An Act amending the act of January 17, 1968 (P.L.11, No.5), known as The Minimum Wage Act of 1968, further providing for definitions, for minimum wages and for exemptions; 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 local option and for taxpayer savings and reinvestment.

PRINTER'S NO. 685
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 19
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY TARTAGLIONE, STREET, KEARNEY, HUGHES, KANE, COSTA,
COMITTA, SAVAL, CAPPELLETTI AND HAYWOOD, APRIL 28, 2025
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, APRIL 28, 2025
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, for minimum
wages and for exemptions; 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 local option and
for taxpayer savings and reinvestment.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 3(d) of the act of January 17, 1968
(P.L.11, No.5), known as The Minimum Wage Act of 1968, is
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] seventy percent of the wage in effect under
section 4; 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 subparagraph (i) and the wage in effect
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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 2. Section 4(a) of the act is amended by adding a
paragraph 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:
* * *
(9) Fifteen dollars ($15) an hour beginning January 1, 2026.
Each succeeding 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
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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, forward a notice of
the determination to the Legislative Reference Bureau for
publication in the next available issue of the Pennsylvania
Bulletin. If in a year the increase to the minimum wage does not
provide a minimum wage greater than or equal to the minimum wage
under Federal law, the minimum wage shall be increased to the
minimum wage under Federal law.
* * *
Section 3. Section 5(c)(2) of the act is amended and the
subsection is amended by adding a paragraph to read:
Section 5. Exemptions.--* * *
(c) * * *
(2) Such employer shall pay the full amount of the minimum
wage under section 4(a)(8) beginning July 1, 2008 through
December 31, 2025.
(3) Such employer shall pay the full amount of the minimum
wage under section 4(a)(9) beginning January 1, 2026.
Section 4. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 5.2. Gratuities.--(a) A gratuity shall be the
property of the employe who received the voluntary monetary
contribution from a guest, patron or customer for services
rendered. An employer shall not take a gratuity or a part of a
gratuity received by an employe from a guest, customer or
patron.
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(b) An employer that accepts payment of a gratuity by credit
card shall pay the employe the full amount of the gratuity that
the guest, customer or patron indicated on the credit card slip
without a deduction for any 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 5. 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
and, from time to time, revise regulations, with the assistance
of the board, when requested by the secretary, which shall be
deemed appropriate to carry out the purposes of this act and to
safeguard the minimum wage rates thereby established. Such
regulations may include, but are not limited to, regulations
defining and governing bona fide executive, administrative, or
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
particular employer-employe relationship.
(b) The secretary shall have the authority to investigate
possible violations of this act and to assess administrative
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penalties under section 12.
Section 12. Penalties.--(a) Any employer and his or her
agent, or the officer or agent of any corporation, who
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
sentenced to imprisonment for not less than ten days nor more
than ninety days.
(b) Any employer or the officer or agent of any corporation
who pays or agrees to pay any employe less than the rates
applicable to such employe under this act shall, upon conviction
thereof in a summary proceeding, be sentenced to pay a fine of
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
work for less than the applicable wage rate shall be no defense
to action by the Commonwealth under this section.
(c) Any employer or the officer or agent of any corporation
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who violates any other provision of this act or of any
regulation issued thereunder shall, upon conviction thereof in a
summary proceeding, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than
[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 employer, together with costs and such reasonable attorney's
fees as may be allowed by the court, and any agreement between
the employer and the worker to work for less than such minimum
wage shall be no defense to such action. [At the request of any
employe paid less than the minimum wage to which such employe
was entitled under this act and regulations issued thereunder,
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 or by
any regulation issued thereunder and the employer shall be
required to pay the cost and such reasonable attorney's fees as
may be allowed by the court.
(c) In an action brought under this section, whether brought
by the employe or by the secretary, where there is a finding of
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a violation by the employer under this act, the employer shall
be liable for any fees and costs associated with enforcement of
this act and liquidated damages in an amount equal to the wages
or overtime compensation owed to the employe unless the employer
shows that the act or omission resulting in the nonpayment of
wages was in good faith and the employer had reasonable grounds
for believing that the act or omission was not in violation of
this act.
Section 6. 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 7. The act is amended by adding sections to read:
Section 14.2. Local Option.--(a) A municipality may not
adopt a local ordinance or regulation providing for a minimum
wage greater than the wage provided under section 4 unless:
(1) the municipality submits a declaration of its intent to
set a greater minimum wage policy to the secretary; and
(2) a period of ninety days has lapsed since the submission
of intent to the secretary.
(b) If a municipality fulfills the conditions of subsection
(a), a municipality that adopts an ordinance or regulation
providing for a greater minimum wage than the wage provided
under section 4 may also adopt provisions for the local
enforcement of the ordinance or regulation, including, but not
limited to, enforcement by private parties.
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(c) A municipality may withdraw its declaration of intent to
set a greater minimum wage policy by adopting an ordinance to
withdraw and submitting notice to the secretary. The notice of
intent to withdraw shall include a copy of the ordinance the
municipality will adopt to effectuate the withdrawal. The
following shall apply:
(1) All prior ordinances or regulations or parts of
ordinances or regulations or any prior acts taken by the
municipality to set a greater minimum wage than provided under
section 4 shall be repealed by the adoption of the ordinance to
withdraw.
(2) After withdrawal, nothing shall prohibit a municipality
from subsequently submitting a declaration of intent to set a
greater minimum wage policy under subsection (a).
(3) After withdrawal, the municipality shall comply with all
provisions under this act.
(d) Nothing in this act shall be construed to:
(1) Authorize a municipality to adopt a wage lower than the
minimum wage as required by section 4 and 29 U.S.C. Ch. 8
(relating to fair labor standards).
(2) Prohibit the secretary from enforcing this act.
(e) Definition.--As used in this section, the term
"municipality" means a county, city, borough, incorporated town,
township, home rule municipality, optional plan municipality or
optional charter municipality.
Section 14.3. Taxpayer Savings and Reinvestment.-- (a) One
year after the effective date of section 4(a)(9) and after each
subsequent yearly increase to the minimum wage thereafter, the
Secretary of Human Services shall determine the amount of money
that will be saved from the increase of wages to individuals
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thereby making the individuals ineligible for programs under the
Department of Human Services. The Secretary of Human Services
shall:
(1) Publish the amount of savings on the publicly accessible
Internet website of the Department of Human Services.
(2) Transmit a notice of the information under this section
to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the next
available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
(b) Money saved by the Commonwealth under this section shall
be used to provide increases to child-care providers, direct-
care workers and for home-based and community-based services.
The Secretary of Human Services shall distribute money saved
under this section in the same manner that the providers are
paid. The programs that will receive the savings and the amounts
being augmented to each appropriation shall be forwarded to the
Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the next
available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
Section 8. This act shall take effect immediately.
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