PRINTER'S NO. 2993
No. 2264 Session of 1998
INTRODUCED BY M. COHEN, BELFANTI, WOGAN, GEORGE, DeLUCA,
TANGRETTI, YOUNGBLOOD, ROBINSON, BELARDI, ITKIN, STEELMAN,
CORRIGAN, LEVDANSKY, EVANS, VEON, DeWEESE, LAUGHLIN, CORPORA,
WOJNAROSKI, ROEBUCK, MELIO, GIGLIOTTI, HORSEY, BOSCOLA,
TRELLO, C. WILLIAMS, MANDERINO, PETRARCA, CARN, JOSEPHS,
RAMOS, KIRKLAND, PISTELLA, STABACK, BEBKO-JONES, CAPPABIANCA,
MYERS, WALKO, CASORIO, LUCYK, LEDERER, JAMES, SCRIMENTI,
OLASZ, MUNDY AND KELLER, FEBRUARY 19, 1998
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LABOR RELATIONS, FEBRUARY 19, 1998
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of January 17, 1968 (P.L.11, No.5), entitled
2 "An act establishing a fixed minimum wage and overtime rates
3 for employes, with certain exceptions; providing for minimum
4 rates for learners and apprentices; creating a Minimum Wage
5 Advisory Board and defining its powers and duties; conferring
6 powers and imposing duties upon the Department of Labor and
7 Industry; imposing duties on employers; and providing
8 penalties," further providing for minimum wage.
9 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10 hereby enacts as follows:
11 Section 1. Section 4(a) and (a.1) of the act of January 17,
12 1968 (P.L.11, No.5), known as The Minimum Wage Act of 1968,
13 amended or added December 15, 1988 (P.L.1232, No.150), are
14 amended to read:
15 Section 4. Minimum Wages.--Except as may otherwise be
16 provided under this act:
17 (a) Every employer shall pay to each of his employes wages
18 for all hours worked at a rate of not less than:
1 (1) Two dollars sixty-five cents ($2.65) an hour upon the
2 effective date of this amendment.
3 (2) Two dollars ninety cents ($2.90) an hour during the year
4 beginning January 1, 1979.
5 (3) Three dollars ten cents ($3.10) an hour during the year
6 beginning January 1, 1980.
7 (4) Three dollars thirty-five cents ($3.35) an hour after
8 December 31, 1980.
9 (5) Three dollars seventy cents ($3.70) an hour beginning
10 February 1, 1989[, and thereafter].
11 (6) On May 1, 1998, and on each succeeding first day of May,
12 the secretary shall set the minimum wage to equal the poverty
13 level for a family of three, as set forth by the Department of
14 Health, divided by two thousand eighty (2,080), rounded up to
15 the nearest one-cent (1¢) increment, except that, if the
16 application of this clause would effect an increase in the
17 minimum wage of greater than fifty cents (50¢), the secretary
18 shall set a fifty-cent (50¢) increase. On or before April 1,
19 1998, and on or before the first day of April of each succeeding
20 year, the secretary shall publish in the Pennsylvania Bulletin
21 notice of the new wage rate.
22 (a.1) If the minimum wage set forth in the Fair Labor
23 Standards Act of 1938 (52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.)
24 is increased above three dollars thirty-five cents ($3.35) an
25 hour, the minimum wage required under this section shall be
26 increased by the same amounts and effective the same date as the
27 increases under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the provisions
28 of subsection (a) are suspended to the extent they [differ from]
29 are less than those set forth under the Fair Labor Standards
30 Act.
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1 * * *
2 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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