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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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.