Presenter
Presented by Mr. Bodack
Title
An Ordinance amending the Pittsburgh Code, Title VII: Business Licensing, Article VII, Service Businesses, by adding Chapter 769: Janitorial, Building Maintenance and Security Contractors (including stationary engineering and window washers), by adding certain requirements on City of Pittsburgh awarded contractors relative to janitorial, security, and building maintenance; providing for job security protections, enforcement, due process, penalties for non compliance, and remedies.
Body
WHEREAS, in both public and private buildings in the City of Pittsburgh many services such as janitorial, security, and building maintenance are typically not performed by employees of the building owners, but are performed by contractors who have obtained that work through a competitive bidding process;
WHEREAS, when contractors change and a new contractor is awarded the service contract, employees of the old contractor are sometimes displaced;
WHEREAS, such displacement of employees creates a hardship for those employees and creates a burden on City services;
Be it resolved by the Council of the City of Pittsburgh as follows:
Section 1. That the Pittsburgh Code is hereby amended by adding Chapter 769: Janitorial, Building Maintenance and Security Contractors, as follows:
CHAPTER 769: JANITORIAL, BUILDING MAINTENANCE AND SECURITY CONTRACTORS
SECTION 769.01 - Title and Purpose
(a) Protection of Displaced Contract Workers - This Chapter shall be known as "The Protection of Displaced Contract Workers Ordinance."
(b) The purpose of this Ordinance is to require that all contractors awarded contracts for the performance of janitorial, security and/or building maintenance (including stationary engineers and window washers), within the City of Pittsburgh in Commercial Office or Residential Buildings, University Complexes, or other Complexes over 100,000 square feet retain certain non-supervisory employees of the previous contractor for a 180 day transition employment period during which period retained employees may not be terminated except for cause, and to require that such employees be provided with various other job security protections.
SECTION 769.02 - Definitions
The following definitions shall apply throughout this Chapter:
(1) "Awarding authority" means any person that awards or otherwise enters into contracts for security, janitorial, or building maintenance services performed within the City of Pittsburgh, including any subcontracts for these services.
(2) "Contractor" means any person that enters into a service contract with the awarding authority and who employs five (5) or more persons at the work site.
(3) "Employee" means any person employed to provide service pursuant to a service contract. "Employee" does not include a person who is (a) a managerial, supervisory, or confidential employee, including those employees who would so be defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act; or (b) is employed less than 15 hours a week.
(4) "Person" means any individual, proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, limited liability company, trust, association, or other entity that may employ individuals or enter into other contracts.
(5) "Service contract" means a contract let to a contractor by the awarding authority for the furnishing of security, janitorial, and/or building maintenance (including stationary engineers and window washers).
(6) "Successorship service contract" means a service contract with the awarding authority where the services to be performed have previously been rendered to the awarding authority as part of the same program or at the same facility under another substantially similar service contract that recently has been terminated or has ended within the previous 30 days.
SECTION 769.03 - Transition Employment Period
All service contracts to be performed within the City of Pittsburgh shall impose the following obligations on the contractor.
(1) The awarding authority shall give an advance notice to a service contractor, and to any collective bargaining representative of any of the service contractor employees performing work under the contract, that the service contractor's contract will be terminated and will provide the identity, address and telephone number of the successor contractor or contractors. Notice shall be given as much as reasonably practicable in the circumstances and in no event less than thirty days.
(2) Where the awarding authority has given notice to a service contractor that a service contract has been terminated or ended, the terminated or ending contractor shall, within three (3) days after receipt of such notice, provide to the successor contractor, the name, date of hire, and employment occupation classification of each employee employed at the site or sites covered by the predecessor contractor at the time of receiving said notice.
(3) On that date said contract ends, the terminated or ending contractor shall update the information previously provided to make it current to the actual termination date.
(4) If the terminated contractor has not learned the identity of the successor contractor, if any, the terminated contractor shall provide such information to the awarding authority who shall be responsible for providing such information to the successor contractor as soon as that contractor has been selected.
(5) A successor contractor or sub-contractor shall retain, for a 180-day transition employment period, all employees who have been employed by the terminated contractor or its sub-contractor at the site or sites covered by the contract for at least the eight months immediately preceding the date the predecessor contract is terminated.
(6) The successor contractor or sub-contractor shall hand deliver a written offer of employment to each employee as required by this section in the employee's native language or another language in which the employee is literate. Such offer shall state the time within which the employee must accept such offer but in no case may that time be less than ten days from the date of the offer and in no case may the tenth day occur any later than five days prior to the expiration of the predecessor contract.
The written offer required by this Section shall be substantially in the form attached to this Ordinance in language appropriate to each employee.
(7) If at any time a successor contractor determines that fewer employees are required to perform the new service contract than were required by the terminated contractor, the successor contractor shall be required to retain employees by seniority within each job classification.
(8) During such a 180-day period, the successor contractor shall maintain a preferential hiring list of employees eligible for retention under Section 769.04, not retained by the successor contractor from which the successor contractor shall hire additional employees.
(9) Except as provided under subsection (7) of this section, during such 180-day period, the successor contractor shall not discharge without cause an employee retained pursuant to this Chapter. Cause shall be based only on the performance or conduct of the particular employee.
(10) This statute shall not supercede the provisions of any collective bargaining agreement.
SECTION 7690.4 - Enforcement
(1) An employee who has been displaced or terminated in violation of this Chapter by a successor contractor may bring an action in a Court of competent jurisdiction against the successor and may be awarded:
(a) back pay, including the value of benefits, for each day during which the violation continues, which shall be calculated at a rate of compensation not less than the higher of:
(1) the average regular rate of pay received by the employee, during the last year of the employee's employment in the same job classification times average hours worked per work day over the past four months or
(2) the final regular rate of pay received by the employees at the time of termination times the average hours worked per work day over the past four months; and
(b) reinstatement to his or her former position at no less than the last wage rate, with benefits and hours worked per work day, that the employee received.
(2) If the employee is the prevailing party in any such legal action, the court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the employee as part of the costs recoverable.
(3) This section shall not be construed to limit an employee's right to bring a common law cause of action for wrongful termination.
(4) Each day a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.
(5) Any contractor who violates this Chapter shall pay penalties per employee per day of a violation of up to $100 to 200 per day.
SECTION 769.05 - License Required; Fee; Revocation
(a) No person shall engage in the business of a "Contractor" (as defined in Section 769.01) within the City without first obtaining a license from the License Officer in the Bureau of Building Inspection.
(b) The annual fee for a Janitorial, Building Maintenance and Security Contractor shall be $60.
(c) Every person required to procure a license under this Section shall as a condition to the receipt or retention of said license:
(1) refrain from violating any provision of Chapter 769 of the Pittsburgh Code entitled Janitorial, Building Maintenance and Security Contractors.
(2) The Bureau of Building Inspection shall refrain from issuing or shall revoke, the business license of any person, who under color of such license intends to operate, or is operating, in violation of the provisions of Section 769.03, and shall take all steps necessary to terminated the business operations of any business establishment that has violated any of the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 769.06 - Notice to Displaced Workers
All employees working for a contractor which is displaced by a successor contractor under this statute shall be provide with a written notice explaining in detail rights under this statute. A copy of the required Notice is attached to this Ordinance as Appendix A.
SECTION 769.07 Effective Date
This ordinance shall take effect immediately.
Sponsors: Hertzberg, Bodack, Carlisle, Motznik, Ravenstahl, Ricciardi, Shields, Udin
EXHIBIT A
City of Pittsburgh
Certified Copy
TO: (name of employee)
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING
YOUR EMPLOYMENT
We have received information that you are employed by (name of predecessor contractor) and are currently performing work at (address of worksite). (Name of predecessor contractor) has lost its contract with the owners of (address of worksite) and will no longer be providing (security or janitorial or building maintenance) services as of (last day of predecessor contract).
We are (name of successor contractor) and have been hired by the owners of (address of worksite) to provide the same (security or janitorial or building maintenance, including stationary engineers and window washers service. We are offering you a job with us for a 180-day probationary period starting (first day of successor contract) to perform the same type of work that you have already been doing for (name of predecessor contractor) under the following terms:
Pay Rate (per hour): $________
Hours Per Shift: _________
Total Hours Per Week: _________
Benefits: _________
You must respond to this offer within the next ten days. If you want to continue working at (address of worksite) you must let us know by (mm/dd/yyyy - no later than 5 days prior to the expiration of the predecessor contract or 10 days after the date of this letter if the predecessor contract has already expired.) If we do not receive your response by the end of business that day, we will not hire you and you will lose your job. We can be reached at (successor contractor phone number).
The Protection of Displaced Contract Workers Ordinance, Chapter 769 of the Pittsburgh Code gives you the following rights:
1. You have the right, with certain exceptions, to be hired by our company for the first 180 days that we begin to provide services at (address of worksite).
2. During this 180-day period, you cannot be fired without just cause.
3. If you believe that you have been fired or laid off in violation of this Ordinance, you have the right to sue us and be awarded back pay, attorney's fees and court costs.
FROM: (Name of successor contractor)
(Address of successor contractor)
(Telephone # of successor contractor)
______________________________________________________________________________
City of Pittsburgh
I do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance duly engrossed and certified, was delivered by me to the Mayor for his approval or disapproval, and that the Mayor failed to approve or disapprove the same, whereupon it became law without his approval, under the provisons of the Act of the Assembly in such case made and provided.
Linda M. Johnson-Wasler
Clerk of Council