HB 1549 — 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.

PRINTER'S NO.   1826

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 1549
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY DAWKINS, JUNE 3, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND INDUSTRY, JUNE 3, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Amending the act of January 17, 1968 (P.L.11, No.5), entitled
 2      "An act establishing a fixed minimum wage and overtime rates
 3      for employes, with certain exceptions; providing for minimum
 4      rates for learners and apprentices; creating a Minimum Wage
 5      Advisory Board and defining its powers and duties; conferring
 6      powers and imposing duties upon the Department of Labor and
 7      Industry; imposing duties on employers; and providing
 8      penalties," further providing for definitions, for minimum
 9      wages and for exemptions.
10      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
11   hereby enacts as follows:
12      Section 1.    Sections 3(d), 4(a) and (e) and 5(c) of the act
13   of January 17, 1968 (P.L.11, No.5), known as The Minimum Wage
14   Act of 1968, are amended to read:
15      Section 3.    Definitions.--As used in this act:
16      * * *
17      (d)   "Wages" mean compensation due to any employe by reason
18   of his or her employment, payable in legal tender of the United
19   States or checks on banks convertible into cash on demand at
20   full face value, subject to such deductions, charges or
21   allowances as may be permitted by regulations of the secretary
22   under section 9.
 1      "Wage" paid to any employe includes the reasonable cost, as
 2   determined by the secretary, to the employer for furnishing such
 3   employe with board, lodging, or other facilities, if such board,
 4   lodging, or other facilities are customarily furnished by such
 5   employer to his or her employes: Provided, That the cost of
 6   board, lodging, or other facilities shall not be included as a
 7   part of the wage paid to any employe to the extent it is
 8   excluded therefrom under the terms of a bona fide collective-
 9   bargaining agreement applicable to the particular employe:
10   Provided, further, That the secretary is authorized to determine
11   the fair value of such board, lodging, or other facilities for
12   defined classes of employes and in defined areas, based on
13   average cost to the employer or to groups of employers similarly
14   situated, or average value to groups of employes, or other
15   appropriate measures of fair value. Such evaluations, where
16   applicable and pertinent, shall be used in lieu of actual
17   measure of cost in determining the wage paid to any employe.
18      In determining the hourly wage an employer is required to pay
19   a tipped employe, the amount paid such employe by his or her
20   employer shall be an amount equal to: (i) the cash wage paid the
21   employe which for the purposes of the determination shall be not
22   less than [the cash wage required to be paid the employe on the
23   date immediately prior to the effective date of this
24   subparagraph] sixty percent of the cash wage required to be paid
25   the employe under section 4 of this act; and (ii) an additional
26   amount on account of the tips received by the employe which is
27   equal to the difference between the wage specified in
28   subparagraph (i) and the wage in effect under section 4 of this
29   act. The additional amount on account of tips may not exceed the
30   value of tips actually received by the employe. The previous

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 1   sentence shall not apply with respect to any tipped employe
 2   unless:
 3      (1)    Such employe has been informed by the employer of the
 4   provisions of this subsection;
 5      (2)    All tips received by such employe have been retained by
 6   the employe and shall not be surrendered to the employer to be
 7   used as wages to satisfy the requirement to pay the current
 8   hourly minimum rate in effect; where the gratuity is added to
 9   the charge made by the establishment, either by the management,
10   or by the customer, the gratuity shall become the property of
11   the employe; except that this subsection shall not be construed
12   to prohibit the pooling of tips among employes who customarily
13   and regularly receive tips.
14      * * *
15      Section 4.    Minimum Wages.--Except as may otherwise be
16   provided under this act:
17      (a)    Every employer shall pay to each of his or her employes
18   wages for all hours worked at a rate of not less than:
19      (1)    Two dollars sixty-five cents ($2.65) an hour upon the
20   effective date of this amendment.
21      (2)    Two dollars ninety cents ($2.90) an hour during the year
22   beginning January 1, 1979.
23      (3)    Three dollars ten cents ($3.10) an hour during the year
24   beginning January 1, 1980.
25      (4)    Three dollars thirty-five cents ($3.35) an hour after
26   December 31, 1980.
27      (5)    Three dollars seventy cents ($3.70) an hour beginning
28   February 1, 1989.
29      (6)    Five dollars fifteen cents ($5.15) an hour beginning
30   September 1, 1997.

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 1      (7)    Six dollars twenty-five cents ($6.25) an hour beginning
 2   January 1, 2007.
 3      (8)    Seven dollars fifteen cents ($7.15) an hour beginning
 4   July 1, 2007.
 5      (9)    For employes who are employed by an employer in a county
 6   of the first class:
 7      (i)    Fifteen dollars ($15) an hour beginning January 1, 2026.
 8      (ii)    Beginning January 1, 2027, and each January 1
 9   thereafter, the minimum wage for employes who are employed by an
10   employer in a county of the first class shall be increased by an
11   annual cost-of-living adjustment calculated by the secretary
12   using the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All
13   Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
14   Delaware and Maryland area. In calculating the adjustment, the
15   secretary shall use the most recent twelve-month period for
16   which figures have been officially reported by the United States
17   Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. At least sixty
18   days prior to the date the adjustment is due to take effect, the
19   percentage increase and the minimum wage amount, rounded to the
20   nearest multiple of five cents (5¢), shall be determined by the
21   secretary. The secretary shall, within ten days following the
22   determination, transmit a notice of the determination to the
23   Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the next
24   available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
25      (10)    For employes who are employed by an employer in a
26   county of the second class, second class A or third class:
27      (i)    Eleven dollars ($11) an hour beginning January 1, 2026.
28      (ii)    Thirteen dollars ($13) an hour beginning January 1,
29   2027.
30      (iii)   Fifteen dollars ($15) an hour beginning January 1,

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 1   2028.
 2      (iv)    Beginning January 1, 2029, and each January 1
 3   thereafter, the minimum wage for employes who are employed by an
 4   employer in a county of the second class, second class A or
 5   third class shall be increased by an annual cost-of-living
 6   adjustment calculated by the secretary using the percentage
 7   change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-
 8   U) for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland area.
 9   In calculating the adjustment, the secretary shall use the most
10   recent twelve-month period for which figures have been
11   officially reported by the United States Department of Labor,
12   Bureau of Labor Statistics. At least sixty days prior to the
13   date the adjustment is due to take effect, the percentage
14   increase and the minimum wage amount, rounded to the nearest
15   multiple of five cents (5¢), shall be determined by the
16   secretary. The secretary shall, within ten days following the
17   determination, transmit a notice of the determination to the
18   Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the next
19   available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
20      (11)    For employes who are employed by an employer in a
21   county of the fourth class, fifth class, sixth class, seventh
22   class or eighth class:
23      (i)    Ten dollars ($10) an hour beginning January 1, 2026.
24      (ii)    Eleven dollars ($11) an hour beginning January 1, 2027.
25      (iii)    Twelve dollars ($12) an hour beginning January 1,
26   2028.
27      (iv)    Beginning January 1, 2029, and each January 1
28   thereafter, the minimum wage for employes who are employed by an
29   employer in a county of the fourth class, fifth class, sixth
30   class, seventh class or eighth class shall be increased by an

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 1   annual cost-of-living adjustment calculated by the secretary
 2   using the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All
 3   Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
 4   Delaware and Maryland area. In calculating the adjustment, the
 5   secretary shall use the most recent twelve-month period for
 6   which figures have been officially reported by the United States
 7   Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. At least sixty
 8   days prior to the date the adjustment is due to take effect, the
 9   percentage increase and the minimum wage amount, rounded to the
10   nearest multiple of five cents (5¢), shall be determined by the
11   secretary. The secretary shall, within ten days following the
12   determination, transmit a notice of the determination to the
13   Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the next
14   available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
15      * * *
16      (e)   In lieu of the minimum wage prescribed in subsection (a)
17   [and section 5(c)] and notwithstanding subsections (b) and (d),
18   an employer may, during the first sixty calendar days when an
19   employe under the age of twenty years is initially employed, pay
20   the employe training wages at a rate of not less than the
21   minimum wage set forth in section 6(a) of the Fair Labor
22   Standards Act (29 U.S.C. § 206(a)). A person employed at the
23   training wage under this subsection shall be informed of the
24   amount of the training wage and the right to receive the full
25   minimum wage, or a higher wage, upon completion of the training
26   period. No employer may take any action to displace existing
27   employes, including partial displacements such as reduction in
28   the hours, wages or employment benefits of existing employes,
29   for purposes of hiring individuals at the training wage
30   authorized by this subsection.

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 1      Section 5.   Exemptions.--* * *
 2      [(c)   (1)   Notwithstanding the provisions of section 4(a)(7)
 3   and (8), an employer unless otherwise exempt from the minimum
 4   wage provisions of section 4(a)(6) whose employe complement is
 5   composed of the equivalent of ten or less full-time employes to
 6   be calculated on a forty-hour workweek shall pay:
 7      (i)    Five dollars sixty-five cents ($5.65) an hour beginning
 8   January 1, 2007.
 9      (ii)   Six dollars sixty-five cents ($6.65) an hour beginning
10   July 1, 2007.
11      (2)    Such employer shall pay the full amount of the minimum
12   wage under section 4(a)(8) beginning July 1, 2008.]
13      Section 2.   This act shall take effect in 60 days.




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