• On May 27, 2025, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker signed the “Protect Our Workers, Enforce Rights (POWER) Act” into law, which strengthens worker protections and enforcement mechanisms in the city.
• The POWER Act empowers the Philadelphia Department of Labor’s Office of Worker Protections to conduct independent investigations, maintain a “Bad Actors Database,” and revoke business licenses for noncompliant employers.
• The POWER Act includes provisions for retaliation protections, immigrant worker support, increased sick pay for tipped employees, extended recordkeeping requirements, and allows workers to file civil actions for violations without exhausting administrative remedies.

Significant measures in the POWER Act include:

• Strengthening Philadelphia’s Department of Labor. The act provides the Philadelphia Department of Labor’s Office of Worker Protections (OWP) with the ability for more thorough workplace investigations and to hold employers accountable under already existing local labor laws, including the wage theft ordinance, paid sick leave ordinance, and Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. This includes the authority to initiate investigations independently (without any formal complaints), broaden the scope of investigations unilaterally, and subpoena records and testimony.

The OWP will also maintain a publicly accessible “Bad Actors Database,” consisting of employers with three or more infractions from separate incidents or circumstances who have failed to...

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