A series of employment-related bills have become law and will go into effect in the coming months and years. These new bills contain some significant changes that will likely affect most Washington employers. Understanding these changes and implementing adjustments to internal policies may be crucial to prevent employee claims. The new law changes include:

• Washington’s Mini-WARN Act
• Paid Sick Leave Expansion
• Amendments to Washington’s “Ban the Box” law
• Restrictions on Employers Requiring Driver’s Licenses
• Amendments to Washington’s Personnel File Request Law
• Amendments to Washington’s Equal Pay Law
• Paid Family Medical Leave Act Expansion
• Unemployment for Striking Workers
• Domestic Violence Leave for Hate Crimes
• Pregnancy-Related Accommodations Expansion

Below are more details on some of these changes to the law.

Mini-WARN Act

Washington state will now have its own version of the WARN Act, which provides greater benefits to employees beyond the federal law.  Washington’s law, effective July 27, 2025, will require employers with fifty or more employees to provide at least sixty-days’ notice before business closures or mass reductions in force. The law is different from the federal WARN Act in several important ways:

• This applies to employers with 50 or more employees in Washington (as opposed to 100 employees under the federal WARN Act).
• The information that Washington employers must provide in the WARN Act notice goes beyond what the federal WARN Act requires. The Washington law requires detailed notices that must include the employee’s address, the anticipated duration of a temporary layoff, and whether the employer is relocating or contracting out its business.
• Employees on paid family or medical leave cannot be included in mass reductions except in limited situations.
• This creates an additional penalty of $500 per day (up to 60 days) for failure to notify the state. However, the penalty is waived if the employer pays impacted employees within three weeks from the date of the layoff.
• This creates a private right of action for aggrieved employees, employees’ union bargaining representatives, and Washington’s Employment Security Department to file a civil suit on behalf of the aggrieved employees, “other persons similarly situated, or both,” subject to a three-year statute of limitations.
• Unlike the federal WARN Act, the definition of “mass layoff” is not limited to job losses at a single site of employment, and the layoff does not have to account for 33% of the workforce of a single job site. So, the state law could be triggered by a layoff that affects at least 50 employees state-wide (even if they are at different job sites and represent a small fraction of the employer’s total workforce).
• The law only considers job losses during a rolling 30-day period to determine whether the notification requirement is triggered, whereas the federal WARN Act considers a 90-day rolling period.
• Like the federal statute, the Washington Mini-WARN Act contains exceptions to providing notice that includes unforeseeable business circumstances and natural disasters. Washington law also contains a specific exception for employers who are undergoing construction projects. Further, the faltering business exception will apply to both plant closings and mass layoffs in Washington.

Paid Sick Leave Expansion

Washington passed a law that will add an additional use of paid sick leave. When the law takes effect on July 27, 2025, employees will be able to use paid sick leave to prepare for or participate in any judicial or administrative immigration proceeding involving the employee or a family member. Also, employers and network transportation companies must accept specific documentation or the employee’s written statement as certification that the employee is using paid sick leave for immigration proceedings. As with other qualified uses of paid sick time, employees cannot discipline, discriminate, or retaliate against an employee for being absent or using paid sick time to prepare for or participate in judicial or administrative immigration proceedings.

Ban the Box

Washington is expanding its existing “ban the box” law to provide additional protections to job applicants and increase penalties for violations. The amendments will take effect on July 1, 2026, for employers with fifteen or more employees, and on January 1, 2027, for employers with fewer than fifteen employees. Here are some key components of the amended law:

• Employers cannot categorically exclude applicants with criminal backgrounds, nor may an employer ask or obtain information about an applicant’s criminal history until the employer determines that the candidate is otherwise qualified for the position and makes a conditional employment offer. After making a conditional job offer, an employer may conduct a background check. Employers cannot reject applicants for failing to disclose criminal records before a conditional employment offer is made.
• Employers may not make tangible adverse employment actions based solely on an applicant or employee’s adult conviction record unless there is a legitimate business reason.
• Employers must hold a position open for two business days for the employee to respond before taking any adverse employment action. Employers who choose not to hire an employee must explain their decision in writing, including the specific legitimate business reason.
  • There are exemptions for employees who have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults, as well as law enforcement and criminal justice agencies.
• The amendment increases the number of potential penalties for the first, second, and subsequent violations. It also clarifies that any penalties must be imposed per aggrieved job applicant or employee, for each violation.

Employer Driving Requirements

Washington passed a law that will restrict employers’ ability to require a driver’s license for employment. Effective July 27, 2025, it will be unlawful to (a) require a valid driver’s license as a condition of employment or (b) include a statement in a job posting for an opening that an applicant must have a valid driver’s license unless driving is an essential job function or related to a legitimate business purpose.  A complainant may recover a statutory penalty of $5,000  per violation and the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) may recover $1,000. Employers may want to carefully review their job postings to ensure compliance with this law change.

Personnel Record Requests

Washington passed a law clarifying the records that an employer must provide to an employee upon request, setting a timeline for providing personnel records, and imposing penalties for violations. Effective July 27, 2025, employers will have 21 days to provide personnel records at no cost to the employee. Employees can file suit and seek statutory penalties (ranging from $250 to $1,000, plus attorneys’ fees) if an employer fails to meet this deadline; however, to do so, the employee must send an intent to sue. Personnel files are now defined as all job applications, performance evaluations, inactive or closed disciplinary records, leave and reasonable accommodation records, payroll records, and employment agreements.

Amendment to the Equal Pay Act

Washington’s amendments to its Equal Pay Act, effective July 27, 2025, will exclude certain job postings by third parties, create a new enforcement mechanism, and provide a limited cure opportunity for employers. In an effort to curb class action lawsuits being filed over job postings in Washington, the legislature has defined a job posting to exclude solicitations that are digitally replicated and published without an employer’s consent. The amendments also establish a separate administrative enforcement mechanism through the Labor and Industries (L&I) department and provide a private right of action for job applicants and employees. Employers also now have a limited right to cure noncompliant postings. For postings between July 27, 2025 and July 27, 2027, employers must be allowed an opportunity to correct a violation before a job applicant can seek administrative remedies or file a private right of action. Individuals may provide written notice to an employer alleging that the posting does not comply with the disclosure requirements. Employers have five business days to cure after receiving the notice. This action will prevent L&I or a court from assessing penalties or awarding damages. After July 27, 2027, employers will no longer have the opportunity to cure noncompliant postings. Lastly, if an employer is offering a fixed wage amount for a job opening, then this must be disclosed rather than a scale or range.

Paid Family Medical Leave Act Expansion

Effective January 1, 2026, significant changes will take effect under Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (“PFML”). Among other things, these changes will discourage leave stacking for job restoration purposes, expand job restoration protections, require employees to exercise their right to reinstatement, reduce the duration of hourly claims, impose new notice requirements on employers, and modify the grant system for small employers. These changes are discussed in more detail below:

• FMLA and PFML will now run concurrently for job restoration purposes – To prevent the stacking of leaves; employers can now track leave that qualifies under FMLA and PFML for job restoration purposes.  Employers cannot require that an employee take PFML, but if an employee starts taking FMLA when they could have taken PFML, then employers can start tracking PFML for job restoration purposes when certain notice requirements are met.
• Expanded Job Restoration – PFML job restoration and reinstatement rights will no longer mirror the FMLA reinstatement rights. Now, PFML job restoration and reinstatement rights apply to employees of covered employers if the employee began employment with their current employer at least 180 calendar days prior to taking leave. The job restoration requirements phase in based on the size of the employer as follows:

• Employees Must Exercise Their Right to Reinstatement – Absent a written agreement, employees will forfeit their right to reinstatement if they fail to exercise their right upon the earlier of (a) the first scheduled workday following the end of their PFML leave; (b) the first scheduled workday following unpaid FMLA leave during which the employee was eligible for PFML but did not apply for and receive PFML; or (c) a combination of the two that totals either sixteen weeks of leave or eighteen weeks in the event of pregnancy incapacity taken during a period of fifty-two consecutive calendar weeks.
• Expanded Benefits Continuation – The amendment will require employers to provide benefits during any period of PFML leave unless (a) the employer does not employ the employees at the time they filed for PFML, (b) the employee is not entitled to employment protection, or (c) the employee did not timely exercise their right to employment protection.
• Reduced Hourly Claim Duration – The amendment lowers the minimum claim duration to four hours. This means that employees will no longer be required to take whole days off for PFML leave.
• Employer Notice Requirement – Employers will be required to provide employees with a notice of their right to reinstatement. For an employee taking any continuous period of leave exceeding two typical work weeks or any combined intermittent periods of leave exceeding fourteen typical workdays, the employer must provide the employee with written notice at least five business days in advance.
• Grant Application Expansion. The ability for employers to apply to L&I for grants to assist with the economic burdens of employees taking leave has expanded to employers with 50-150 employees. Smaller employers with fewer than 50 employees may still also apply, but there will be separate considerations.

Unemployment for Striking Workers

Effective January 1, 2026, employees who are unemployed due to a strike or an employer-initiated lockout may be eligible to receive up to six weeks of unemployment insurance. Weekly benefits received unrelated to unemployment due to a strike may not be counted toward the calendar weeks. Eligibility for unemployment benefits typically begins between 15 and 21 days after the strike commences. This law expires on December 31, 2035.

Domestic Violence Leave Expansion for Hate Crimes

Effective January 1, 2026, Washington’s Domestic Violence law will expand so that employees who are or have a family member who is, a victim of a hate crime may take reasonable paid or unpaid leave from work or request a reasonable accommodation. Employers may not discriminate or retaliate against an employee who takes leave. “Hate crime” is defined as “the commission, attempted commission, or alleged commission” of an offense described in RCW 9A.36.080. Hate crimes also include internet or online-based communications.

Pregnancy-Related Accommodations Expansion

Effective January 1, 2027, all employers who employ one or more employees (including non-profit religious or sectarian organizations) must comply with amendments that expand Washington’s pregnancy-related accommodations law. Reasonable accommodations will include flexibility for post-partum visits. Also, the amendments will require employers to pay for an employee’s break time to express milk. If an employer does not provide a private place other than a bathroom to express milk, they must pay for the employee to travel to a private location. Breaks to express milk must be in addition to regular rest and meal breaks. Investigations into complaints will be conducted by L&I, and not the attorney general.

Implementing These New Updates

While the effective dates for the changes to the law vary, many become effective on July 27, 2025. Before then, many employers will be updating their employee handbooks, reviewing their recruitment and posting, and modifying policies to ensure that breastfeeding mothers get paid for lactation breaks, and personnel files are provided within a timely manner. Should you need assistance with these or other employment-related legal issues, the employment lawyers at Schwabe would welcome the opportunity to speak with you.

This article summarizes aspects of the law. This article does not constitute legal advice. For legal advice regarding your situation, you should contact an attorney.