THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY VANCE, ERICKSON, TARTAGLIONE, BROWNE, ARGALL, M. WHITE, BAKER, BRUBAKER, EARLL, EICHELBERGER, FERLO, ORIE, RAFFERTY, ROBBINS AND WAUGH, JUNE 3, 2011

REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, JUNE 3, 2011  

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 minimum wages.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 4 of the act of January 17, 1968 (P.L.11,

No.5), known as The Minimum Wage Act of 1968, amended July 9,

2006 (P.L.1077, No.112), is amended to read:

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

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.

(a.1)  If the minimum wage set forth in the Fair Labor

Standards Act of 1938 (52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.)

is increased above the minimum wage required under this section,

the minimum wage required under this section shall be increased

by the same amounts and effective the same date as the increases

under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the provisions of

subsection (a) are suspended to the extent they differ from

those set forth under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

(b)  The secretary, to the extent necessary to prevent

curtailment of employment opportunities, shall by regulations

provide for the employment of learners and students, under

special certificates at wages lower than the minimum wage

applicable under this section, and subject to such limitations

as to number, proportion and length of service as the secretary

shall prescribe: Provided, That the minimum wage prescribed

under this subsection (b) shall not be less than eighty-five

percent of the otherwise applicable wage rate in effect under

section 4. A special certificate issued under this subsection

shall provide that for six or less students for whom it is

issued shall, except during vacation periods, be employed on a

part-time basis and not in excess of twenty hours in any

workweek at a sub-minimum rate.

In the case of an employer who intends to employ seven or

more students, at a sub-minimum rate, the secretary may issue a

special certificate only if the employer certifies to the

secretary that employment of such students will not create a

substantial probability of reducing the full-time employment

opportunities for other workers.

(c)  Employes shall be paid for overtime not less than one

and one-half times the employe's regular rate as prescribed in

regulations promulgated by the secretary: Provided, That

students employed in seasonal occupations as defined and

delimited by regulations promulgated by the secretary may, by

such regulations, be excluded from the overtime provisions of

this act: And provided further, That the secretary shall

promulgate regulations with respect to overtime subject to the

limitations that no pay for overtime in addition to the regular

rate shall be required except for hours in excess of forty hours

in a workweek. Employes may utilize the overtime arrangement

described in section 207(j) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (29

U.S.C. § 207(j)) in hospitals and establishments engaged in the

care of the sick, aged or mentally ill.

(d)  An employe whose earning capacity is impaired by

physical or mental deficiency or injury may be paid less than

the applicable minimum wage if either a license specifying a

wage rate commensurate with the employe's productive capacity

has been obtained by the employer from the secretary or a

Federal certificate is obtained under section 14(c) of the Fair

Labor Standards Act of 1938 (52 Stat. 1060, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et

seq.). A license obtained from the secretary shall be granted

only upon joint application of employer and employe.

(e)  In lieu of the minimum wage prescribed in subsection (a)

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 2.  The amendment of section 4 of the act shall apply

retroactively to March 1, 2010.

Section 3.  This act shall take effect immediately.