family members.
(2) Diminish public and private health care costs and
promote preventive health services in this Commonwealth by
enabling workers to seek early and routine medical care for
themselves and their family members.
(3) Protect the public's health in this Commonwealth by
reducing the risk of contagion.
(4) Promote the economic security and stability of
workers and their families.
(5) Protect employees in this Commonwealth from losing
their jobs or facing workplace discipline when they use the
paid sick time they earn to care for themselves or their
families.
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(6) Assist victims of domestic violence and their family
members by providing them job-protected time away from work
to receive treatment and take the necessary steps to ensure
their safety.
(7) Safeguard the public welfare, health, safety and
prosperity of the residents of this Commonwealth.
(8) Accomplish the purposes described in this section in
a manner that is feasible for employers.
Section 3. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Department." The Department of Labor and Industry of the
Commonwealth.
"Earned paid sick time." Time that an employee is
compensated for at the same hourly rate and with the same
benefits, including health care benefits, as the employee
normally earns during hours worked and is provided by the
employer to the employee for the purposes described in section
5.
"Employee." An individual who works part time or full time
for an employer or who is under the direction of an employer or
a subcontractor of an employer for wages, salary or remuneration
of any type under contract or subcontract of employment. The
term does not include an individual who is subject to the
provisions of 45 U.S.C. Ch. 11 (relating to railroad
unemployment insurance).
"Employer." A person, including an agent of a person, that
engages the services of an employee for wages, salary or
remuneration of any type under contract or subcontract of
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employment. The term does not include the Federal Government.
"Family member." Any of the following with respect to an
employee:
(1) Regardless of age, a biological, adopted or foster
child, stepchild or legal ward, a child of a domestic
partner, a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis
or an individual to whom the employee stood in loco parentis
when the individual was a minor.
(2) A biological, foster, stepparent or adoptive parent
or legal guardian of the employee or the employee's spouse or
domestic partner or an individual who stood in loco parentis
when the employee or employee's spouse or domestic partner
was a minor child.
(3) An individual to whom the employee is legally
married under the laws of a state or a domestic partner of an
employee as registered under the laws of a state or political
subdivision.
(4) A grandparent, grandchild or sibling, whether of a
biological, foster, adoptive or step relationship, of the
employee or the employee's spouse or