Washington State’s Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) issued its new overtime pay proposal. Official public hearings on the proposal begin next week, so read on to learn how you can comment on the policy.
Proposal Information
L&I is proposing to raise the overtime pay threshold (the minimum below which employees must be paid overtime for over 40 hours of work in a week) to 2.5x the minimum wage by 2026. This equates to a threshold annual salary of nearly $80,000. If you missed our recent webinar on the proposal, you can view the recording and access the slides below. You can access the salary tables, and other information here.
Click here to download the slide deck from the presentation.
Hearings Begin Next Week
L&I will start holding public hearings on the proposal beginning one week from today. The hearing schedule is:
| City: | Tumwater | Seattle | Bellingham | Online |
| Date : | July 15, 2019 | July 16, 2019 | July 17, 2019 | July 23, 2019 |
| Time: | 1 PM to 4 PM | 9 AM to 12 PM | 9 AM to 12 PM | 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM |
| Venue: | L&I Headquarters 7273 Linderson Way SW Tumwater 98501 | The Swedish Club 1920 Dexter Ave N Seattle 98109 | Four Points By Sheraton 714 Lakeway Dr Bellingham 98229 | Click here for log in information |
| City: | Ellensburg | Kennewick | Spokane | Vancounver |
| Date: | August 5, 2019 | August 6, 2019 | August 7, 2019 | August 15, 2019 |
| Time: | 9 AM to 12 PM | 9 AM to 12 PM | 9 AM to 12 PM | 9 AM to 12 PM |
| Venue: | Hal Holmes Community Center 201 Ruby St Ellensburg 98926 | Springhill Suites 7048 W Grandridge Blvd Kennewick 99336 | CenterPlace Regional Event Center 2426 N Discovery Pl Spokane Valley 99216 | Clark College Columbia Tech Center 18700 SE Mill Plain Blvd Vancouver 98683 |
If a hearing is in your area, please try to attend so that L&I can hear your perspective.
How to Prepare for a Hearing
To prepare for the hearings, we recommend that your organization estimate the financial costs of compliance and explain what the proposed changes will mean for your mission, services, staffing plans and costs, and employee benefits, among other items relevant to your organization. Once you have done your analysis, prepare brief talking points to use for testimony. Click here to download a guide to organize your thoughts.
Prior to each set of hearings, we will be holding check in calls that will cover how to prepare and what to expect at the hearings. Click the date below to register:
- Friday July 12 at 10 AM: Western WA Check In
- Friday August 2 at 10 AM: Central and Eastern WA Check In
Can’t Attend a Hearing? Comment in Writing by September 6th
If you are unable to attend a hearing, you can still comment in writing. To comment, all you have to do is submit a letter about the proposal’s impact on your organization. Use our testimony template to help gather and organize your comments, and then write them up on letterhead. To submit comments, email the document to [email protected] or fax the document to 360-902-5300 by September 6th. Please let us know if we can provide assistance with commenting.
Next Steps
Please mark down September 6th as the deadline to comment on the proposal. Between now and then, we will share any new information we learn about the proposal. If you would like to discuss this issue further, please reach out.