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Pittsburgh Paid Sick Days Ordinance Is Found Invalid and Unenforceable

December 31, 2015

Via: SHRM

In a ruling issued Dec. 21, 2015, a trial court judge held that the city of Pittsburgh did not have the authority under state law to enact the Paid Sick Days Ordinance that Pittsburgh’s City Council passed on Aug. 3, 2015.  It remains to be seen whether the city of Pittsburgh will appeal this decision.

After the city of Pittsburgh passed the ordinance, which would require employers to provide employees with a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours an employee works in the city limits, a group that included the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association and several local restaurants and businesses challenged the city’s authority to enact such legislation.

The challenge was based on the fact that under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh is a home rule charter municipality. Under state law, “a municipality which adopts a home rule charter shall not determine duties, responsibilities or requirements placed upon businesses, occupations and employers . . . except as expressly provided by the statutes which are applicable in every part of this Commonwealth or which are applicable to all municipalities or to a class or classes of municipalities.”  Citing an earlier Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, the trial court found that the ordinance imposed a requirement on employers and therefore was invalid and unenforceable.

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