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May 13, 2026
The Office of Worker Protections (OWP) updated three sets of proposed regulations on April 15, 2026, to reflect changes made by the Protect Our Workers, Enforce Rights (POWER) Act (Act), which was passed on May 27, 2025. See our article here with the details of the POWER Act. With the OWP’s proposed regulations, investigations, penalties, and retaliation findings will become routine parts of enforcement. The regulations become effective on May 15, 2026, at the end of a 30-day review period. If, during the review period, someone requests a hearing on the proposed regulations, the regulations’ effective date will be delayed until the filing of a hearing report.
The Act empowers the OWP to conduct more thorough and proactive workplace investigations and to hold employers accountable for violations of local employment laws, such as the Paid Sick Leave ordinance and Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights. The OWP can investigate without a complaint, may expand investigations to all workers at a business, and has subpoena power.
The Act makes it unlawful for employers to retaliate against employees who exercise their rights, including protections against adverse actions such as termination, demotion, or any form of discrimination. A rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation exists if the adverse action occurs within 90 days of the employee filing a complaint, cooperating with the OWP, opposing any policy or practice that is unlawful under the Act, or informing any person about their employer’s alleged violations.
The Act establishes stronger legal safeguards for workers and steeper financial penalties for employers who break the law. Workers can now receive direct financial compensation when their rights are infringed, a notable departure from previous practices where penalties were directed solely to the City.
The Act permits the City to suspend or revoke business licenses and City procurement contracts of employers with repeated violations and mandates the creation of a “Bad Actors Database” to publicly list employers with three or more infractions.
Employers must provide written notice of rights and post notices in multiple languages. Employers must create and maintain contemporaneous records for a period of three years regarding the hours worked by an employee, including dates, and hours of sick time taken by an employee and payments made to an employee for the sick time.
Written contracts are required on or before the first day of work and must include job duties, pay, schedule, leave, and termination terms. Meal and rest breaks include 10-minute paid rest every four hours and 30-minute unpaid meal breaks after five hours.
The amendments change who qualifies as a “tipped” employee – increasing the threshold from receiving $30 to $50 a month in tips – and mandate that the hourly rate of pay shall be the numerical average of specific Standard Occupational Classification codes as published for Philadelphia County by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
Exhausting administrative remedies is no longer a prerequisite to filing suit. However, employees must provide their employer written notice of an alleged violation and 15 days to remedy the harm unless the violation involves willful misconduct or retaliation. The Act extends the statute of limitations to three years.
The law provides new workplace protections to over 750,000 Philadelphia workers, regardless of immigration status. Employers should prepare for more aggressive enforcement and ensure compliance with all aspects of the Act to avoid penalties, license suspension, and inclusion in the public Bad Actors Database.
This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
