Some people ring in the new year with resolutions for going to the gym or finally learning Spanish. Along with new resolutions, Washingtonians will have several new laws go into effect today.
Higher state minimum wageThe state is raising its minimum wage to $16.66 an hour in 2025, a 38-cent increase from 2024 ($16.28 per hour), due to increased housing and food costs as calculated by the state Department of Labor & Industries.Washington had the highest state-level minimum wage in the nation in 2024 (Washington D.C.’s wage is $17), though the federal wage is still $7.25.Cities and counties in the state, however, can set their own higher minimum wages. In May the King County Council approved $20.29 an hour for unincorporated King County, one of the highest in the country. In Seattle, the minimum wage will be $20.76 regardless of the size of a company, and employers cannot count tips or payments toward medical benefits as part of the minimum wage.Small businesses with up to 50 employees need to pay overtime-exempt workers at twice the minimum wage, while businesses with 51 or more employees need to pay overtime-exempt workers at 2.25 times the minimum wage.Also in 2025, noncompete agreements in the state will be valid only when the employee or independent contractor earns a set amount: $123,394.17 for employees and $308,485.43 for independent contractors.Ride-share drivers for companies like Lyft and Uber will also earn more after the new state law takes effect. For rides in Seattle, drivers will earn 68 cents per passenger platform minute and $1.59 per passenger platform mile, or $5.95, whichever is greater. Outside Seattle, drivers will earn 39 cents per passenger platform minute and $1.34 per passenger platform mile, or $3.45, whichever is greater.More protections for app-based workers in SeattleSeattle passed a new law aimed at increasing protections for app-based workers in the city through establishing labor standards for “deactivating” or firing them”, which takes effect on Jan. 1.This means workers in Seattle for apps like DoorDash or UberEats, or other companies that provide services through apps, can no longer be dismissed from their work without a cause or fair process.The law, approved in August 2023, aims to protect workers who work for app-based companies since their minimum labor standards benefited the app companies. Workers employed by apps were subject to deactivation from app companies for various reasons: rejecting too many orders, unavailability on certain days or times, canceling offers with cause, delay in fulfilling orders, receiving low ratings from customers or algorithmic errors.Companies could dismiss app-based workers without explanation or warning, often also without established performance expectations or policies.The new law will also give workers the right to challenge unwarranted deactivations.Changes for health care workersHospitals in Washington will be prohibited from requiring overtime hours from nurses and specialists in the new year.Licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, nursing assistants and specialists are protected from being required to work overtime hours if they are involved in direct patient care activities or clinical services.The new law defines overtime hours as those worked more than in an established shift, those that exceed 12 in a 24-hour period, or those that exceed 80 in a 14-day period.A health care facility covered by this law is still able to offer overtime to its employees, but employees are no longer required to work overtime. The four exceptions to the new overtime law are: when an unforeseeable circumstance occurs; if it is caused by pre-scheduled on-call time; when an employer uses and documents reasonable efforts to provide adequate staff but cannot avoid overtime; or if a patient care procedure is already in process and it would be detrimental to the patient if the employee left.No more hide-and-seek for driver’s license platesIn the new year, drivers who keep covers over their license plates can expect to be fined $145, the Washington State Patrol told Cascade PBS in an email. Displaying a license plate that has been changed, altered, disfigured or that is illegible has been illegal in the state, but before 2025 drivers had received only written warnings for using them.Violators will be sent information about the new state law along with their notice for the fine.Negligent drivers on the road, bewareDrivers who cause the death or serious injury of vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists or other vulnerable persons without the protection of a vehicle – can expect harsher penalties in an updated law that takes effect on Jan. 1.Negligent driving in the second degree is defined as operating a vehicle in a manner that endangers a person or property and can cause death, great or substantial bodily harm of a vulnerable user on the road.The new penalties for causing the death of a vulnerable road user are a fine of $5,000, up to 364 days in jail and suspension of driving privileges for 90 days. If another person is injured, the penalties are a fine of $5,000, suspension of driving for 90 days, attending traffic school and up to 100 hours of community service.The law is an attempt to reduce injuries and fatalities on Washington roads involving road users who do not use vehicles and to penalize negligent drivers.Although Washington committed to decreasing pedestrian traffic deaths in 2000, 2023 was one of the worst years for state traffic deaths. The pedestrian death rate rose in 2017 and has stayed above 100 across the state, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, with 146 fatalities in 2021, 134 in 2022, and 160 in 2023, the most recent year for which data are available, a 19% increase over 2022.Increasing safety near crane sitesThe Legislature made changes to laws aimed at increasing worker and public safety around tower cranes.The changes come about five years after a Seattle tower crane collapsed near the busy section of Mercer and Fairview Avenue in South Lake Union. The collapse killed Sarah Pantip Wong, a Seattle Pacific University student, and Alan Jay Justad, a former city planning official, who happened to be driving down Mercer Street, as well as iron workers Travis Daniel Corbet and Andrew W. Yoder. Three other passersby in vehicles were injured.Workers had prematurely removed pins holding 20-foot sections together, which allowed strong winds to knock the crane over onto the streets below. The construction site, Seattle’s largest construction project at the time, became what is now a Google campus. A King County jury ordered the companies involved to pay over $150 million to the three injured people and to Wong and Justad’s family members.Starting in 2025, companies will be required to go through a permitting process and close streets before operating cranes in the state. The Department of Labor and Industries will have to issue a permit to allow work involving the assembly, disassembly and reconfiguration of tower cranes. They are also required to create assembly/disassembly work zones that include the total area that the crane and or components or attachments could reach if the crane or its accessories were to collapse.Companies will be required to have an assembly/disassembly director on site when cranes are assembled, disassembled, reconfigured or inspected. The director will also establish requirements for maximum allowable windspeed for cranes to operate.Employees can also refuse or delay working on a crane site if they believe doing so could result in physical harm or death. Failure to comply with state regulations that results in the death of an employee can result in a gross misdemeanor charge and a fine of $100,000 or six months imprisonment or both.Updates to paid sick leaveThe state will allow more people to be classified as “family” in 2025 changes to the state’s paid sick-leave law.Under current state law, employees are allowed to use their accrued paid sick leave at their jobs for their own mental or physical illness, injury or health condition or to provide care for a family member such as a child, grandchild, grandparent, parent, parental figure, sibling or spouse of an employee. Employees earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked.Starting in 2025, anyone who resides in the employee’s home with whom they have an established relationship will qualify as a “family member” for the purpose of taking sick leave.Also new for 2025, employees will be able to use paid sick leave if their employer was closed due to the order of public officials for a health-related reason, or when their child’s school or place of care is closed, for example after the declaration of an emergency by a local or state government or agency, or by the federal government.The state Department of Labor and Industries is required to develop materials and do outreach to inform the public of these additions to current law.
Visit cascadepbs.org/donate to support nonprofit, freely distributed, local journalism.
COPYRIGHT 2024 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.