A judge invalidated a county ordinance passed this summer that created a pay floor for county employees, siding with outgoing Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and seemingly placing a limit on the power of the County Council, which approved the law.
Council voted 10-5 in June to approve the measure and require the county to pay all of its workers at least $18 per hour in 2024, $19 per hour in 2025 and $20 per hour in 2026. Fitzgerald vetoed the ordinance, saying only the executive had the authority to set wages. Council used its two-thirds majority to override his veto, and Fitzgerald then asked the judicial system to endorse his view that the law violated the county charter’s allocation of power.
Fitzgerald, in a statement, said the decision answered an “important legal question that would have a lasting impact upon future executives and councils.”
A PublicSource analysis of county payroll showed that more than a fifth of the county’s 5,600 full-time employees in 2022 were paid less than $20 per hour (or the equivalent of a $41,600 salary). That group included a higher proportion of women and people of color than the county’s workforce overall.
Council President Pat Catena, who championed the ordinance, said he has not had time to fully examine the 25-page ruling from Judge Daniel Regan and that he would not yet comment on whether council would appeal the judge’s decision.
Updated: Allegheny County Executive Fitzgerald sues to nix pay floor for county workers
Regan largely agreed with the arguments set out in Fitzgerald’s legal filings. He wrote that the county’s home rule charter gives the executive branch the responsibility of hiring county employees and managing its departments, and that council’s ordinance interferes with that.
He also agreed with Fitzgerald’s argument that the ordinance violated the executive’s right to negotiate labor contracts by mandating certain pay conditions. “It is contrary to and violates the Pennsylvania Public Employee Relations Act and Pennsylvania labor case law by unilaterally setting wages without collective bargaining,” Regan wrote.
The power struggle played out between a longtime executive and a council that has become entrenched in opposition to him, but the court ruling has major implications for the new administration that will come into office in January.
Executive-elect Sara Innamorato, to be sworn in next month, “will look at pay brackets across all departments and levels to ensure the great people who make the county run are compensated fairly for their commitment to civil service,” according to Abigail Gardner, the communications director for the transition team. “She believes raising the floor for all county workers is important and we can’t stop there,” Gardner wrote, calling it a “day-one priority.”
Innamorato remarked at a transition event Wednesday that the county has more than 1,000 open jobs and she will be intent on attracting new workers next year.
Editor’s note (12/7/23): This story has been updated with comments received after initial publication.
Charlie Wolfson is PublicSource’s local government reporter and a Report for America corps member. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.
