An appellate court in Washington state recently held a hospital liable to pay employees who worked through meal period breaks for their time worked plus compensation for an additional break as a penalty, highlighting...more
On April 18, 2024, a jury in Seattle, Washington, determined that a not-for-profit hospital system employer would be required to pay nearly $100 million for time clock rounding and meal period violations, raising concerns for...more
4/23/2024
/ Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Jury Awards ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Rounding ,
State Labor Departments ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Willful Violations
Effective January 1, 2024, the minimum wage rate in Washington State will increase to $16.28 per hour for employees sixteen years of age and older, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced on...more
Employers in Washington are facing a flurry of class actions alleging violations of the state’s new pay transparency law. While it is too early to gauge the viability of the claims, employers doing business in Washington may...more
10/17/2023
/ Class Action ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Governor Inslee ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Job Ads ,
Pay Transparency ,
Posting Requirements ,
Putative Class Actions ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
A putative class action recently filed in Seattle, Washington, against a solar energy equipment company could be the first lawsuit to test the bounds of the state’s relatively new restrictions on noncompetition agreements for...more
The 2023 minimum wage rate in Washington State will increase to $15.74 per hour for employees sixteen years of age and older, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries announced on September 30, 2022. This...more
On March 30, 2022, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 5761, a measure that requires employers to affirmatively disclose in each job posting open to applicants the salary range or wage scale to be...more
New legislation recently introduced in the Washington State Legislature seeks to implement a 32-hour workweek for nonexempt Washington-based workers. If the proposal were to become law, employers would be required to pay...more
On May 9, 2019, Washington State governor Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1696, “an act relating to wage and salary information.” The new law is similar to legislation being promulgated throughout the country, including by...more
Although the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) has yet to finalize the new annual salary required for exempt status, it intends to propose a new salary basis test that would more than double the...more
With Washington State’s paid sick leave law taking effect on January 1, 2018, Washington employers should be prepared to implement statewide policies in addition to policies covering employees in SeaTac, Seattle, Spokane, and...more
Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries has now concluded its process for drafting and finalizing the regulations for implementing Washington’s paid sick leave law, which becomes effective on January 1, 2018. Now...more
With Governor Inslee’s signature on July 5, 2017, Washington State joined just a handful of states mandating paid family and medical leave. Washington’s leave is funded by both employers and employees, and employees will be...more
With all of the votes counted, Initiative 1433, which will raise the minimum wage and require paid sick leave throughout Washington, has passed by a fairly wide margin. The first substantial increase in the minimum wage...more