Pennsylvania Employment Beat

This is an update to our July 17, 2020 article addressing the July 15, 2020 orders issued by Governor Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Health “directing mitigation measures” in response to a reported rise in COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania.

As explained in that prior article, both orders included the following mandate requiring telework:  “Unless not possible, all business are required to conduct their operations in whole or in part remotely through individual teleworking of their employees[.]”

The plain text of these orders generated confusion for many Pennsylvania employers as the scope of the teleworking mandate was unclear.  Accordingly, in our article, we called for Pennsylvania leadership to provide necessary guidance to resolve that confusion and enable Pennsylvania employers to understand whether they were being ordered to utilize telework arrangements “in whole” to the extent possible, or whether reducing the number of workers through “in part” telework arrangements would suffice.
Continue Reading Update: Pennsylvania order mandates telework, but to what extent?

On July 15, 2020, Governor Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Health issued orders “directing mitigation measures” in response to a reported rise in COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania.  Both orders included the following mandate requiring telework:  “Unless not possible, all business are required to conduct their operations in whole or in part remotely through individual teleworking of their employees[.]”
Continue Reading New Pennsylvania order mandates telework, but to what extent?

On May 4, 2020, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf issued a document titled “Guidance for Businesses Permitted to Operate During the COVID-19 Disaster Emergency” (the Business Guidance or the Guidance). The Business Guidance contains the latest requirements applicable to businesses during Pennsylvania’s Red, Yellow, Green phased reopening approach. These new requirements are directed at businesses already conducting in-person operations during the Red phase, and those businesses preparing to open in-person operations in counties designated in the Yellow phase. The governor’s Process to Reopen Pennsylvania has more information regarding Pennsylvania’s phased reopening approach. Briefly, in counties designated as Red phase, only businesses designated as life-sustaining or that otherwise obtained exemptions are permitted to lawfully operate. In counties designated as Yellow phase, some identified additional businesses may lawfully operate subject to certain requirements. A future Green phase would allow for all in-person business to reopen without special state requirements, subject to general adherence to guidelines in place at that time provided by health authorities such as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH).
Continue Reading Pennsylvania’s governor issues additional requirements for businesses currently authorized to be open

This article supplements our earlier article about the April 15, 2020 worker safety order issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH).  The order requires essential businesses in operation in Pennsylvania to implement new workplace requirements, including a mandate for all workers to wear masks.  DOH accompanied the order with a guidance, which was available shortly after issuance of the order.  Unlike the order, the recommendations in the guidance are not mandatory, and are in some ways broader than the requirements of the order.  The order became effective immediately upon its issuance, with enforcement scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. on April 19, 2020.

In the days after issuance of the order, various advocacy groups raised a variety of questions about the new requirements.  DOH has now responded with a publication it calls COVID-19 Workplace Safety Questions.  This document is in the nature of Frequently Asked Questions.  The information provided in the more than 50 FAQs is not organized into categories.  This article organizes some of the key points into four categories: masks; definition of “probable” case; temperature screening; and enforcement.Continue Reading Pennsylvania Health Department answers FAQs about worker safety order

On March 19, 2020, in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf issued an order directing all non-life-sustaining businesses to close their physical locations effective March 19 at 8 p.m. The order provides a process for applying for a waiver, but, due to the high volume of waiver requests, enforcement was delayed until Monday, March 23, 2020, at 8 a.m.

Companies can check this list to see whether they are on the list of life-sustaining businesses, or they can email Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) customer service at ra-dcedcs@pa.gov, or call 1-877-PA-HEALTH and select option 1 to reach DCED staff. Companies that are designated non-life-sustaining, but would like to seek a waiver, can apply via the online waiver application. Reed Smith attorneys are available to help you determine whether your company is designated life-sustaining or not and assist with the waiver process.

Q – What does it mean for my employees that my company is one that must shut down under Governor Wolf’s order?

A – It depends. The order does allow remote work, so if employees can work from home, they are permitted to do so. In the event your company cannot conduct operations remotely and must close, you may need to make some decisions about your workforce, including whether to furlough employees or lay them off. Under Pennsylvania unemployment compensation law, an eligible worker can collect unemployment benefits for a reduction in work, furlough, or layoff.Continue Reading Pennsylvania issues order closing all non-life sustaining businesses

In 2017, the City of Philadelphia enacted the Wage Equity Ordinance to address the pay gap between men and women and between different races and ethnicities. The Ordinance contains two provisions: the “Inquiry Provision,” which prohibits employers from asking about a prospective employee’s wage history; and the “Reliance Provision,” which prohibits an employer from relying on wage history at any point in the process of setting or negotiating a prospective employee’s wage. Mayor Jim Kenny signed the Ordinance into law in January 2017 after it was unanimously passed by Philadelphia City Council.

The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, however, filed a lawsuit alleging that both provisions of the Wage Equity Ordinance infringed on the chamber and its members’ First Amendment freedom of speech rights. In the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia v. City of Philadelphia et al., the Honorable Mitchell Goldberg from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted the chamber a preliminary injunction on the Inquiry Provision in April 2018, holding that the Ordinance violates employers’ freedom of speech rights. Judge Goldberg, however, upheld the Reliance Provision, which prohibits reliance on wage history, based on the court’s conclusion that such reliance did not implicate protected speech. In other words, Judge Goldberg found that an employer could ask about a candidate’s salary history, but could not use the information. Both parties appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Continue Reading Don’t Ask, Don’t Use – the Third Circuit allows the Philadelphia salary history ban ordinance to go into effect

The City of Pittsburgh has provided much needed clarity regarding several lingering questions concerning the Paid Sick Days Act (the Act), which requires all private employers of full- or part-time employees within the City of Pittsburgh to provide paid sick leave benefits.

In July 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the Act following a nearly four-year long legal battle. At that time, the effective date of the Act and the status of prior guidelines issued by the City was unsettled. This week, the City addressed some of those unsettled issues.

First, the City announced that the Act will take effect on March 15, 2020.Continue Reading The City of Pittsburgh publishes new information regarding the Paid Sick Days Act

Shortly after the U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime rule was finalized, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) followed suit and finalized its own proposed overtime rule. Regulation 12-106 was set to exceed the new federal rule regarding the minimum salary to be paid to employees who are exempt from overtime. The new federal threshold of $684 per week ($35,568 per year) goes into effect on January 1, 2020. Regulation 12-106 would have phased Pennsylvanians in executive, administrative, and professional roles into a new minimum salary requirement of $875 per week ($45,500 per year) by 2022. The threshold would have adjusted automatically every three years beginning in 2023.

The Independent Regulatory Review Commission was set to consider Regulation 12-206 yesterday, November 21, 2019. But about an hour before the meeting was to begin, the regulation was withdrawn. L&I advised in a brief letter that “legislation could be passed before the end of this year that would invalidate portions of this regulation.”Continue Reading Pennsylvania wage rules: Changes on the horizon

On July 20, 2019, Pennsylvania expanded its list of 17 “serious medical conditions” that qualify for medical marijuana usage under the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act (MMA) to now include anxiety and Tourette Syndrome. Previously, the MMA limited access to designated ailments like cancer, multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder and inflammatory bowel disease, and terminal illnesses

In 2015, the City of Pittsburgh enacted the Paid Sick Days Act (the “Act”), requiring all private employers of full or part-time employees within the City of Pittsburgh to provide paid sick leave benefits as follows:

  • Employers with 15 or more employees must provide workers with up to 40 hours of paid sick time per