In August, the Pittsburgh City Council passed a paid sick leave ordinance that will require employers with 15 or more employees to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave.  Employers with less than 15 employees will be required to provide up to 24 hours of unpaid sick time for the first year.  After that, small employers will have to provide up to 24 hours of paid leave.  The Ordinance states that the law will be effective 90 days from the date regulations and the required notices are issued.

Before the law even had an effective date, several business groups filed a lawsuit challenging the Council’s power to enact the Ordinance.  The legal challenge is premised on the fact that Pittsburgh is established pursuant to a home rule charter.  The groups allege that there is a home rule law that prohibits cities formed under home rule charters from passing laws related to employment.

Not to be deterred, the City Controller issued the required posters on Monday and set the effective date as January 11, 2016.  Copies of the posters can be found here.  The business groups suing the City have stated that they plan to seek an injunction prohibiting the law from going into effect.  In the absence of such an injunction, the law will go into effect on January 11th and employers should review their sick leave policies for compliance.