Calling all Pittsburgh Employers! Paid Sick Days Requirements Change January 1, 2026

In 2015, the City of Pittsburgh passed an ordinance called the Pittsburgh Paid Sick Days Act, requiring exactly that: certain minimum paid sick day (see this previous blog for more specific base details on the law) standards that all employers must provide to employees (full-time and part-time) for all work performed in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This law applies to all employers as soon as a business has one employee working in Pittsburgh. 

In 2025, the Pittsburgh City Council approved an increase in these mandatory paid sick days and their minimum accrual rates (hours of work required to earn a sick hour), effective January 1, 2026. 

If your employees perform any work in the City of Pittsburgh, see the changes below: 

• If you have 15 or more employees: 

  • prior to 1/1/2026, the law required employees to accrue at least 1 hour for every 35 hours worked, which could be capped by the employer at 40 hours in a year (so five full 8-hour days). 

  • As of 1/1/2026, those numbers will change to accrual at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, with a minimum cap of 72 hours in a year (nine full 8-hour days).

• If you have fewer than 15 employees: 

  • prior to 1/1/2026, the law required employees to accrue at least 1 hour for every 35 hours worked, and this could have been capped by the employer at 24 hours in a year (essentially three full 8-hour days). 

  • As of 1/1/2026, those numbers will change to accrual at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, with a minimum cap at 48 hours in a year (6 full 8-hour days).

In either case, sick time starts accruing when the employee starts their job, but employers can make an employee wait for 90 days before they can use their sick days. All employers must allow for unused sick days to carry over into the next year up to the yearly minimum unless they provide at least the minimum total amount of sick days required by the law at the beginning of their employment. For example, if an employee accrues 72 hours in one year, but only takes 32 hours of sick time during that year, then the remaining 40 rolls over to the next year, but that 40 counts towards that next year’s 72-hour cap, so the employer can still cap that year at 72 hours. Remember, an employer can always provide a higher cap, or front-load sick time (meaning granting a set amount of hours vs accrual) but it has to still at least meet the minimum caps set by the ordinance.

As was required previously, employees making use of sick time must be paid at least at their same hourly rate, and with the same benefits, including health care benefits. For part-time or irregularly scheduled employees, the ordinance has a calculation for how this is determined. An employer does not have to payout unused, accrued sick time to an employee who retires, is terminated, or resigns.

Employers cannot require an employee to find a replacement to cover the employee’s shift in order to use sick time, or disclose details of the employee’s medical needs. An employer can require a doctor’s note if an employee is requesting the use of three full consecutive sick days or more. With the exception of changes in accrual rates and caps, you can read our previous blog post for more details on what is staying the same (also linked above).

A few other important reminders and notes: 

• For purposes of counting how many employees the employer has, it's the overall number of employees the employer has, not just those who work within Pittsburgh. 

• These laws are the minimum sick pay required:

  • Employers can always provide more time than these and a faster accrual rate (or no accrual at all), and 

  • they may provide these paid days off for any purpose (not just sick), but must provide at least the minimum cap hours under the ordinance to be compliant. 

Allegheny County also has a sick pay ordinance that applies to employers with 26 or more employees in the county. Read our resource about this specifically here! 

If you’re an employer, make sure to:

• Update any policies and handbooks to ensure they reflect the new requirements or to confirm your existing policy provides leave equal to or greater than that required by the ordinance

• Update your payroll system so that the new accrual rates and minimum caps are properly communicated and accounted for. 

• Review our previous blog and the ordinance to be familiar with the other requirements and terms of using sick time, what it can be used for, the amount of notice you may want to require for taking time, how to calculate rates of pay, exceptions to the ordinance, etc.

You can read the ordinance and guidelines, download the required posting notice, and check for updates on the City of Pittsburgh’s website.  Learn more about the changes and new requirements from our free resources library below:

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is meant for informational purposes only and does not constitute specific legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Readers should discuss their specific situation and considerations with an attorney.