ASAP
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Eyes Labor Regulation Via Executive Order
With the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) still lacking the quorum necessary to issue decisions, local and state governments, now including Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, are continuing their attempts to fill the gap.
On August 28, 2025, the Allegheny County Executive signed “Strengthening Worker Protections in Allegheny County,” an executive order directing the county manager to (among other things) establish a program for implementing two new county offices dedicated to investigating, protecting, and enforcing employee rights. While the order limits one office’s jurisdiction to policing Allegheny County employers, the other office contemplates policing private “small and medium-sized businesses” in the county.
State and local governments purporting to regulate labor disputes in the private sector can expect serious scrutiny about the validity of such efforts based on arguments they (1) conflict with the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution; (2) are preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and (3) violate the state’s constitution or other state law. In this case, if executive order is challenged, a court would likely address whether it also violates the Allegheny County’s Home Rule Charter.
Executive Order Summary
The executive order contains five substantive sections. Section 1 aims to establish an “Office of Worker Protection” dedicated to enforcing county regulations on discrimination, safety, “workplace benefits,” and “worker protection.” The order specifies the duties of the Office of Worker Protection as follows:
- Conducting outreach and education efforts that effectively reach those workers most likely unaware of their rights, as well as small and medium-sized businesses that may be unaware of their legal obligations.
- Developing proactive strategies to reach workers and industries where the number of violations is likely high but workers face barriers to filing complaints.
- Developing partnerships with community organizations that can reach the workers most likely to experience violations.
- Creating a consistent and rigorous investigatory process that uses all of the statutory enforcement tools at the county’s disposal.
- Implementing a system for handling complaints to ensure efficient processing and prioritization aligned with the office’s mission.
The Office of Worker Protection would also be expected to conduct ambitious data collection and publish reports regarding complaint volume, outcomes, and geographic/industry trends, as well as education and outreach.
Section 2 directs the establishment of an “Office of Worker Safety” tasked with “enhanc[ing] the County’s efforts to safeguard its own employees and contractors.”
Sections 3 and 4 target a sweeping expansion of “worker rights in the event the [NLRA] or any of its key provisions are repealed, invalidated, or otherwise rendered unenforceable.” Indeed, the order directs the county manager to, within one year, (1) study the prospect of establishing an Allegheny County Labor Relations Board; (2) recommend measures to establish organizing rights for workers not covered by the NLRA; (3) “explore sectoral organizing models” allowing industry and occupation-wide collective bargaining; and (4) explore programs to “promote worker voice” and expand “unionization and collective bargaining rights for a broader segment of the workforce.”
Section 5 directs the county manager to develop, within two months of the order, a “Best Value Procurement” program requiring those bidding on Allegheny County work to show a “commitment to worker safety and equal opportunity.”
No Action Yet
The executive order’s implications for private-sector employers are largely academic at this point given the only meaningful directives to the county manager are to gather information and research options including the establishment of a local Labor Relations Board. However, the order is consistent with themes and attempts at local government regulation of traditionally federal territory coming out of other jurisdictions in recent months. NLRB Acting General Counsel William Cowen recently issued a press release confirming the NLRB’s position that states are not at liberty to regulate conduct falling under the NLRA’s umbrella, and that any attempts to do so would very likely be preempted. Employers should monitor court treatment of such similar attempts particularly considering the NLRB’s stance on preemption in this space.
