PA Court Finds That Minimum Wage Act Claims are Subject to Three -Year Statute of Limitations, but Risk Remains for Employers
On Oct. 21, 2026, in a split decision, a Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania panel held in Commonwealth Department of Labor & Industry v. Accuserv Pharmacy, Inc. that employee claims for unpaid wages under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA) must be brought within three years, not six years. The binding and precedential decision reverses a 2024 unpublished Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas ruling that applied Pennsylvania’s six-year “catch-all” statute of limitations to the PMWA rather than the typically applied three-year statute of limitations in the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law (WPCL). This decision reaffirms a narrower back-pay window for PMWA claims. However, some risk remains for employers.
The Commonwealth Court majority considered what deadline the Pennsylvania General Assembly intended to apply to an employee’s civil action to recover wages owed under the PMWA. The PMWA, which sets forth Pennsylvania’s minimum wage and overtime pay laws, contains a record retention mandate, requiring all employers to keep accurate records of hours worked and wages paid to each employee for three years. However, it does not contain an express statute of limitations. The WPCL, which provides a statutory mechanism for collecting unpaid wages including minimum wage and overtime pay, addresses the same subject matter as the PMWA, and provides an express three-year statute of limitations. The majority determined that the WPCL and PMWA address the same subject matter and therefore should be construed harmoniously.
Taking the statutes together, the majority found the General Assembly intended the PMWA to have a three-year statute of limitations and reversed the lower court accordingly. One judge dissented, however, reasoning that the PMWA is unambiguous, and the principles of statutory construction compel deference to the General Assembly’s intentional omission of a statute of limitations. Because of that omission, Judge Wallace would affirm the trial court’s application of the Judicial Code’s residual six-year statute of limitations.
Despite the majority ruling, the issue is not fully settled. The Commonwealth Court’s decision was recent, not unanimous, and an appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is possible.
Accordingly, we recommend that employers take the following steps to minimize risk pending the final outcome of this matter:
- Adjust retention policies and practices to retain time and payroll records for at least six years until the statute of limitations question is resolved
- Review any pending and threatened wage claims to assess statute of limitations-related risks
- Continue to monitor this matter for any appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
If you have any questions about how this, or any other, labor and employment law development may affect your business, please contact Alexander V. Batoff, Sasha A. Phillips or the Stevens & Lee attorney with whom you regularly work.
