Pennsylvania compromise minimum wage and overtime legislation pending

The past couple of months have been very hectic on the wage and hour front in Pennsylvania:

• First, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule, raising the minimum salary threshold for the white collar exemptions to $684/week ($35,568 annually) starting on January 1, 2020.

• Then, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry announced that it was moving forward with its own rule -  it would phase in an even higher minimum salary threshold for the exemptions to $780/week ($40,560 annually) in 2021 and $875/week ($45,500 annually) in 2022. 

• Now, the Pennsylvania Senate has passed a compromise bill that would raise the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour with the understanding that Gov. Wolf will withdraw the proposed Pennsylvania increase to the minimum salary threshold. Gov. Wolf has given the House until the end of the month to pass this new legislation (although the vote on the proposed overtime rule is not scheduled until the end of January). 

I will continue to monitor this issue.