Senator Tartaglione Re-introduces Legislation to Extend Workplace Safety Protections for State, Local Employees

Senator Tartaglione has reintroduced legislation that would extend federal workplace safety protections for Pennsylvania’s state and municipal employees for the first time.

Senate Bill 310 would establish the Pennsylvania Occupational Safety and Health Review Board with the Department of Labor & Industry. The legislation was previously introduced as SB 464 in the 2019-20 session.

Currently, Pennsylvania workers at state and local government agencies do not have Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) protections, which were granted to federal and private-sector employees in 1970. This means that workers of state and local governments, as well as school districts, transportation authorities, and other public agencies, are powerless to change their work environment if they feel unsafe at any time. This legislation would extend OSHA safety rules to public employers including the Commonwealth, all legal political subdivisions, public schools, public transit systems, and non-profit organizations.

The U.S. Department of Labor has reported that there were 154 fatal work injuries in Pennsylvania in 2019 and 152,400 recorded cases of nonfatal workplace injuries.

“Our public servants and their families deserve the peace of mind that comes with stronger safety standards and enforcement,” Senator Tartaglione said. “They deserve to know that we’re doing everything we can to shield them from highway work-zone crashes, transmittable diseases like hepatitis C, and toxic substances like asbestos and lead paint in our public schools. And there must be uniformity in the fight against COVID-19.”

In addition to benefitting police and corrections officers; firefighters and paramedics; highway maintenance workers; public transit workers; and schoolchildren, teachers, administrators, and staff, the legislation would protect individuals who visit public buildings or facilities.

“Taxpayers should know they will be safe when they visit a government office and their children will be safe when they go to school,” Senator Tartaglione said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Board would be a five-member panel to handle complaints about workplace safety issues. The bill would empower the Department of Labor & Industry to conduct jobsite inspections, including unannounced visits, and would protect workers who file safety complaints from retaliation by their employers. The legislation would hold violators accountable through monetary penalties and possible criminal prosecution.

Further, the bill would create a framework of proactive measures including mandatory incident reporting and data-based research that would guide future policy decisions.

American Rescue Plan Provides Relief for Working Families, Unemployed, Small Businesses, and Retirees

Working Pennsylvanians, those who have been displaced from their jobs, and retirees all stand to benefit directly from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) that was signed into law by President Biden on March 11th.

The legislation provides a new round of stimulus payments for most adults, extends unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, waives income taxes on a portion of those benefits, increases recovery resources for small businesses and non-profits, and funds struggling multi-employer pension plans so that they remain solvent.

Further, the Act funds efforts to combat fraudulent unemployment claims, and funds enhanced occupational safety enforcement and training specific to COVID-19 protections.

“I applaud the president and Congress for adopting a comprehensive, wholistic approach that will accelerate our economic recovery from this horrible public health crisis,” Senator Tartaglione said. “The many initiatives in the Act will help sustain Pennsylvanians financially, get them back to work, and inject money into our consumer-driven economy.”

Stimulus payments will be dispersed to individuals with annual income of $80,000 or less ($160,000 or less for joint tax return filers), plus an additional $1,400 for each dependent child. Individuals earning up to $75,000 will collect $1,400. The payment amount will be reduced for those earning between $75,000 and $80,000. Unlike earlier stimulus rounds, parents will be able to collect payments for dependent children 17 and older who are students. Previously, age 16 was the cutoff for dependent children.

In another change from previous rounds, senior citizens who are claimed by someone else as dependent can be eligible for payments.

Without the ARP, federal funded unemployment benefits programs were due to expire on March 14th. The programs have been extended through September 6th and modified.

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) – the benefits program for self-employed people, independent contractors, and gig economy workers – has been increased from 50 weeks per individual to 79 weeks. Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – the extra $300 paid per week to all unemployment benefits recipients – has also been extended to September 6th, as has the $100 per week Mixed Earner (MEUC) payments for individuals who have lost employee wages and self-employment income.

In addition, workers who meet gross income requirements will be able to deduct the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits from their personal income tax responsibility. This applies only to households with annual income of less than $150,000.

The new Act also extends Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) for those who have exhausted their regular state UC benefits and increases the number of eligibility weeks from 24 to 53.

The Act supports small business owners and employees through $7.25 billion in additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers forgivable loans to small businesses and organizations hurt by the pandemic. At least 60% of a loan must be used to support payroll expenses for the employer to be eligible for loan forgiveness.

“The additional money is intended to expand eligibility for the loans to include more nonprofit organizations than were eligible before, as well as digital news services providing local news and public health guidance during the pandemic,” CNN reported.

The PPP is still scheduled to expire on March 31st, so small business employers must contact their chosen lenders as soon as possible to prepare an application through the Small Business Administration.

In addition, businesses that choose to self-insure their unemployment costs (rather than paying an annual solvency fee) will be eligible for a 75% subsidy for benefits paid between March 31st, 2021, and September 6th, 2021. Previously, the subsidy was 50% of employer costs.

The Act also includes $29 billion to create a grant program specifically for restaurants, and $15 billion for entities that operate museums, theaters, concert halls, and other venues that have been shut down.

Underfunded multiemployer pension plans will receive an $86 billion boost to ensure that more than 1 million workers and retirees will be able to count on receiving the full retirement benefits they have earned. There are about 1,400 such plans in the U.S., but about 130 are at risk of insolvency. The new funding would be administered through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Starting This Fall, ‘Near Completers’ Program to Help Pennsylvanians Finish College, Workforce Training

Four out of every 10 Pennsylvania college students drop out of school before earning a degree. A new Department of Labor & Industry program will help those Pennsylvanians, as well as those with partially completed workforce training, to complete their studies and improve their employment prospects.

The department’s Near Completers program will launch this fall as a pilot program in selected urban, suburban, and rural areas of the Commonwealth. Initially, the program will work with individuals who have been displaced from employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were earning $15 an hour or less before becoming unemployed.

“Approximately $7 million in federal funds will be awarded to approved Local Workforce Development Boards (LWDBs) who apply for Near Completers grants,” the department stated. “The grant applications will be available before the end of (March).”

Near Completers is a component of Governor Wolf’s Back to Work PA plan, which seeks to remove number barriers to employment identified by the bipartisan Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center. One of the key barriers preventing many Pennsylvanians from gaining jobs in high-demand, good-paying careers is a lack of workforce development and training.

“Each Near Completers program will connect job seekers with prior but incomplete learning experiences and skills to institutes of higher education, community agencies, and employers to help them rapidly gain the credentials they need to quality to work in a high-priority occupation,” the department stated.

The department plans to release additional information about the program and the LWDB application process this month.

PA Labor & Industry Will Hire 500 New Customer Service Reps to Improve Call Center, Claims Processing

The Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) is taking action to make it easier for Pennsylvanians with questions or issues to reach the department. Acting Secretary Jennifer Berrier today announced at least 500 new customer service representatives will be added to the unemployment compensation call center and experienced existing staff will transition to resolving claims full time.

“To the individuals on unemployment programs who've struggled to reach one of our customer service representatives, we've not only heard you – we listened,” said Acting Secretary Berrier. “Adding at least 500 new customer service representatives accomplishes two important goals. It will make it easier for people to reach us via phone and will enable more experienced staff to focus solely on resolving and processing claims.”

Faster Assistance
L&I is transforming customer service to provide faster assistance by phone and to resolve claims.

• Hiring and training a minimum of 500 new customer service representatives to answer calls, collect information and build claimant inquiries by June;
• Hiring and training between 50 and 100 new customer service team leaders;
• Reassigning current UC staff members who are answering calls to begin processing claims full-time; and,
• Implementing a customer service tracking portal that will assign a ticket number to claimants outlining ongoing UC staff work related to their ticket number as well as their place in the service queue.

Increasing Call Center Staff
L&I is working with its call center vendor, InspiriTec, to hire the initial round of new staff by June. If needed, L&I is prepared to hire up to 1,000 total new staff to take claimants' calls and improve UC customer service.

InspiriTec is working with L&I's Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and PA CareerLink to hire the additional customer service representatives. Interested job seekers can apply by contacting their local PA CareerLink office.

The total cost of the UCSC improvement will not exceed $58.6 million and will be paid for primarily using federal funding.

UC COVID-19 Statistics
Since last March, L&I's Office of Unemployment Compensation has:

• Paid nearly $38.2 billion in benefits to unemployed Pennsylvanians;
• More than doubled the total number of staff in all UC Service Center roles – from 775 employees last March 15th to the current total of 1,730;
• Answered nearly 1.12 million total calls (32,977 last week) – an increase of approximately 581% from the beginning of the pandemic;
• Responded to more than 2.36 million emails (57,098 last week) – an increase of approximately 1,782% from the beginning of the pandemic; and,
• Handled close to 245,000 online chats (3,491 last week) – an increase of approximately 56% from the beginning of the pandemic.

For more information and updates on unemployment benefits programs, visit www.uc.pa.gov and follow L&I on Facebook and Twitter.

Commonwealth Records 7.3% Unemployment Rate in January; Total Nonfarm Jobs Increase 35,700

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) released its employment situation report for January 2021.  

Pennsylvania's unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points over the month to 7.3% in January. The U.S. rate fell 0.4 percentage points from December to 6.3%. The commonwealth's unemployment rate was 2.5 percentage points above its January 2020 level while the national rate was up 2.8 points over the same period.

Pennsylvania's civilian labor force – the estimated number of residents working or looking for work – decreased 15,000 over the month.  

Pennsylvania's total nonfarm jobs were up 35,700 over the month to 5,638,100 in January, essentially reversing December's decline of 35,400 jobs. Employment increased in four of the 11 industry super-sectors with the largest volume gain in professional & business services (+12,100).  

Visit the L&I website at www.dli.pa.gov and follow the department on social media via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for the latest news and information. 
Notes: The above data are seasonally adjusted. Seasonally adjusted data provide the most valid month-to-month comparison. 

Because the data included in each month's press release (primarily civilian labor force and nonfarm jobs data) are based on samples, the data are subject to revisions. Once each year, estimates are adjusted to new levels based on additional or revised information collected after the initial release of the data (called a benchmark).

Additionally, seasonal adjustment factors for historical labor force and nonfarm jobs data are updated each year. Revisions to the statewide labor force and nonfarm jobs series through 2020 have been completed and are reflected in this January news release. For a complete set of benchmarked data, visit www.workstats.dli.pa.gov.

Current Labor Force Statistics

(Seasonally adjusted; in thousands.)

(Note: February 2021 labor force and nonfarm jobs stats will be released March 26th, 2021.)

PA Nonagricultural Wage and Salary Employment

(For a more detailed breakdown of seasonally adjusted jobs data at the sector level, please contact the Center for Workforce Information & Analysis at 1-877-4WF-DATA, or visit www.paworkstats.pa.gov)
(Note: February 2021 labor force and nonfarm jobs stats will be released March 26th, 2021.)