11/09/2007
A state House Labor committee plans to vote next week (Nov. 12-16) on two bills that will mandate lunch breaks and coffee breaks and the times at which small-business owners must provide them. Small-business owners who violate the laws would be subject to fines up to $2,500 per violation.
House Bills 1756 and 1757, sponsored by Rep. Galloway (Bucks), would require employers to provide mandatory rest and meal periods, respectively. Specifically, HB 1756 would mandate that employers provide a 15-minute uninterrupted rest period for each four consecutive hours of work. HB 1757 would mandate that employers provide a meal period of at least 30 consecutive minutes for employees who work 7.5 or more hours a day. If an employee works 7.5 hours, the lunch break must be held between the third and fifth hour of work.
Small-business owners should contact members of the committee to express their opposition to the legislation and explain how these mandates would impede their ability to manage their workforce and hamper your flexibility to establish break periods and leave policies that meet the needs of your own workers. Contact information for the House Labor Relations Committee is below.
Pennsylvania House Labor Relations Committee:
- Chairman: Belfanti, Jr., Robert E.
- Minority chairman: DiGirolamo, Gene
- Casorio, James E.
- Boyd, Scott W.
- Shimkus, Frank Andrews
- Blackwell, Thomas W.
- Buxton, Ron
- DePasquale, Eugene
- Galloway, John T.
- Gergely, Marc J.
- Gibbons, Jaret
- Goodman, Neal
- Harkins, Patrick J.
- McGeehan, Michael P.
- Ramaley, Sean M.
- Sabatina, Jr., John P.
- Seip, Tim
- Waters, Ronald G.
- Bastian, Bob
- Bear, John C.
- Cappelli, Steven W.
- Cox, Jim
- Gabi, Will
- Grell, Glen R.
- Killion, Thomas H.
- Mantz, Carl W.
- Metcalfe, Daryl D.
- Mustio, T. Mark
- Pyle, Jeffrey P.
