WashingtonSB 60392025-2026 Regular SessionSenateWALLET

Modernizing methods of communications by the department of labor and industries.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

13 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 5 costs, 3 mixed.

Faster wage recovery and break pay

If L&I offers to settle a wage complaint filed on or after January 1, 2024 without a citation, the deal must include 1% interest per month on the unpaid amount (workers can ask to waive or reduce interest). When L&I notifies an employer of a justified claim, the employer has 30 days to pay or owes an added 10% penalty. If you missed a required meal or rest break, you get one extra hour of pay at your regular rate for each day it happened. L&I must send trackable notices to both sides and issue decisions within 60 days in certain wage cases and within 90 days in other complaints, with written good‑cause extensions allowed.

Stronger protections for isolated workers

Employers in hotels, motels, retail, security, and property services must have a written anti‑harassment policy. Isolated employees must get a panic button, training, and a resource list that includes the EEOC, the state Human Rights Commission, and local advocacy groups. Employers must keep records on training and panic buttons and give them to L&I if asked. Property services contractors must file a yearly report on their policy, training, and worksite staffing and hours. Licensed contracted security guard firms are exempt from the panic‑button rule. L&I must publish guidance for employers with 50 or fewer workers.

Tougher enforcement of warehouse quotas

L&I investigates warehouse quota complaints and issues citations or closure letters using trackable notices. The department can also sue in superior court and recover its attorney fees if it wins. Employers may be ordered to notify affected workers about investigations and to fix unlawful quotas within 15 days, with a letter placed in personnel files. Civil penalties start at $1,000 for a first violation, and repeat or willful violations can reach $10,000; funds go to the supplemental pension fund. L&I must adopt rules and can request or subpoena warehouse records to enforce these rules.

Daily boiler fines and e-notices

L&I may fine up to $500 per day for boiler and unfired pressure‑vessel violations. Penalty notices must be sent by a trackable electronic or paper method, and L&I must offer a paper option before first using electronic delivery.

Stricter rules for elevator contractors

L&I may fine conveyance (elevator and related) violations up to $500 per day. For license or permit actions, L&I must send trackable notices to the last known address and explain how to request a hearing. Arbitration requests between parties must be sent by a trackable method; awards are final and enforceable in Thurston County Superior Court, with a paper option offered before first electronic use. Elevator contractors must name a primary contact who passed the contractor exam; if that person leaves, you have 90 days to designate a qualified replacement.

Electronic notices and faster collections for employers

L&I may send employer notices and orders by secure electronic delivery and must offer a paper option before first use. Electronic notices count as received the day they are sent, and not seeing them does not erase taxes, interest, or penalties. If an assessed tax, interest, or penalty is unpaid 10 days after service or mailing, L&I may seize and sell your personal or real property; these mailings must be trackable. For out‑of‑state employers and insurers, tracked electronic or tracked mail to the address on the certificate is allowed, with a paper option offered before first electronic use. For self‑insurers in default, the required 10‑day notice may be sent by tracked electronic delivery or tracked mail, with a paper option before first use.

Workers' comp: faster pay, e-notices, stronger collections

The law requires the first temporary disability payment to be sent within 14 days after L&I’s Olympia office gets your claim. Payments then continue twice a month. You can opt in to secure electronic delivery for orders and notices; electronic notices count as received the day they are sent. Final orders take effect 60 days after paper notice or 65 days after electronic notice. Self‑insured employer closure orders must be served by a separate secure paper method. After a third‑party recovery, L&I issues a distribution order; once final, any unpaid amount can be filed as a county warrant that becomes a lien and allows garnishment, with the clerk’s fee added and a copy mailed to you within three days. You may also choose secure electronic service for any required election demand, and all election notices must be sent by a trackable method.

Privacy and penalties in coercion cases

Personal information in immigration‑status coercion complaints is confidential. L&I may share it with the employer, but any other sharing needs the worker’s written permission. Penalties for immigration‑status coercion rise with inflation every three years starting July 1, 2028, using the Seattle‑area CPI‑W.

Trackable notices in workplace cases

L&I must send citations, orders, and decisions by a method you can track. In most safety cases, employers have 15 working days after notification to say they will appeal. In retaliation cases, both the worker and employer must get trackable notice. Hearing findings must be delivered to both sides at their last known address. Before L&I first uses email or other electronic delivery, it must offer a paper option.

New timelines for safety hearings

The public gets at least 20 days’ notice before a workplace‑safety hearing, down from 30. When the director takes back an appeal, L&I has 75 working days to finish its review and issue any corrected notices, replacing the 30‑day timeline.

Stronger enforcement of child labor laws

For youth employment violations, citations must be given to the top manager on site or sent to the workplace, with a copy to the central personnel office. Employers must post the citation where the violation happened. Starting July 1, 2027, and every two years, listed civil penalties are adjusted for inflation using the CPI‑W.

Tracked e-notices for manufactured-home installers

If L&I plans to revoke a manufactured‑home installation certificate, it must send a tracked notice to the holder’s last known address and offer a paper option before first electronic use. For installation infractions, L&I can serve in person or send a tracked electronic or paper notice, and must offer the paper option before first electronic use.

Tracked notices for trades licenses

Contractors, plumbers, and electricians now get license and penalty notices by a trackable method, with a paper option before first electronic use. If contractor registration is suspended for bond or insurance issues, L&I must notify within two days. For electrical penalties, the 20‑day appeal window starts after trackable notice is given. Some timing rules tighten, such as license actions taking effect 20 days after receipt and manufactured‑home correction notices not being appealable.

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Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Curtis King
Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

Marko Liias
Democratic • Senate
Steve Conway
Democratic • Senate
T'wina Nobles
Democratic • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 142 • No: 0

House vote • 3/3/2026

3rd Reading & Final Passage

Yes: 94 • No: 0 • Other: 4

Senate vote • 2/5/2026