If you're searching for a New Kensington employment law attorney, you're likely dealing with something that already went wrong at work: a firing that didn't add up, a paycheck that came up short, or a manager who crossed a line you can't unsee. Sharon L. Wigle, Attorney at Law has represented employees and small businesses across Westmoreland County since 2009, and this page walks through the Pennsylvania rules that shape most of those disputes so you know where you stand before you make your next move.
What counts as illegal workplace discrimination in Pennsylvania?
Under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA), it's illegal for an employer with four or more employees to make job decisions based on race, color, religious creed, ancestry, age (40 and older), sex, national origin, non-job-related disability, or a handful of other protected traits. That four-employee threshold matters a lot in a place like New Kensington, where plenty of workers are employed by small shops and family businesses that wouldn't meet the federal fifteen-employee minimum under Title VII. The PHRA also bars retaliation against anyone who reports discrimination, files a complaint, or cooperates with an investigation.
One wrinkle worth knowing: Pennsylvania courts have held that the PHRA doesn't allow punitive damages, even when a case goes to trial and the employee wins. Compensatory damages and attorney's fees are still on the table, and pairing a PHRA claim with a federal Title VII claim can open the door to punitive damages in the right case. This is exactly the kind of strategic call that benefits from a lawyer who's filed both types of claims before.
How long do I have to file a discrimination claim?
You generally have 180 days from the discriminatory act to file with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. If you cross-file with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at the same time, which the PHRC and EEOC make fairly routine through their work-sharing agreement, that window stretches to 300 days. Missing either deadline can end a valid claim before it starts, so the safest approach is to treat the shorter number as the real one and move quickly once something happens.
Age discrimination claims for workers 40 and older follow this same PHRA framework, and disability claims layer in additional protections from the Americans with Disabilities Act at the federal level. None of these deadlines pause themselves while you wait to see if things improve at work.
Is Pennsylvania an at-will employment state?
Yes. Pennsylvania follows the at-will employment doctrine, meaning an employer can generally fire an employee for almost any reason, or no reason at all, without warning. The exceptions are what most wrongful termination cases actually turn on: firing someone because of a protected trait, firing them for exercising a legal right such as filing a workers' compensation claim, or firing them in violation of a written employment contract that limits the employer's ability to terminate at will. Pennsylvania's Whistleblower Law also protects public-sector and some private-sector employees who report waste, fraud, or wrongdoing by their employer, though its coverage is narrower than many people assume.
Because at-will employment gives employers so much latitude on paper, the practical question in most terminations isn't whether the firing was fair. It's whether it crossed one of these specific legal lines, and that's a fact-heavy determination that usually benefits from a lawyer reviewing the timeline, the paperwork, and any comments a supervisor made along the way.
What happens if my employer doesn't pay my final paycheck?
Pennsylvania's Wage Payment and Collection Law requires employers to pay all earned wages, including commissions and any vacation pay the employer has agreed to provide, no later than the next regular payday after separation. This rule applies the same way whether an employee was fired or quit voluntarily. If wages remain unpaid more than 30 days past that payday and the employer doesn't have a good-faith dispute over the amount, the law allows the employee to recover liquidated damages equal to 25 percent of what's owed or 500 dollars, whichever is larger, along with attorney's fees.
This law also covers earned commissions and bonuses that an employer tries to withhold after someone leaves, which comes up often in sales and service roles around the New Kensington area. Employers sometimes assume a signed commission agreement gives them room to delay or reduce a final payout. The statute doesn't leave much room for that.
What should I do if I think I was wrongfully terminated or discriminated against?
Start by writing down what happened while it's fresh: dates, names, what was said, and who else was in the room. Pull together your pay stubs, your employee handbook, any performance reviews, and copies of relevant emails or texts before you lose access to your work accounts. Then get a read on your deadlines, since the 180-day PHRA clock and any contractual notice periods don't wait for you to feel ready.
A consultation with an employment law attorney at this stage isn't about deciding whether to sue. It's about understanding which of your facts actually map onto a legal claim, which ones are frustrating but not unlawful, and what a realistic timeline and outcome look like given Pennsylvania's specific rules. Sharon L. Wigle has spent years sorting through exactly this kind of fact pattern for employees and small employers in Latrobe, New Kensington, and the rest of Westmoreland County.
Why work with a local Westmoreland County employment lawyer?
Employment cases live and die on jurisdiction-specific details: which statute applies, which court hears the claim, and how local judges and the regional PHRC office tend to handle particular fact patterns. A New Kensington employment law attorney who practices regularly in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania has a feel for how these cases actually move, not just how the statute reads on paper.
Sharon L. Wigle has practiced law since 1990 and has concentrated primarily on employment and contract law since 2009, appearing before the Pennsylvania Superior and Supreme Courts as well as the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. That combination of longevity and focus matters when the other side's HR department or in-house counsel has handled dozens of similar disputes and you're navigating your first one.
If something at work doesn't sit right, whether it's a termination, a missing paycheck, or treatment that feels discriminatory, the clock is already running on your options. Sharon L. Wigle, Attorney at Law offers a place to start sorting out what happened and what Pennsylvania law says you can do about it, with the kind of direct, practical guidance that comes from three decades in Westmoreland County courtrooms.
Sources referenced: Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (pa.gov), Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law, 43 P.S. §§ 260.1 et seq., and Hoy v. Angelone, 720 A.2d 745 (Pa. 1998), on PHRA punitive damages.
Internal linking suggestions: link this page to a general Westmoreland County practice-area hub, a wrongful termination page, and a wage-and-hour page if those exist on the site, plus an attorney bio page for Sharon L. Wigle.
Note on the hyperlink: I used a placeholder /contact URL since I don't have the firm's live site URL on hand — swap in the real path before publishing.