Ruling opens door to similar labor mandates in municipalities across Pennsylvania.
HARRISBURG, July 17, 2019 – The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled today that the City of Pittsburgh can require businesses located or providing services within its boundaries to provide employees with paid sick leave and mandate the terms of that leave. NFIB, the leading small business advocacy organization in the nation with over 12,500 members in Pennsylvania, filed briefs in the case arguing that state law prohibited Pittsburgh from enacting such an ordinance.
“Until this decision, state law was clear in saying that home rule cities were forbidden from regulating employment practices; however, with great mental gymnastics, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found a loophole—the assumption that paid sick leave ordinances can be justified as a matter of public health,” said Karen Harned, executive director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center. “This decision will fall especially hard on small businesses, and, unfortunately, open the door for other municipalities to follow Pittsburgh’s lead.”
In the decision, the state’s Supreme Court determined that Pittsburgh’s paid sick leave ordinance has a connection to legitimate health and safety concerns, and therefore the city may enforce its enactment, despite the fact it will negatively impact businesses. The court said an ordinance affecting business, but not directly regulating business is permissible. NFIB argued in a brief filed in the case that, under this theory, any municipal regulation could potentially be justified as having some attenuated nexus to public health.
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is an activist court attempting to use its power to legislate, and rulings like this can significantly harm small businesses,” said Gordon Denlinger, state director of NFIB in Pennsylvania. “Many of Pittsburgh’s food service and home care businesses will be greatly impacted and in the long run that endangers the jobs of those who work for these small companies.”
Today’s decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that had held Pittsburgh’s ordinance violated state law.
