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NEWS that impacts your personnel policies and procedures BREAKING NEWS: WASHINGTON STATE SUPREME COURT ISSUES RULING ON CASE INVOLVING EMPLOYEES’ MISSED MEAL PERIODS On June 29, 2017, the Washington State Supreme Court answered two questions certified from a federal...
Each year on April 26th the intellectual property community celebrates World Intellectual Property Day to recognize the role creation and innovation has played in our lives. Intellectual property – ranging from patents and trademark to copyrights and trade secrets –...
As previously reported, Initiative 1433 was approved by Washington voters in the last statewide election, and as a result, Washington employers must permit certain employees to accrue at least one-hour paid sick leave for every forty hours worked beginning January 1,...
In addition to a minimum wage increase, Initiative 1433 also included provisions for paid sick leave. Effective January 1, 2018, every employer with one or more employees (as defined in the Washington Minimum Wage Act which excludes certain categories of employees)...
On November 8, 2016, Washington voters passed Initiative 1433 to increase the state minimum wage beginning January 1, 2017. Beginning on January 1, 2021 and each January 1 thereafter, the minimum wage will be adjusted, using the methodology that is set out in the...
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued new rules that will significantly impact employers in two ways: As of December 1, 2016, anti-retaliation protections went into effect that restrict employer policies...
The US Department of Labor’s (DOL) new regulations regarding overtime exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees (known as the “white-collar exemptions") were scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2016. The regulations would have...
In March 2016, the federal appellate court for our region upheld a previous DOL ruling that barred ‘tip pooling’ for employees who typically do not earn tips (i.e., back of the house staff) under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Employers in the service industry cannot...
In June 2016, the federal appellate court for our region ruled in Flores v. City of San Gabriel, that any employer who pays their employees cash payments in lieu of health benefits or pays cash for unused benefits must include those payments in the calculation for the...
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has come down hard on employers over the 18 months regarding language in employee handbooks that the NLRB views as discouraging employees’ exercise of their rights to organize. While some employers may not realize it, all...