Pittsburgh Joins the Over-40 Club for Paid Sick Leave

On June 12, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey signed into law an amendment to the Paid Sick Days Act that changes the accrual requirements and amount of paid sick leave that must be provided under the act.

Effective Jan. 1, employers in Pittsburgh, regardless of size, must allow covered employees to accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked in the city, instead of every 35 hours. Further, employers with 15 or more employees must allow employees to accumulate (through accrual or frontloading), carry over (if accruing), and have access to up to 72 hours of paid sick leave each year — up from 40 hours. Employers with fewer than 15 employees must allow employees to accumulate (through accrual or frontloading), carry over (if accruing), and have access to up to 48 hours of paid sick leave each year — up from 24 hours.

Before this amendment, the paid-sick-leave laws in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pa. used the same accrual rate and permitted employees to accumulate and annually use the same amount of paid sick leave (under Pittsburgh’s “large” employer standard). Unless Allegheny County revises its law to match Pittsburgh’s, starting in 2026, employers in Pennsylvania may need to comply with three laws across the state with different accrual rates and caps.

Given the forthcoming changes to the law, employers with employees who work in Pittsburgh should review their paid sick leave policies to ensure they remain compliant. The city is expected to issue an updated workplace poster about the law by its effective date; employers will need to display the poster.

Taylor Brailey and Mark T. Phillis are attorneys with Littler in Pittsburgh. © 2025 Littler. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.