PRINTER'S NO. 475

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

No.

12

Session of

2019

INTRODUCED BY TARTAGLIONE, HAYWOOD, HUGHES, LEACH, FONTANA,

STREET, COLLETT, L. WILLIAMS, FARNESE, SCHWANK, BLAKE,

BREWSTER, SANTARSIERO, MUTH, YUDICHAK, KEARNEY, DINNIMAN,

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; providing for gratuities; further providing for

enforcement and rules and regulations, for penalties and for

civil actions; repealing provisions relating to preemption;

and providing for taxpayer savings and reinvestment.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

(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

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

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

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

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.

(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) Twelve dollars ($12) an hour beginning July 1, 2019.

(10) Twelve dollars fifty cents ($12.50) an hour beginning

July 1, 2024.

(15) Fifteen dollars ($15) an hour beginning July 1, 2025.

(16) Beginning July 1, 2026, and for each succeeding July 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

Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the next

Pennsylvania Bulletin.

* * *

Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:

Section 5.2. Gratuities.--(a) A gratuity shall be the sole

property of the employe to whom the gratuity was paid, given or

left. An employer may not take a gratuity or a part of a

gratuity that was paid, given to or left for an employe by a

credit card processing fees or costs that may be charged to the

employer by the credit card company. The payment of a gratuity

made by a guest, customer or patron using a credit card shall be

made to the employe not later than the next regular payday after

the date the guest, customer or patron authorized the credit

card payment.

Section 3. Sections 9, 12 and 13 of the act are amended to

read:

Section 9. Enforcement; Rules and Regulations.--[The

secretary shall enforce this act.] (a) The secretary shall make

professional employes and outside salespersons, learners and

apprentices, their number, proportion, length of learning

period, and other working conditions; [handicapped] workers with

disabilities; part-time pay; overtime standards; bonuses;

allowances for board, lodging, apparel, or other facilities or

services customarily furnished by employers to employes;

[allowances for gratuities;] or allowances for such other

special conditions or circumstances which may be incidental to a

discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any

employe because such employe has testified or is about to

testify before the secretary or his or her representative in any

investigation or proceeding under or related to this act, or

because such employer believes that said employe may so testify

shall, upon conviction thereof in a summary proceeding, be

sentenced to pay a fine of not less than [five hundred dollars

($500)] one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) nor more than

[one thousand dollars ($1,000)] three thousand dollars ($3,000),

and in default of the payment of such fine and costs, shall be

not less than [seventy-five dollars ($75)] two hundred twenty-

five dollars ($225) nor more than [three hundred dollars ($300)]

nine hundred dollars ($900) or to undergo imprisonment of not

less than ten nor more than sixty days, or both. Each week in

which such employe is paid less than the rate applicable to him

or her under this act and for each employe who is paid less than

the prescribed rate, a separate offense shall be deemed to

occur. Any agreement between the employer and the employe to

[one hundred dollars ($100)] three hundred dollars ($300) nor

more than [five hundred dollars ($500)] one thousand five

hundred dollars ($1,500), and each day of such failure to comply

with this act or regulation, shall constitute a separate

offense.

Section 13. Civil Actions.--(a) If any employe is paid by

his or her employer less than the minimum wages provided by

section 4 of this act or by any regulation issued thereunder,

such worker may recover in a civil action the full amount of

such minimum wage less any amount actually paid to the worker by

the secretary may take an assignment of such wage claim, in

trust for the assigning worker and may bring any legal action

necessary to collect such claim,]

(b) The secretary may bring any legal action necessary to

collect the wages of any employe who is paid by his or her

employer less than the minimum wages provided by section 4 of

this act or by any regulation issued thereunder and the employer

shall be required to pay the cost and such reasonable attorney's

act or omission was not in violation of this act.

Section 4. Section 14.1 of the act is repealed:

[Section 14.1. Preemption.--(a) Except as set forth in

subsection (b), this act shall preempt and supersede any local

ordinance or rule concerning the subject matter of this act.

(b) This section does not prohibit local regulation pursuant

to an ordinance which was adopted by a municipality prior to

January 1, 2006, and which remained in effect on January 1,

2006.]

Section 5. The act is amended by adding a section to read:

(1) publish the amount of savings, along with the

appropriation in which an amount is to be saved, on the

Department of Human Services' publicly accessible Internet

website; and

(2) forward a notice of the information under paragraph (1)

to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the

Pennsylvania Bulletin.

(b) Savings under subsection (a) shall be used to provide

Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

Section 6. This act shall take effect immediately.