Governor puts House on timetable to pass minimum wage bill

| 11 Dec 2019 | 03:00

(AP) Gov. Tom Wolf is putting the state House of Representatives on a timeline to pass legislation he has long sought to raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage, saying Dec. 6 that the Republican-controlled chamber has until the end of the month. If the House doesn't pass the bill, Wolf's office said the Democrat will let a rulemaking board proceed with a vote on a regulatory measure to extend overtime pay eligibility to tens of thousands of workers. The administration's proposal on overtime pay would expand overtime pay eligibility to 82,000 workers who earn above a new federal threshold that's rising to almost $36,000 on Jan. 1. It would phase in the increase over two years and require in 2022 that salaried workers earning up to $45,500 a year get time-and-a-half pay for any time they work over 40 hours in a week. Pennsylvania's current threshold is set at the federal baseline of $23,660, although the administration said the rising federal threshold will make 61,000 workers in the state newly eligible for overtime pay. The current threshold took effect in 2004.