Sources of Employment Law

There are many sources of employment laws and legal obligations for dental practices in Pennsylvania. Below is a list of the principal statutes or ordinances (that is, legislatively enacted laws) issued by the federal, state, or local city and county governments.

Most or all of these laws also have regulations promulgated by administrative agencies pursuant to these laws. Those regulations provide clarification or further details on the rights and obligations imposed by the listed laws, and how to comply with those obligations or vindicate those rights.

Many of these laws also have administrative agencies tasked with enforcing the law or aiding employees in vindicating their rights under these laws. Ultimately, of course, when needed, almost all of these laws end up being enforced in the federal or state courts of Pennsylvania.

Note that some of these laws apply to all employees, regardless of the size of the employer, but many of them apply only to employers who reach a certain size threshold, usually articulated in terms of the number of people employed in the previous calendar or fiscal year. Those thresholds vary from two or four employees to 15, 20, 25, 50, or 75 employees, and some laws have certain requirements that apply only to employers with 100 or more, or 250 or more employees, as well as other number thresholds.