There are two important questions that small business owners should consider as they set up their company, draft an employee handbook, or face an employee asking for paid leave:
- Must employers let employees be off for vacation, sick leave, holidays, jury duty, or any of the other multitude of potential leave days in Pennsylvania?
- And if they are allowed those days off, must the employer pay them to not work?
The general rule of thumb is that there is no Pennsylvania labor law which requires an employer to pay an employee not to work. Benefits like sick leave, vacation pay and severance pay are payments to an employee not to be at work. Of course, with every great rule of thumb, there is always an exception; an employer must follow its own rules regarding paying employees not to work. If the employer has made it a policy to offer a number of paid vacation days per year, paid sick days per year, and paid holiday leave, then the employer is bound by those policies. This means that an employer only has to pay these benefits if the employer has a policy to pay them or a contract with the employee to pay them. It is important to note that there may also be federal requirements governing leave that has to be provided under federal laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and Family Medical Leave Act.
Since employers have a range of options available to them when it comes to paying employees not to work, there are other business strategies that they have to keep in mind. Employers have to realize that they need to balance both the pros and cons of offering paid leave. By making the offer, employers are bound to pay. By not making the offer, employers will be able to invest the saved money back into their business, but employees may feel dissatisfied or look for another place to work that offers better benefits.
Below, I will guide you through some of the leave laws that Pennsylvania deals with. There may be further additional requirements for certain people within the City of Philadelphia. This post only deals with general Pennsylvania state law governing employee leave rights.
Vacation Leave
In Pennsylvania, employers are not required to provide employees with vacation benefits, either paid or unpaid. However, if the employer chooses to provide those benefits, then they must comply with the terms of the established policy or employment contract.
This leaves it open to the employer to decide whether or not to offer vacation days and whether or not those days will be paid.
Sick Leave
In Pennsylvania, employers are not required to provide employees with sick leave benefits, either paid or unpaid. However, if the employer chooses to provide those sick leave benefits, then they must comply with the terms of the established policy or employment contract.
This is one of those areas where the employer may be required provide leave under a federal law though!
*UPDATE 2/26/2018*
On February 15, 2018, the City of Pittsburgh filed a brief with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court urging them to revive an ordinance requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers.
Holiday Leave
Pennsylvania law does not require private employers to provide employees with either paid or unpaid holiday leave.
You may have heard of some businesses offering their employees “premium” pay for working during the holidays. In Pennsylvania, this of course is not required. However, employers will want to be careful with overtime pay. If the employee qualifies for special overtime pay because they worked the holiday, then the employer must make that adjustment.
Jury Duty Leave
An employer is not required to pay an employee for time spent responding to, or serving on, a jury.
Because jury duty is so important in our society, there are a few other employee protections built in. An employer cannot take away an employee’s seniority position or benefits, or fire, threaten, or otherwise coerce them, because the employee receives or responds to a summons, serves as a juror, or attends court for prospective jury service.
Employers in the retail or service industries with fewer than 15 employees and employers in the manufacturing industry with fewer than 40 employees are exempted from the extra employee protections. However, in order to help employees in these industries, employees working for employers in these industries who are exempt from the law due to their limited number of employees may be excused from jury service upon request to the court.
Voting Leave
Pennsylvania does not have any laws that require an employer to grant its employees leave, either paid or unpaid, to vote.
Bereavement Leave
Pennsylvania law does not require employers to provide employee bereavement leave.
Bereavement leave is leave that is taken by an employee due to the death of another individual, usually a close relative. As with all other areas of leave, employers have the ability to offer bereavement leave. But, if the employer makes the offer, they must continue to honor it.
State of Emergency
If the Governor declares a state of emergency and an employee is unable to come to work due to road closures, the employer is not allowed to fire or discipline the employee for that absence. However, the employer is not required to pay the employee for the resulting missing work.
Maternity Leave
Maternity leave is one of those tricky subjects, like sick leave. While Pennsylvania does not require employers to give paid or unpaid time off to employees after having a child, federal law does require it under the Family Medical Leave Act, so you will want to make sure you are compliant under federal law.
Sources:
http://www.dli.pa.gov/Individuals/Labor-Management-Relations/llc/Pages/Wage-FAQs.aspx
43 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 1482 (LexisNexis, Lexis Advance through 2017 Regular Session Acts 1-81; P.S. documents are current through 2017 Regular Session Acts 1-54) [State of Emergency]
43 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 1483 (LexisNexis, Lexis Advance through 2017 Regular Session Acts 1-81; P.S. documents are current through 2017 Regular Session Acts 1-54) [State of Emergency]
42 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 4563 (LexisNexis, Lexis Advance through 2017 Regular Session Acts 1-81; P.S. documents are current through 2017 Regular Session Acts 1-54) [Jury Duty]
https://www.law360.com/articles/1013634/pittsburgh-urges-justices-to-ok-sick-leave-security-laws