What Workers Want in 2020:
Our Statewide Policy Priorities
Over the past several years, workers in Washington have won dramatic victories to raise standards for low-wage workers across the state – including the new minimum wage, paid sick days, paid family leave, and improvements to equal pay protections – and our economy is stronger than ever. Workers continue to call for bold legislative action to tackle income inequality, raise standards, and enforce the rights of low-wage workers.
Secure Scheduling
HB 1491 / SB 5717
Workers on the frontlines of Washington’s service economy deserve balanced, flexible schedules with hours they can count on. Secure scheduling at large food service and retail chains will provide workers with advance notice of schedules, predictability pay when schedules are changed, as well as access to more hours.
Worker Protection Act
HB 1965
Our labor standards are only as strong as our ability to enforce them, but the rise of forced arbitration is increasingly limiting workers’ ability to have complaints heard by a judge and jury. The Worker Protection Act will enable whistleblowers to file qui tam actions to hold corporations accountable for stolen wages, health & safety violations, and harassment & discrimination at work.
Gig Worker Rights
Gig workers are organizing to improve their jobs with three primary policy goals: (1) a minimum pay floor of $15 plus expenses (e.g., IRS mileage rate and payroll taxes) per hour hour worked; (2) tips on top of pay; (3) pay transparency to provide workers with a detailed breakdown of what and how they are paid for each job.
Domestic Workers Bill of Rights
SB 6247 / HB 2511
End the loopholes in our state labor standards to ensure domestic workers – including nannies, housecleaners, gardeners and others – have the same basic rights on the job afforded to other workers in Washington, including minimum wage, sick leave, workers’ compensation, and overtime.
Regulate House Fees & Back Rent for Adult Entertainers
Building on Washington’s recent legislation to improve safety and security on the job for dancers in adult entertainment clubs, it is now time to cap the house fees dancers are required to pay in order to work, and end the practice of back rent, which holds dancers in debt to the clubs where they work.
Build Statewide Capacity for Community-based Enforcement
Employers who violate labor and employment laws should be responsible for helping fund enforcement of those laws – similar to making polluters pay for environmental damages. A portion of the new penalties accrued under the Worker Protection Act (HB 1965) should be invested in community-based approaches to providing low-wage workers across the state with information about their rights and how to exercise them.
Protect and Uphold L&I’s New Overtime Rule
The State’s plan to restore overtime protections means hundreds of thousands of salaried workers will get back the time they need to care for their families, give to their communities, and just live their lives, by ensuring they are paid for all their time at work. The rule phases in over seven years and gives smaller employers longer to adjust. The legislature must protect this long overdue rule from attempts to overturn it or limit its scope.
Tax Excess Compensation of Millionaires
SB 6017
Taxing the companies that provide excess compensation to millionaire executives will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue to help us make progress toward rebalancing our tax code and bringing in much needed revenue for public needs.