Washington Labor Guidance
Free plain-English summaries of opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices from Washington's labor agency, with the current status and the official source on every page.
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Equal Pay and Opportunities Act
This L&I administrative policy explains Washington's Equal Pay and Opportunities Act: the duty to pay "similarly employed" workers equally regardless of gender or protected-class membership (with perm…
Paid Sick Leave - Frequently Asked Questions
This L&I administrative policy answers frequently asked questions about Washington's paid sick leave law: who is covered, how leave accrues (1 hour per 40 hours worked) and carries over, when and how …
Meal & Rest Break Protections for Certain Healthcare Workers
This L&I administrative policy explains additional meal and rest break protections for certain hospital employees beyond Washington's general break rules: who is covered, uninterrupted-break requireme…
Employee Access to Personnel File
This L&I administrative policy explains employees' and former employees' right under RCW 49.12.240 to review and receive a free copy of their personnel file within 21 days of a request, what records c…
Law Restricting Mandatory Overtime for Certain Healthcare Employees
This L&I administrative policy explains RCW 49.28.130-.150, which bars covered health care facilities from requiring certain credentialed healthcare employees (nurses, surgical technologists, respirat…
Job Posting Requirements
This L&I administrative policy explains the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act's job-posting disclosure duty (RCW 49.58.110): employers with 15 or more employees (including remote/out-of-state employers …
Recordkeeping and Access to Payroll Records (Non-agricultural Employment)
This L&I administrative policy explains non-agricultural employers' payroll recordkeeping duties under the Industrial Welfare Act and Minimum Wage Act: what records must be kept (names, addresses, pay…
Construction Industry Paid Sick Leave Requirements
This L&I administrative policy explains paid-sick-leave rules unique to construction industry employers (NAICS code 23, excluding residential building construction): construction workers employed less…
Minimum Wage Act Applicability
This L&I administrative policy explains who is covered by Washington's Minimum Wage Act (RCW 49.46): which employers must comply, the 17 categories of workers the statute exempts by name (casual labor…
School Week and Work Week for Minors
This L&I administrative policy sets out the maximum hours and permitted start/end times minors may work in Washington, in both non-agricultural and agricultural jobs, broken down by age group (12-13, …
Tip, Gratuity, and Service Charge Examples
This L&I policy gives worked examples applying the tips, gratuities, and service charge rules in ES.A.12: employers who illegally credit tips or service charges toward minimum wage, withhold tips duri…
Military Family Leave Act
This L&I administrative policy explains the Military Family Leave Act (RCW 49.77), which lets spouses and registered domestic partners of military personnel (active duty, National Guard, or reserves) …
Industrial Welfare Act: Applications, Exemptions, and Interpretations
This L&I administrative policy is the department's general reference on the Industrial Welfare Act (RCW 49.12), which governs conditions of labor — minor employment, meal and rest periods, personnel-f…
Overtime
This L&I administrative policy explains Washington's overtime rules under the Minimum Wage Act: the requirement to pay 1.5x the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, how to calculate the "regu…
Collective Bargaining Agreements, Employment Agreements, and Policies
This L&I administrative policy explains how collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) and other written employment agreements interact with the Minimum Wage Act and Industrial Welfare Act: a CBA can exc…
Waiving of Rights Under Minimum Wage Act Prohibited and More Favorable Laws Allowed
This L&I administrative policy explains that employees cannot agree, individually or collectively, to be paid less than the Minimum Wage Act requires — such agreements are unlawful and provide no defe…
Minimum Hourly Wage
This L&I administrative policy explains Washington's minimum hourly wage: the annual CPI-based adjustment process, that 16- and 17-year-olds must be paid the full adult rate while minors under 16 may …
Agricultural Labor Standards — Meal Periods, Rest Periods, and Rates of Pay
This L&I administrative policy covers pay, meal-period, and rest-period rules specific to Washington agricultural employees, including dairy workers. It distinguishes "piece-rate active time" (paid at…
Recordkeeping and Access to Payroll Records (Agricultural Employment)
This L&I administrative policy sets recordkeeping duties for agricultural employers: names, addresses, occupations, pay rates (including separate piece-rate active/down time and rest-period rates), am…
Hours Worked
This L&I administrative policy defines "hours worked" as time an employee is authorized/required to be on duty on the employer's premises or a prescribed workplace, and applies that three-part test ac…
Minimum Wage Act - Employment Relationships
This L&I administrative policy explains who counts as an "employer" under the Minimum Wage Act, including when a corporate officer, owner, or manager can be personally and jointly liable for wage viol…
Student Learner Exemption for Worksite Learning and Apprenticeships in Certain Hazardous Work
This L&I administrative policy explains the "student-learner exemption" that lets 16- and 17-year-olds in a paid, OSPI-approved worksite learning program or a registered apprenticeship perform certain…
Paid Sick Leave - Normal Hourly Compensation
This L&I administrative policy explains how employers must calculate an employee's "normal hourly compensation" for hours of paid sick leave used under the Minimum Wage Act, including which earnings (…
Salary Thresholds for Exemption from Minimum Wage Act for White-Collar Workers
This L&I administrative policy explains how to calculate the salary threshold that executive, administrative, professional, and salaried computer professional employees must meet to be exempt from the…
Definition of Fee Basis in Administrative, Professional and Outside Sales Positions
This short L&I administrative policy defines "fee basis" pay — a fixed charge for a single, unique job regardless of time spent, as opposed to hourly pay, piecework, bonuses, or commissions — which ca…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Outside Salespersons
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's outside sales exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections. To qualify, an employee's primary duty must…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Computer Professional Employees
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's computer professional exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections, covering systems analysts, programm…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Professional Employees
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's professional exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections, covering four categories: learned profession…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Administrative Employees
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's administrative exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections. It requires a primary duty of office or no…
Exemption from Minimum Wage Act Requirements for Executive Employees
This L&I administrative policy details Washington's executive exemption from minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and other Minimum Wage Act protections. It lays out the four-part duties test (primary …
General Information Applicable to Exemptions from Minimum Wage Act for White-Collar Workers
This L&I administrative policy is the umbrella introduction to the executive, administrative, professional, computer professional, and outside sales exemptions from Washington's Minimum Wage Act, poin…
Questions and Answers About Salary Basis
This L&I administrative policy is a 23-question Q&A on the "salary basis" requirement that bona fide executive, administrative, professional, and computer professional employees must meet to be exempt…
How to Calculate Overtime
This L&I administrative policy is a worked-example companion to ES.A.8.1, showing exactly how to compute the "regular rate" and overtime owed under RCW 49.46.130 for different pay structures: a single…
Minimum Wage Act - Washington-Based Employee
This L&I administrative policy explains how the department decides whether a worker is a "Washington-based employee" covered by the Minimum Wage Act's minimum wage, paid sick leave, and overtime prote…
Tips, Gratuities, and Service Charges
This L&I administrative policy explains that tips and gratuities belong to employees and can never count toward minimum wage, that mandatory tip pools may not include exempt managerial/supervisory sta…
Meal and Rest Periods for Nonagricultural Workers Age 18 and Over
This L&I administrative policy answers 15 questions on meal and rest period requirements for nonagricultural workers 18 and older under WAC 296-126-092: when a 30-minute meal period must be given, whe…
Frequently Asked Questions About the Family Care Act
This L&I FAQ explains the Family Care Act (RCW 49.12.265-.295), which lets Washington employees who already have paid sick leave or other paid time off use it to care for a child with a health conditi…
Definition of Wage
This short L&I administrative policy defines "wage" under RCW 49.46.010(7) as compensation owed for employment, payable in legal tender or by check convertible to cash, or by an alternative method lik…
Retail or Service Establishment Commission Overtime Exception
This L&I administrative policy explains the overtime exception in RCW 49.46.130(3) for commissioned employees of retail or service establishments, adopting federal FLSA definitions because the state s…
Driving by Minors in Non-Agricultural Jobs
This L&I administrative policy explains when minors may drive as part of a non-agricultural job. No one 16 or under may drive on public roadways for work; 17-year-olds may drive only occasionally and …
Minors and Bloodborne Pathogens in Non-Medical Settings
This L&I administrative policy explains that minors are not categorically barred from working in child day care, bathroom-cleaning, or hotel/motel housekeeping jobs, but are prohibited from tasks wher…
Variances from the Industrial Welfare Act
This brief L&I administrative policy explains that RCW 49.12.105 lets an employer apply to the L&I director for a variance from the department's Industrial Welfare Act rules (WAC 296-126) governing wa…
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Employee Wearing Apparel
This L&I administrative policy answers frequently asked questions about employee wearing apparel under RCW 49.12.450: minimum-wage earners can be required to buy common-color, dress-code-conforming cl…
Employee Wearing Apparel and Uniforms
This L&I administrative policy explains when an employer must pay for clothing it requires employees to wear, under RCW 49.12.450. Clothing that identifies the employee with a specific employer, bears…
Commissions, Piecework and Minimum Wage Requirements
This short L&I administrative policy sets out how the department verifies that commission- or piecework-paid workers (who are not otherwise exempt, such as outside salespersons) receive at least the a…
Special Education Student Exemption from Minimum Wage
This L&I administrative policy explains when a special-education student's unpaid work-experience placement, including a short unpaid workstation trial, is not considered "employment" under RCW 49.46.…
Examples of Retail Sales and Service Establishments
This L&I policy supplements ES.A.10.1 and ES.A.10.2 with two partial reference lists used to determine whether a business qualifies as a "retail or service establishment" for the commission overtime e…
Frequently Asked Questions: Retail/Service Establishment Sales Exception
This L&I FAQ supplements ES.A.10.1 and answers common questions about the retail/service establishment commission overtime exception under RCW 49.46.130(3): what happens to commission pay on separatio…
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These are official interpretive documents from Washington's labor agency: opinion letters answering questions from employers and workers, administrative policies, and interpretive notices. They show how the agency applies wage-and-hour and workplace law to real situations, but they are guidance, not statutes or court decisions, and the agency can supersede or withdraw them. Every page above shows the document's current status, when that status was last verified, and a link to the official source.