If you are an employer with employees working inside Seattle city limits, regardless of your employee’s immigration status or the location of your business, or perhaps if you plan on having employees working in Seattle in the future, it’s important to be familiar with the labor requirements set forth by the Seattle Office of Labor Standards, and what requirements are changing in 2022.
Join us for the “Seattle Labor Standards Ordinances 2021 Deep-Dive“, November 23 @ 11:00 am as we speak with a representative from the Seattle Office of Labor Standards regarding the 2021/2022 labor ordinances. You will have an opportunity to ask the speaker your questions during the Q&A portion of the webinar.
Below are the most significant changes coming to the current ordinances:
2022 Seattle OLS Workplace Poster
The Seattle OLS workplace poster is now updated for 2022, and you can download it by clicking on this 2022 Workplace Poster PDF link.
All business locations within the Seattle city limits must make this poster available and accessible to all employees at the worksite(s).
For businesses with employees whose language preference is not English, you can find alternative language posters by clicking on this Resources and Languages Access link.
2022 Minimum Wage
The current minimum wage in Seattle increases to $17.27 per hour starting January 1, 2022. For small employers (less than 500 employees), if the employer pays $1.52 per hour toward medical benefits and/or the employee earns $1.52 per hour in tips, then the minimum wage is $15.75.
Paid Sick & Safe Time
Make sure to carry over the appropriate amount of PSST hours for each employee for 2022:
Tier 1 Businesses (1 to 49 full-time employees) must carry over up to 40 hours of unused PSST
Tier 2 Businesses (50 to 249 full-time employees) must carry over up to 56 hours of unused PSST
Tier 3 Businesses (250+ full-time employees) must carry over up to 72 hours of unused PSST
Independent Contractor Protections
Effective September 1, 2022, businesses will be required to provide Independent Contractors with disclosures prior to entering a contract and at the time of payment. Independent Contractors must be paid on or before the date compensation is due under the terms of a contract, the terms of the pre-contract disclosure, or within 30 days. To learn more about this ordinance, please read the Independent Contractor Ordinance Fact Sheet.
2022 Notice of Rights for Hotel Employees
The Notice of Rights for Hotel Employees poster is updated for 2022 and must be displayed at a noticeable area at the workplace, in English AND the language spoken by employees. The poster (English) can be found by clicking this 2022 Notice of Rights for Hotel Employees PDF link. For Ancillary Hotel Businesses, please use the 2022 Notice of Rights for Ancillary Hotel Businesses poster.
More information can be found on the Seattle Office of Labor Standards website.
For a general overview of the 2021 Seattle Labor Standards, take our self-paced, on-demand training before the Business Expert Session.
For additional questions or one-on-one support on the Seattle Labor Standards, contact Oren Shani at orens@businessimpactnw.org.
About the author
Oren Shani
Oren is a Business Coach & Trainer at Business Impact NW, providing personalized coaching for small business owners and entrepreneurs with a focus on financial forecasting, strategic planning, and business plan formation.
He has a B.S. in Business Administration and has founded several for-profit and non-profit organizations. He is also a certified ADA Coordinator and accessibility specialist, having consulted on disability inclusion programming for various municipalities and private organizations.
A musician and live music enthusiast, he co-founded Accessible Festivals, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the standards of accessibility at live music events and concerts throughout the country.