Earlier this year, a bill to require advance notification to workers and communities facing sudden job loss was placed before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The bill would provide expanded protections beyond that required by existing federal law.
House Bill 2390, the Pennsylvania Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, was introduced by Representatives White, Belfanti, Bradford, Brennan, Daley, DePasquale, Freeman, Gibbons, Hornaman, Josephs, Kula, Murt, M. O'Brien, Quinn, Santoni, Siproth, K. Smith and Thomas. The bill was referred to the House Labor Relations Committee, where it remains pending.
The bill would require employers of fifty or more workers to provide ninety days advance notice to employees who lose their jobs as a result of a business closing or mass layoffs. Business closings would be defined as the termination of operations at a single site of employment resulting in job loss to twenty-five or more workers. A mass layoff would occur when, at a single site, twenty-five or more workers comprising one-third of the workforce suffer a loss of employment or when 250 or more workers were laid off at a single site. The proposed law would empower the state secretary of labor to accept complaints and investigate employer violations.
Concerned Pennsylvanians are asked to contact the chair of the House Labor Relations Committee and their state representatives to register their support of the pending legislation.
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