With 2018 comes another minimum-wage increase for workers across Washington state, while the new year also brings paid sick leave to nearly all employed residents.
The changes to workplace wages will be mostly incremental. Washington’s minimum-wage increases from $11 to $11.50 per hour, while workers aged 14 or 15 can be paid at a lower rate of $9.78 per hour.
For employers in cities that already have higher minimum wages, including Seattle, the local minimum wage rate will apply as long as it is higher than the state minimum.
The statewide minimum wage will increase to $12 in 2019 and will hit $13.50 the following year.
Meanwhile, a paid sick leave initiative approved by voters in 2016 takes effect on the first of the year. It calls for most full-time, part-time and temporary employees to accrue paid sick leave, ensuring that employees earn at least an hour of paid time off for every 40 hours worked. That time can be used when the worker or a family member is ill, when an office or school has been closed for any health-related reason, or as provided under the domestic-violence leave law.
The state will start enforcing the new law next year, but the Washington Department of Labor and Industries says its primary goal is to make sure employers know what to do.
The state first will work with companies to get them in compliance, and only if businesses don’t get in line will the state impose financial penalties. (Seattle Times, AP)
