On May 13, 2026, the Allegheny County Board of Health voted unanimously to advance for public comment a proposed amendment to Article XXIV of the Allegheny County Health Department’s (ACHD) Rules and Regulations.
The amendment would require covered employers to provide up to 18 weeks of paid parental leave and would expand the County’s existing paid sick leave obligations. If adopted, Allegheny County would, in the County’s own words, become “the first locality with a paid parental leave policy in a state without a statewide policy.” It would also fund the benefit differently than paid parental leave laws in other states by placing the cost on employers rather than on a publicly funded insurance pool.
Background
The proposal would retitle Article XXIV as “Paid Sick and Parental Leave Days” and add a new paid parental leave chapter to the County’s existing 2021 paid sick leave provisions. ACHD grounds its authority in Pennsylvania’s Local Health Administration Law, 16 P.S. §§ 12010(f) and 12011(c), and frames it as a public health measure tied to maternal recovery and infant health. The new chapter would provide a new parental leave benefit with the following terms:
Eligibility
30 days of service with the employer.
Duration
Up to 18 weeks of paid, job-protected leave.
Qualifying Events
Birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child.
Pay
The employee’s regular base rate, with continued health benefits.
Scheduling
Leave may be taken sequentially or on a reduced schedule in minimum increments of eight hours per week.
On the sick leave side, the proposal would expand the County’s paid sick leave requirements by eliminating the exemption for employers with fewer than 15 employees. Those previously-exempted employers would now be subject to Allegheny County’s paid sick leave requirements. The proposal would also accelerate the leave accrual and increase the annual cap threshold. Employees would accrue one hour for every 30 hours worked, with annual caps rising to 48 hours for employers with fewer than 15 employees and 72 hours for those with 15 or more.
Who Would Be Covered
While the proposed changes to the County’s paid sick leave program distinguish between small employers and those with 15 or more employees insofar that caps on sick leave accrual vary, the current version of the proposed parental leave mandate offers no small-employer exemption. The paid parental leave requirement would reach any employer “situated or doing business within the geographical boundaries of Allegheny County” that employs one or more persons. The only carve-outs are federal and state government employers.
This is the same geographic trigger used under the County’s existing sick leave rule; so, employers based outside the County may be covered to the extent their employees work within County lines. If the regulations are adopted as proposed, the 15-employee threshold would only relate to caps on sick leave accrual. It will not limit who must provide parental leave, which would apply to employers of every size.
A Funding Structure That Sets the Proposal Apart
The funding model makes the proposal unusual. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia currently mandate a form of paid family leave. Nearly all spread the cost across a pooled fund financed by payroll taxes on employers, employees, or both; New York alone requires employers to buy coverage through a regulated private insurance market.
The Allegheny County proposal would do neither. It creates no public fund and no insurance market. Instead, the cost would fall directly on employers, who would pay benefits out of pocket or, at their option, meet the obligation through a qualifying self-funded plan or private insurance policy. A self-funded plan would require posting a surety bond running to the County.
A disagreement as to which approach is best is unfolding in Harrisburg, where the House-passed Family Care Act (HB 200), which would put the cost of a statewide paid family and medical leave on employers, and the competing Senate Bill (SB 906), which proposes funding paid family and medical leave through employee payroll deductions. Allegheny County’s mandate would be more generous than either and would apply to employers of every size.
Comment Period and Timeline
The Allegheny County proposal is now in its public comment period. A June 2 public hearing drew substantial testimony and hundreds of written comments, after which ACHD extended the period to 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, 2026. Comments may be submitted by email to publichealthcomment@alleghenycounty.us, by phone at 412-258-3258, or by mail.
Once the comment period closes, the Board of Health will review feedback alongside a comment-response document, deliberate, and take final action; if adopted, the amendment would then move to the Allegheny County Council. The Board meets only every other month, and County officials have said that fall is the earliest a vote could occur. The paid parental leave chapter would take effect 180 days after enactment.
What Employers Should Do Now
If adopted in its current form, the amendment would be one of the most significant expansions of employer-mandated leave obligations in the country, and certainly for employers in the Pittsburgh region. Employers with any workforce presence in the County should consider the following action steps:
- Identify which employees (including remote, hybrid, and traveling staff) work within County lines.
- Audit existing parental and sick leave policies against the proposed minimums.
- Estimate the operational and financial impact of an 18-week paid leave obligation.
- Submit comments before the July 16 deadline on concerns such as the scope of the rule, the absence of a small-employer carve-out, or the funding mechanism.
We will continue to monitor the comment period and the Board of Health’s deliberations and will report on any revisions or final action.
Gianna Ferraro, a Summer Associate—Not Admitted to Practice in Epstein Becker Green’s Pittsburgh office, helped prepare this article.
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