WA employers get much-needed guidance on paid sick leave law, new overtime rules

Employers have been awaiting guidance from the Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) about the state’s paid sick leave law passed in 2016 and new overtime rules announced in 2019 and effective July 1, 2020. Over the last few months, L&I has been busy and recently adopted new employment standards (ES) administrative policies for the two wage and hour topics.

Paid sick leave

Initiative 1433 was passed on November 8, 2016, entitling most employees in the state to paid sick leave. In 2017, L&I engaged in a process to adopt and implement rules to carry out and enforce the measure.

During the rulemaking process, L&I committed to providing additional interpretive guidance through the development of ES administrative policies. The paid sick leave law went into effect on January 1, 2018.

In early June 2020, L&I published a new administrative policy (ES.B.1) providing answers to frequently asked questions about the paid sick leave requirements. Covered topics include: employee entitlement and general compliance questions; required questions; employer notification and reporting to employees; accrual; usage; reasonable notice for an employee’s use of the leave; verification for absences exceeding three days; rate of pay; payment of sick leave; separation and reinstatement; paid time off (PTO) programs; frontloading; absences not covered by the leave; and interaction with other state and federal leave laws.

You can view the policy here.

Overtime rules