Bill Text: PA HB1945 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Further providing for minimum wage.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-08-24 - Referred to LABOR RELATIONS [HB1945 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-HB1945-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 2602
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1945 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY COHEN, BELFANTI, JOSEPHS, MELIO, J. TAYLOR, YOUNGBLOOD, PARKER, M. O'BRIEN, MYERS, KULA, JOHNSON, GIBBONS, CASORIO AND BRENNAN, AUGUST 24, 2009
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LABOR RELATIONS, AUGUST 24, 2009
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 wage.
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.
(9) Eight dollars fifteen cents ($8.15) an hour beginning
January 1, 2010.
(10) Nine dollars fifty cents ($9.50) an hour beginning
January 1, 2011.
(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.
(a.2) Beginning January 1, 2013, and each year thereafter,
the minimum wage required under this section shall be increased
by an annual cost-of-living adjustment calculated by applying
the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers (CPI-U) for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and
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Maryland area, for the most recent 12-month period for which
figures have been officially reported by the United States
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics immediately
prior to the date the adjustment is due to take effect, to the
then current minimum wage. The percentage increase and the new
minimum wage shall be determined by the department prior to the
annual effective date of the adjustment and shall be published
by them in the Pennsylvania Bulletin within ten days of the date
such determination is made.
(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
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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.
(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
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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. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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