House Labor Relations Committee Holds Hearings on Multiple Bills

The House Labor Relations Committee held public hearings on three bills: House Bills 2108 (Ellis, R-Butler), 2230 (Gergely, D-Allegheny) and 2160 (Bradford, D-Montgomery)

Rep. Ellis introduced HB 2108 over concerns that Whistleblower protections are not granted to entities receiving public funding – especially during a time when there is a large influx of federal stimulus dollars to the Commonwealth. His legislation would expand applicability of the Whistleblower law to non-profits and private sector companies that receive public monies, and would increase the civil fine from $500 to a maximum of $10,000. As intended by the prime sponsor, his legislation would apply to state contracts for capital construction.

Since 2005, more than 6,500 employers have participated in an industry partnership, and as a result, 75,000 workers have received some form of training. Rep. Gergley’s HB 2230 seeks to bolster the 72 current partnerships and drive that number even higher. It amends the Workforce Development Act to add industry partnerships and to provide funding for them through a grant program administered by the Department of Labor & Industry. It also lays out industry clusters and provides for interdepartmental cooperation, industry and labor market research, and development and implementation of an industry partnership performance improvement and evaluation system.

Concerned over high unemployment, especially in Montgomery County, Rep. Bradford has introduced HB 2160 to be a work sharing bill to offers employers the ability to alleviate layoffs by allowing employees to reduce work hours while still retaining them on the payroll. According to Rep. Bradford, 17 states have enacted such laws and his bill would require that all impacted employees would have to be covered, hours could not be increased or decreased by more than 20% and Employers would have to have a regular wage payment history established

For more information or to share your opinion on any of these bills, please contact Terry McDonough at 717-731-6272 or keystonecontractors@verizon.net.