Providing for the right for employees to paid sick leave from employers and for civil penalties and remedies.
HB899, titled the Healthy Workplaces Act, would establish a statewide earned paid sick leave requirement for employees in Pennsylvania. Covered employees would accrue one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, with employers allowed to cap use at 80 hours per year. The bill permits employers to frontload leave or advance it before it is accrued, and it allows existing paid leave or paid time off policies to satisfy the law if they meet the bill’s requirements.
The leave could be used for an employee’s own illness, injury, preventive care, or medical treatment, as well as for care of family members. It also covers absences related to public health emergencies, school or child-care closures, communicable disease exposure, and certain domestic violence, sexual violence, and abuse-related needs, including medical care, counseling, relocation, and legal services. The bill includes notice, posting, recordkeeping, confidentiality, anti-retaliation, complaint, and enforcement provisions, and it authorizes administrative penalties, civil actions, back pay, liquidated damages, and attorney fees for violations.
HB899 would create a new statewide labor standard in Pennsylvania requiring employers to provide earned paid sick time, while preserving more generous local ordinances, collective bargaining agreements, and employer policies that already provide equal or greater leave. It would amend employer obligations regarding payroll records, employee notices, workplace postings, and paycheck disclosures, and it would place enforcement authority with the Department of Labor and Industry, the Secretary of Labor and Industry, and the Attorney General. The bill would also affect employer practices around retaliation, documentation, confidentiality, and leave administration, with special protections for workers dealing with domestic violence or sexual violence.
The bill’s stated purpose and structure indicate strong support for worker health, family caregiving, and public health protections. Its introduction by a large group of House Democrats suggests favorable sentiment among its sponsors toward establishing a statewide paid sick leave floor. No committee transcript or vote record was provided, so there is no documented opposition or recorded floor sentiment in the materials supplied.
The main points of potential contention are likely to be the mandate on employers, the administrative and financial costs of providing paid sick leave, and the scope of covered uses and enforcement remedies. Employers may object to the accrual requirement, documentation rules, recordkeeping obligations, and penalties for noncompliance, while worker advocates are likely to support the broad coverage, anti-retaliation protections, and domestic violence-related leave provisions. Another likely issue is the bill’s interaction with local ordinances and collective bargaining agreements, though the text expressly preserves more generous existing protections and leaves room for municipalities to adopt stronger leave standards.