Pennsylvania Local Paid Sick Leave: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh & Allegheny County

Pennsylvania has no state paid-sick-leave statute. What the state law does instead is make an employer’s own promise enforceable: under the Wage Payment and Collection Law (Act of Jul. 14, 1961, P.L. 637, No. 329; 43 P.S. §§ 260.1–260.12), § 3(b) requires an employer who “agrees to pay or provide fringe benefits or wage supplements” to actually provide them. It creates no duty to offer sick leave in the first place. So absent a local ordinance, paid sick time is a voluntary benefit governed by your policy — but once your policy promises it, the WPCL is what enforces it.

A statewide mandate has been proposed and has not passed: Senate Bill 13 (2025–26 session) would create one and remains in the Senate Labor & Industry Committee.

Philadelphia's Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces Act requires covered employers to provide accrued paid sick time (generally 1 hour per 40 hours worked, up to an annual cap), usable for the employee's or a family member's illness, preventive care, or safe-leave purposes. Smaller employers may owe unpaid sick time. Confirm current accrual caps and notice rules with the City.

Pittsburgh's Paid Sick Days Act — upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2019 (Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Ass'n v. City of Pittsburgh, 211 A.3d 810 (Pa. 2019)) — likewise requires accrued paid sick time for employees working in the city, with accrual and cap rules that depend on employer size.

The one most often missed, because it is neither a city ordinance nor a state statute. Allegheny County requires employers with 26 or more employees to provide 1 hour of paid sick time per 35 hours worked in the county, capped at 40 hours a year — Allegheny County Health Department Rules & Regulations art. XXIV § 2403(B) (Ord. 15-21-OR).

§ 2411(B) yields to any municipality with a not-less-stringent ordinance, which is what takes Pittsburgh out of the county rule. So a Pittsburgh employer answers to Pittsburgh; a suburban Allegheny County employer answers to the County.

Identify where each employee physically works and check three jurisdictions, not two: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County outside Pittsburgh. Apply the ordinance that governs that location, post the required local notices, and keep accrual records.

Treat those three as a floor rather than a complete list. Philadelphia separately requires health care epidemic leave (Phila. Code § 9-4117) and domestic-worker paid leave (§ 9-4503(3)), and all three jurisdictions have a safe harbor for an existing PTO policy that already meets the accrual requirement. When in doubt about a current rule, verify with the municipality or the County — caps, carryover and documentation change.