Payroll and Benefits Guide United States – Pennsylvania

Annual Leave (vacation)

Public holidays are not mandatory paid days off, but employers commonly allow workers to take federal holidays as paid days off.

Some companies might also agree to allow workers to take off state holidays; workers can find specific state holiday dates from their local government.

Usually when an agreed public holiday falls on a weekend, a day off in lieu is given on the Friday before or the Monday after the holiday.

Sick Days

Sick leave falls under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides leave for an employee with a serious health condition that makes them unable to perform the essential functions of their job.

It is common for an employer to follow the FMLA which provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for certain family and medical reasons (maternity leave, serious illnesses, or if the employee needs to care for a spouse or child).

Employees are eligible for FMLA if they have worked for their employer for at least one year, completed a minimum of 1,250 hours over the past year, and worked at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

In addition to the FMLA, employers in Philadelphia must provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours of paid sick leave.

In Pittsburgh, employers with less than 15 employees may provide unpaid leave for the first year of employment, increasing to one hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked, up to a maximum of 24 hours of paid sick leave a year.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave falls under the FMLA (see sick leave) which allows a mother:

• Twelve working weeks of leave in any one year for a child’s birth and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth.

Paternity Leave

Paternity leave falls under the FMLA (see sick leave), which allows fathers:

• Twelve working weeks of leave in any one year for a child’s birth and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth.

Parental Leave

Parental leave falls under the FMLA (see sick leave), which allows for:

• Leave for the adoption or foster care of a child and care for the newly placed child within one year of placement.
• Any qualifying necessity arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty.”

Other Leave

Leave for the care of an employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a severe health condition falls under the FMLA (see sick leave).

Alternatively, an employee may take 26 working weeks of leave during a single one-year period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the service member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).

Other leave under Pennsylvania law includes:

• Employers must provide their full-time employees job-protected unpaid time off from work to perform jury duty, if they are a witness in a case, responding to a subpoena, or acting as a plaintiff or defendant in the courts. Employees must provide a copy of the jury summons to the employer as evidence of requirement.
• Employees who are registered to vote receive up to four hours of unpaid leave to vote in any municipal, county, state, federal primary, or general election.
• In addition to the federal USERRA, Pennsylvania law provides protection against discrimination for members of U.S. armed forces, reserves, National Guard, commissioned corps of the public health service, and any other category of persons designated by the president in a time of war or emergency.  It also entitles members of the National Guard or the U.S. armed forces to attend military training for up to 15 days of unpaid leave per year. These members also have reinstatement rights to their former positions if they are still qualified and have satisfactorily completed the training.