- with Inhouse Counsel
2026 is bringing significant changes to Washington's employment laws.
This Update summarizes the changes taking effect on January 1, 2026, and highlights recent legal developments contributing to a rise in employment class actions.
Effective January 1, 2026
|
New Laws |
Action |
|---|---|
|
Update PMFL leave policies, procedures, and postings. |
|
|
Update leave and accommodation policies. |
|
|
Review employees' compensation and employment agreements to ensure compliance. |
|
|
Expanded unemployment insurance benefits for striking and locked-out workers |
Update strike contingency plans and review negotiation strategies for collective bargaining agreements. |
|
For healthcare employers, develop policies and train staff regarding how to properly report, document, and investigate incidents of workplace violence. |
|
|
For employers of isolated employees, update policies and procedures regarding the use of panic buttons. |
High-Risk Washington Employment Laws Already in Effect
|
What's Hot in Employment Litigation |
Action |
|---|---|
|
Limitations on restricting low-wage workers from moonlighting |
Review offer letters, employment agreements, and policies to ensure any outside employment provisions are narrowly tailored. |
|
Review offer letters, employment agreements, and policies to ensure confidentiality provisions comply with the Silenced No More Act. |
|
|
Ensure job postings include required compensation and benefits information and establish procedures for prompt response to written notices of noncompliance. |
|
|
Review meal period and pay policies and implement procedures for paying meal break premiums for noncompliant meal breaks. |
Effective January 1, 2026
New Paid Family and Medical Leave Requirements
HB 1213significantly amends Washington's PFML program. Key changes include:
Expanded Job Restoration Protection
Employees now qualify for job protection after 180 days. Previously, employees only qualified for job protection if they qualified under the Federal Family Medical Leave Act.
Job protection requirements will be phased in over a three-year period based on the employer's size. Deadlines are as follows:
- Employers with 25 or more employees: beginning January 1, 2026
- Employers with 15 or more employees: beginning January 1, 2027
- Employers with eight or more employees: beginning January 1, 2028
The new law requires employers to give written notice to any employee who has been on leave for more than 14 workdays, whether the leave is continuous or intermittent. The notice must state the date on which the employee's job protection ends and their expected return-to-work date.
Continuation of Health Benefits
Employers of all sizes must now maintain existing health insurance benefits for employees on PFML leave, provided the employee is eligible for job protection.
Reduced Minimum Claim Duration
The minimum claim duration for PFML decreased from eight consecutive hours to four consecutive hours.
Restrictions on Leave Stacking and Employer Notice Requirement
Under the amended law, employees may not stack leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and PFML unless expressly permitted by the employer. For employers to count FMLA leave towards the total amount of leave entitled to job protection under the WA PFML if the employee was eligible for WA PFML but did not apply for it, employers must provide written notice with specific information. Employers must provide the written notice within five business days of an FMLA request for or use of leave, whichever comes first, and monthly thereafter during the remainder of the leave period.
Notice and Poster Requirements
HB 1213 requires employers to include additional information in their posted materials, including employees' eligibility requirements, possible weekly benefits, application processes, employment protection rights, nondiscrimination rights, and other protections. The 2026 poster can be downloaded here.
Action Item: Employers should review and update leave policies, procedures, and postings to ensure compliance with the new requirements, including job protection thresholds and notice obligations.
Expanded Access to Leave and Safety Accommodations for Hate Crime Victims
SB 5101 expands Washington's Domestic Violence Leave law to cover victims (and family members of victims) of hate crimes, including those committed online. Under the amended law, employers must provide reasonable unpaid leave and safety accommodations to these individuals, absent undue hardship. This law effectively broadens the reasons for which employees may use Washington paid sick leave, as qualifying leave under the Washington Domestic Violence Leave law now includes hate crimes.
Action Item: Employers should update leave and accommodation policies to reflect the expanded protections and ensure paid sick leave policies permit use for qualifying hate crime-related leave.
Increased Minimum Wages, Overtime Exemption Salary Thresholds, and Salary Thresholds for Noncompete and Moonlighting Agreements
Washington's inflation-adjusted minimum wage will increase from $16.66 to $17.13, effective January 1, 2026. Many local jurisdictions with higher minimum wages will also implement updated rates at the start of the year. Washington's minimum wage increase also affects the minimum salary threshold employees must meet to qualify for overtime exemptions under the Washington Minimum Wage Act. In addition, the increase affects the minimum earnings required for noncompete and anti-moonlighting agreements to be enforceable. For more information, see our prior Update here.
Action Item: Employers should review employee wages and salaries to ensure that all nonexempt employees are paid at least the applicable minimum wage based on where they work and that employees are properly classified. Employers should also confirm that employees subject to noncompete and moonlighting agreements meet the minimum salary thresholds required for enforceability.
Expanded Unemployment Insurance Benefits to Striking and Locked-Out Workers
SB 5041expands unemployment insurance benefit eligibility to include certain striking and locked-out workers who otherwise qualify for benefits. The amendment is a significant change to the current law, which only allows workers to be eligible if they (and their grade or class) are not participating in, financing, or interested in the strike or lockout that caused their unemployment.
The amendment, however, imposes specific limits for strikes. Striking workers remain ineligible for benefits until the second Sunday after the strike begins or the strike's end, whichever comes first. After that point, and following the standard one-week waiting period, eligible strikers may receive up to six calendar weeks of benefits. If a strike is ultimately found unlawful under federal or state law in a final judgment, striking workers cannot receive benefits and must repay any benefits already paid. In addition, striking workers who later receive retroactive wages from the separating employer for a given week must repay to the Washington State Employment Security Department any benefits paid for that same week as overpayments.
Locked-out workers who qualify for benefits are not subject to the strike-related disqualification period and may be eligible after the standard one-week waiting period.
Action Item: Update strike contingency plans and review negotiation strategies for collective bargaining agreements.
New Workplace Violence Law for Healthcare Settings
HB 1162 builds on the 2019 workplace violence prevention law by requiring more frequent and detailed reviews of workplace violence incidents in healthcare settings.1 It requires healthcare settings to promptly investigate every workplace violence incident, including identifying the factors that contributed to or caused the incident. Healthcare settings must also submit quarterly summaries of each incident—and the related investigations and analyses—to their safety committee or workplace violence committee, unless an exception applies. Under the amended law, healthcare settings must also conduct an annual comprehensive review and update of their workplace violence prevention plans. By contrast, the current law requires developing and implementing these plans only every three years.
Action Item: Employers in healthcare settings should update their workplace policies and procedures. They should also train staff on how to properly report, document, and investigate incidents of workplace violence to ensure compliance.
Enhanced Workplace Safety Standards for Isolated Employees
HB 1524 applies to hotels, motels, retail businesses, security guard companies, and property services contractors that employ at least one isolated worker. HB 1524 updates the definition of "isolated employee" and imposes new requirements for panic buttons, which isolated employees must carry.2 Employers must train isolated employees on the proper use of panic buttons and instruct managers and supervisors on their responsibilities to respond to panic button alerts. The amendment also sets minimum standards for panic buttons, including ease of use. Employers are required to maintain records of panic button purchases, usage, and training. Willful violations may result in civil penalties of $1,000 per violation and up to $10,000 for repeat violations.
Action Item: Employers of isolated employees should update their policies and procedures regarding the use of panic buttons to ensure compliance with the new training and documentation requirements.
High-Risk Employment Laws Already in Effect
Washington has experienced a significant increase in employment class actions in recent years. Many of these class actions are pursuant to laws that provide statutory penalties and corresponding attorneys' fees for noncompliance. In addition to shoring up policies and practices, employers should consult experienced employment counsel to discuss how best to mitigate these risks and avoid costly class-action litigation.
Limitations on Restricting Low-Wage Workers From Moonlighting
Washington's noncompete act prohibits employers from restricting low-wage workers (employees earning less than twice the applicable minimum wage) from having a second job in certain circumstances. The law provides an exception for policies geared towards preventing a conflict of interest and preserving an employee's duty of loyalty to their employer. Notwithstanding this exception, 2025 brought a flurry of class actions challenging provisions in policies, as well as employment agreements, addressing in any capacity an employee's ability to engage in outside employment. These class actions follow the 2024 Washington Supreme Court's decision in David v. Freedom Vans LLC, which held that moonlighting restrictions must be reasonable and narrowly tailored. See our prior Update, here.
Action Item: Employers should review their offer letters, employment agreements, and policies to ensure any moonlighting, loyalty, conflict-of-interest, noncompete, or other outside employment provisions are narrowly tailored as consistent with the new ruling.
Limitations on Requiring Worker Confidentiality
Washington's Silenced No More Act (SNMA), which went into effect in June 2022, prohibits businesses from using certain nondisclosure and nondisparagement provisions in agreements with employees and independent contractors. The SNMA prohibits employers from preventing workers from discussing workplace conduct they reasonably believe involves illegal discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage‑and‑hour violations, sexual assault, or conduct that clearly violates public policy. The SNMA applies to provisions in a broad range of agreements, including employment agreements, independent contractor agreements, settlement or severance agreements, and any other agreement between an employer and an employee or independent contractor.
Additionally, the SNMA prohibits businesses from discharging or otherwise discriminating or retaliating against a worker for disclosing or discussing protected information.
The SNMA has prompted an uptick in litigation, including recent class actions alleging that confidentiality clauses in employee handbooks or employment policies violate the SNMA. Businesses may be subject to $10,000 in statutory damages plus attorneys' fees for violations of the SNMA. For more information, see our prior Update here.
Action item: Review offer letters, employment agreements, consultant agreements, severance agreement templates, handbooks, and policies to ensure confidentiality provisions comply with the Silenced No More Act.
Requirements To Include Compensation and Benefits Information in Job Postings
Washington pay transparency class actions have taken the state by storm in the past few years. Washington's Equal Pay and Opportunities Act, which went into effect in January 2023, requires disclosure of compensation and benefits information in job postings. In 2023, the EPOA provided for a statutory penalty of $5,000 for noncompliant job postings. In September 2025, the Washington Supreme Court issued its ruling in Branson v. Total Wines, holding that job applicants do not need to prove they applied to a job posting in good faith to recover under the EPOA. This opened the door to a handful of professional plaintiffs who have filed hundreds of class actions based on allegedly deficient job postings, a multimillion-dollar windfall in many cases.
In July 2025, SB 5408 went into effect, which amended the EPOA in several ways. Of significance to employers, employees must first provide written notice of a violative job posting before a lawsuit is filed, and employers have five days to cure it. The law also clarifies wage disclosure requirements for internal transfers and promotions. For more information, see our prior Update here.
Action Item: Ensure job postings comply with the EPOA and establish procedures for prompt response to written notices of noncompliance.
Penalties for Meal Period Violations
Although Washington has long required employers to provide employees with meal breaks, in 2024, the Washington State Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Androckitis v. Virginia Mason Medical Center, holding that employers must provide 30 minutes of pay as a penalty for a missed meal break—and suggesting they should have been paying it all along. Since then, Washington employers have faced dozens of meal and rest break class actions. For more information, see our previous Update, here.
Action Item: Employers with nonexempt employees should review their meal period and pay policies and practices and implement procedures for paying missed break penalties and other mitigation measures.
Footnotes
1. Healthcare settings include certain hospitals, hospice and home care agencies, and evaluation and treatment facilities.
2. "Isolated employee" is defined as a janitor, security guard, hotel or motel housekeeper, or room service attendant who either "[p]erforms work in an area where two or more coworkers, supervisors, or a combination thereof are unable to immediately respond to an emergency without being summoned by the employee" or "spends at least 50 percent of her or his working hours without a supervisor or coworker present."
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
