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.
No Washington documents match your search
Try different keywords or clear a filter.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
Browse Washington guidance by topic
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.