Regular Session 2023-2024 House Bill 1500 P.N. 1615

PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 1534

PRINTER'S NO. 1615

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

No.

1500

Session of

2023

INTRODUCED BY DAWKINS, KIM, McNEILL, PROBST, VENKAT, HILL-EVANS,

KRUEGER, SCHLOSSBERG, DELLOSO, KENYATTA, GALLAGHER, MADDEN,

GIRAL, N. NELSON, SOLOMON, HADDOCK, SANCHEZ, GUENST, NEILSON,

SCOTT, BOROWSKI, STURLA, KINSEY, CERRATO, BOYLE, WAXMAN,

WARREN, PISCIOTTANO, O'MARA, DONAHUE, GUZMAN, CURRY, FREEMAN,

HOWARD AND PIELLI, JUNE 12, 2023

AS RE-REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, JUNE 20, 2023

AN ACT

Amending the act of January 17, 1968 (P.L.11, No.5), entitled

"An act establishing a fixed minimum wage and overtime rates

for employes, with certain exceptions; providing for minimum

rates for learners and apprentices; creating a Minimum Wage

Advisory Board and defining its powers and duties; conferring

powers and imposing duties upon the Department of Labor and

Industry; imposing duties on employers; and providing

penalties," further providing for definitions and, for

minimum wages AND FOR EXEMPTIONS.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Sections 3(d) and 4(a), 4(A) AND (E) AND 5(C) of

the act of January 17, 1968 (P.L.11, No.5), known as The Minimum

Wage Act of 1968, are amended to read:

Section 3. Definitions.--As used in this act:

* * *

(d) "Wages" mean compensation due to any employe by reason

of his or her employment, payable in legal tender of the United

States or checks on banks convertible into cash on demand at

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full face value, subject to such deductions, charges or

allowances as may be permitted by regulations of the secretary

under section 9.

"Wage" paid to any employe includes the reasonable cost, as

determined by the secretary, to the employer for furnishing such

employe with board, lodging, or other facilities, if such board,

lodging, or other facilities are customarily furnished by such

employer to his or her employes: Provided, That the cost of

board, lodging, or other facilities shall not be included as a

part of the wage paid to any employe to the extent it is

excluded therefrom under the terms of a bona fide collective-

bargaining agreement applicable to the particular employe:

Provided, further, That the secretary is authorized to determine

the fair value of such board, lodging, or other facilities for

defined classes of employes and in defined areas, based on

average cost to the employer or to groups of employers similarly

situated, or average value to groups of employes, or other

appropriate measures of fair value. Such evaluations, where

applicable and pertinent, shall be used in lieu of actual

measure of cost in determining the wage paid to any employe.

In determining the hourly wage an employer is required to pay

a tipped employe, the amount paid such employe by his or her

employer shall be an amount equal to: (i) the cash wage paid the

employe which for the purposes of the determination shall be not

less than [the cash wage required to be paid the employe on the

date immediately prior to the effective date of this

subparagraph] sixty percent of the cash wage required to be paid

the employe under section 4 of this act; and (ii) an additional

amount on account of the tips received by the employe which is

equal to the difference between the wage specified in

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subparagraph (i) and the wage in effect under section 4 of this

act. The additional amount on account of tips may not exceed the

value of tips actually received by the employe. The previous

sentence shall not apply with respect to any tipped employe

unless:

(1) Such employe has been informed by the employer of the

provisions of this subsection;

(2) All tips received by such employe have been retained by

the employe and shall not be surrendered to the employer to be

used as wages to satisfy the requirement to pay the current

hourly minimum rate in effect; where the gratuity is added to

the charge made by the establishment, either by the management,

or by the customer, the gratuity shall become the property of

the employe; except that this subsection shall not be construed

to prohibit the pooling of tips among employes who customarily

and regularly receive tips.

* * *

Section 4. Minimum Wages.--Except as may otherwise be

provided under this act:

(a) Every employer shall pay to each of his or her employes

wages for all hours worked at a rate of not less than:

(1) Two dollars sixty-five cents ($2.65) an hour upon the

effective date of this amendment.

(2) Two dollars ninety cents ($2.90) an hour during the year

beginning January 1, 1979.

(3) Three dollars ten cents ($3.10) an hour during the year

beginning January 1, 1980.

(4) Three dollars thirty-five cents ($3.35) an hour after

December 31, 1980.

(5) Three dollars seventy cents ($3.70) an hour beginning

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February 1, 1989.

(6) Five dollars fifteen cents ($5.15) an hour beginning

September 1, 1997.

(7) Six dollars twenty-five cents ($6.25) an hour beginning

January 1, 2007.

(8) Seven dollars fifteen cents ($7.15) an hour beginning

July 1, 2007.

(9) Eleven dollars ($11) an hour beginning January 1, 2024.

(10) Thirteen dollars ($13) an hour beginning January 1,

2025.

(11) Fifteen dollars ($15) an hour beginning January 1,

2026.

(12) Beginning January 1, 2027, and each January 1

thereafter, the minimum wage shall be increased by an annual

cost-of-living adjustment calculated by the secretary using the

percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban

Consumers (CPI-U) for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and

Maryland area. In calculating the adjustment, the secretary

shall use the most recent twelve-month period for which figures

have been officially reported by the United States Department of

Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. At least sixty days prior to

the date the adjustment is due to take effect, the percentage

increase and the minimum wage amount, rounded to the nearest

multiple of five cents (5¢), shall be determined by the

secretary. The secretary shall, within ten days following the

determination, transmit a notice of the determination to the

Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the next

available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

* * *

(E) IN LIEU OF THE MINIMUM WAGE PRESCRIBED IN SUBSECTION (A)

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[AND SECTION 5(C)] AND NOTWITHSTANDING SUBSECTIONS (B) AND (D),

AN EMPLOYER MAY, DURING THE FIRST SIXTY CALENDAR DAYS WHEN AN

EMPLOYE UNDER THE AGE OF TWENTY YEARS IS INITIALLY EMPLOYED, PAY

THE EMPLOYE TRAINING WAGES AT A RATE OF NOT LESS THAN THE

MINIMUM WAGE SET FORTH IN SECTION 6(A) OF THE FAIR LABOR

STANDARDS ACT (29 U.S.C. § 206(A)). A PERSON EMPLOYED AT THE

TRAINING WAGE UNDER THIS SUBSECTION SHALL BE INFORMED OF THE

AMOUNT OF THE TRAINING WAGE AND THE RIGHT TO RECEIVE THE FULL

MINIMUM WAGE, OR A HIGHER WAGE, UPON COMPLETION OF THE TRAINING

PERIOD. NO EMPLOYER MAY TAKE ANY ACTION TO DISPLACE EXISTING

EMPLOYES, INCLUDING PARTIAL DISPLACEMENTS SUCH AS REDUCTION IN

THE HOURS, WAGES OR EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS OF EXISTING EMPLOYES,

FOR PURPOSES OF HIRING INDIVIDUALS AT THE TRAINING WAGE

AUTHORIZED BY THIS SUBSECTION.

SECTION 5. EXEMPTIONS.--* * *

[(C) (1) NOTWITHSTANDING THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 4(A)(7)

AND (8), AN EMPLOYER UNLESS OTHERWISE EXEMPT FROM THE MINIMUM

WAGE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 4(A)(6) WHOSE EMPLOYE COMPLEMENT IS

COMPOSED OF THE EQUIVALENT OF TEN OR LESS FULL-TIME EMPLOYES TO

BE CALCULATED ON A FORTY-HOUR WORKWEEK SHALL PAY:

(I) FIVE DOLLARS SIXTY-FIVE CENTS ($5.65) AN HOUR BEGINNING

JANUARY 1, 2007.

(II) SIX DOLLARS SIXTY-FIVE CENTS ($6.65) AN HOUR BEGINNING

JULY 1, 2007.

(2) SUCH EMPLOYER SHALL PAY THE FULL AMOUNT OF THE MINIMUM

WAGE UNDER SECTION 4(A)(8) BEGINNING JULY 1, 2008.]

Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.

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