State labor lawRead at source, 24 September 2026

Washington Labor Laws for Employers (2026): Breaks, Overtime, Final Pay and Hiring

Washington employers must give a 30-minute meal period before an employee has worked five consecutive hours and a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours. Overtime is due after 40 hours a week, with no daily rule. Final pay is due at the end of the pay period, whether the employee quit or was fired. Every employer must provide paid sick leave, employers with 15 or more employees must post pay ranges, and criminal record checks must wait until after a conditional offer. The minimum wage is $17.13 in 2026, with no tip credit.

Washington employment law at a glance

Washington regulates almost every row an employer checks: paid breaks, paid sick leave that accrues from the first hour, a state-run paid family leave program, pay ranges in postings, a fair chance hiring law that moved in July 2026, and a $17.13 minimum wage with no tip credit. Every row below was read in the Revised Code of Washington, the Washington Administrative Code or on a Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) page on September 24, 2026.

Washington break laws

Meal breaks for adults

WAC 296-126-092 says employees “shall be allowed a meal period of at least thirty minutes which commences no less than two hours nor more than five hours from the beginning of the shift,” and “no employee shall be required to work more than five consecutive hours without a meal period.” The meal period is on the employer’s time, meaning paid, when the employee is required to remain on duty on the premises or at a work site in the employer’s interest. An employee who works three or more hours past a normal workday gets another 30-minute meal period before or during the overtime.

Rest breaks for adults

The same rule requires a paid rest period of at least 10 minutes for each four hours of working time, scheduled as near as possible to the midpoint, and no employee may work more than three hours without one. Where the work naturally allows intermittent rest equal to 10 minutes per four hours, scheduled breaks are not required. On a standard eight-hour shift that means one 30-minute meal period and two paid 10-minute rest breaks.

Breaks for minors

Washington replaced its youth employment rules on July 1, 2026. Under the new WAC 296-125-111, workers under 16 may not work more than four consecutive hours without a 30-minute meal break, and no more than two consecutive hours without either a meal or a paid 10-minute rest break. Under WAC 296-125-121, 16- and 17-year-olds get a meal break by five consecutive hours, a paid 10-minute rest break when working four or more hours, and no more than three hours without a rest break. See child labor laws by state.

Lactation

RCW 43.10.005 requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable break time to express milk for two years after the child’s birth, and a private location other than a bathroom if one exists at the site. The federal PUMP Act also applies. Our meal break laws by state page compares Washington with other states.

Washington overtime laws

Under RCW 49.46.130 and L&I’s overtime guidance, most employees who work more than 40 hours in a seven-day workweek must be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate. L&I is explicit that “Washington law does not require overtime for hours worked over 8 hours in a day,” except on certain public works projects, and that employees cannot waive overtime.

• Salary threshold for exempt employees. Washington sets its own, higher threshold. Under WAC 296-128-545, an exempt executive, administrative or professional employee must be paid at least 2.25 times the state minimum wage for a 40-hour week in 2026, regardless of employer size: 2.25 × $17.13 × 40 hours = $1,541.70 a week. In 2027 the multiplier stays 2.25 for employers with 50 or fewer employees and rises to 2.5 for larger employers, applied to the 2027 minimum wage; from 2028 it is 2.5 for everyone.
• Agriculture. Agricultural workers are covered by the 40-hour overtime rule after a phase-in under ESSB 5172 (2021), according to L&I.
• Comp time. L&I says private employers cannot give time off instead of overtime pay; only public employees can agree to comp time.
• Health care overtime limits. Most health care facility employees cannot be required to work overtime, with exceptions; see overtime laws by state.

Paying employees in Washington

Minimum wage

The state minimum wage is $17.13 an hour in 2026, with no tip credit, and 14- and 15-year-olds may be paid no less than 85 percent of it. L&I adjusts the rate every year for inflation using CPI-W, announces the new figure on September 30 and applies it on January 1, so the 2027 rate was not yet published on September 24, 2026. Several cities set higher rates, including Seattle at $21.30 and Tukwila, the highest on L&I’s 2026 list, at $21.65. The full breakdown by city is on our Washington minimum wage page.

Pay frequency

WAC 296-126-023 requires payment of all wages on an established regular payday “at no longer than monthly payment intervals.” If your pay period is shorter than a month, the payday must fall no later than 10 calendar days after the period ends. For a semimonthly schedule covering the 1st to the 15th, that means paying by the 25th. See pay frequency laws by state.

Final paychecks

RCW 49.48.010(2) says that when an employee stops working, “whether by discharge or by voluntary withdrawal,” wages due must be paid “at the end of the established pay period.” In practice that is the next regular payday, for both firing and quitting. Deductions from a final check still need to be required by law or agreed with the employee. See final paycheck laws by state and PTO payout laws by state.

Washington hiring laws

Pay ranges in job postings

RCW 49.58.110 applies to employers with 15 or more employees. Each posting for each job opening must disclose “the wage scale or salary range,” or the fixed wage if that is all you offer, and “a general description of all of the benefits and other compensation.” “Posting” covers recruitment done directly or through a third party, electronic or printed. Applicants can recover $100 to $5,000 per violation. For postings from July 27, 2025 through July 27, 2027, an employer that receives written notice has five business days to correct the posting, and contact any third-party site, before penalties apply. Employees offered a transfer or promotion can ask for its range. Washington also bars asking about wage or salary history under RCW 49.58.100. See pay transparency laws by state.

Criminal records: the Fair Chance Act

As amended in 2025, RCW 49.94.010 bars an employer from asking about, running a background check on, or otherwise obtaining an applicant’s criminal record “until after the employer initially determines that the applicant is otherwise qualified for the position and makes an offer of employment conditioned on obtaining the applicant’s criminal record.” The Attorney General says that rule applies from July 1, 2026 to employers with 15 or more employees and from January 1, 2027 to smaller employers. The statute also bans ads that say “no felons” or anything similar, bans blanket exclusions, requires a legitimate business reason and a two-business-day hold before rejecting someone over a conviction, and bars decisions based on arrest or juvenile records.

Positions with unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults are exempt, as are employers that another law permits or requires to check records. For senior living and home care, that exemption often covers the whole frontline workforce. See ban the box laws by state.

Drug and cannabis testing

RCW 49.44.240 makes it unlawful to refuse to hire someone because of off-the-job cannabis use, or because a pre-employment test found nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites. Tests that do not screen for those metabolites are still allowed, and the rule does not cover post-accident or reasonable-suspicion testing. Listed positions are exempt, including first responders and roles requiring a federal background investigation. Our drug testing laws by state page lists the full exemptions.

Form I-9, E-Verify and new-hire reporting

Every employer completes the federal Form I-9. Washington does not require private employers to use E-Verify. Under RCW 26.23.040, employers report new hires, and rehires after 60 days’ separation, to the Washington State Support Registry within 20 days.

Minors

Before employing anyone under 18, an employer needs a minor work permit endorsement on its business license for each location where minors work (WAC 296-125-041), and a parent/school authorization for each minor (WAC 296-125-061). The endorsement expires with the business license or after a year, whichever comes first. L&I’s youth employment page lists hours limits and prohibited jobs.

Non-competes

Under RCW 49.62.020 as it reads today, a non-compete is void unless the employee’s annualized earnings exceed an inflation-adjusted threshold that started at $100,000, so it is already void for nearly every hourly worker. A new version of the statute takes effect June 30, 2027: from that date “all noncompetition covenants are void and unenforceable regardless of when the parties entered into” them, and by October 1, 2027 employers must make reasonable efforts to notify current and former employees whose covenants are still running.

Paid leave in Washington

Paid sick leave

RCW 49.46.210 covers every employer. Employees accrue at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked, can use it from the 90th calendar day of employment, and carry over up to 40 unused hours to the next year. It is paid at the employee’s normal hourly compensation, and you may not require the employee to find a replacement. For absences over three days you may require verification. Unused sick leave is not paid out at separation, but it must be reinstated if the employee is rehired within 12 months. L&I’s paid sick leave page has the rules. Seattle has its own Paid Sick and Safe Time ordinance.

Paid Family and Medical Leave

Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program is funded by premiums. In 2026, according to the Employment Security Department, the premium is 1.13 percent of each employee’s gross wages up to the Social Security cap. Up to 71.43 percent can be withheld from the employee; the remaining share, about 28.57 percent, is paid by employers with 50 or more employees. Employers with fewer than 50 still collect and remit the employee share.

Posters and records

L&I lists every required notice on its required workplace posters page. Seattle publishes notices for its own ordinances. Our labor law posters by state page links every state source, and employee handbook requirements by state covers written-policy rules. For Washington’s state-fund workers’ compensation rule, see workers comp requirements by state. Outdoor employers also have heat rules; see heat illness prevention.

Seattle and other local rules

• Minimum wage. Seattle’s 2026 rate is $21.30 an hour for all employers. L&I’s local minimum wage list also includes Bellingham, Burien, Everett, unincorporated King County, Renton, SeaTac (hospitality and transportation), and Tukwila, several with rates that depend on employer size.
• Secure scheduling. Seattle’s Secure Scheduling Ordinance covers hourly employees at retail and food service establishments with 500 or more employees worldwide (full-service restaurants also need 40 or more locations). Covered employers must post schedules at least 14 days in advance and offer additional hours to current employees before hiring. See predictive scheduling laws by state.

What this means when you’re hiring hourly workers in Washington

Washington regulates the job ad itself. With 15 or more employees, every posting, including a Facebook or Instagram job ad, needs the wage or range and a benefits description, and the ad cannot discourage people with records from applying. The application cannot ask about criminal history before a conditional offer. And the price you advertise has to clear the right floor: $17.13 statewide in 2026, and more in Seattle and the other listed cities, with no tip credit anywhere.

Put the rate in the first line, name the shift and the breaks, keep the application short and follow up fast. Our guide to job ad copywriting covers the wording, frontline recruiting and healthcare recruiting show how Boostpoint runs campaigns, and the employee cost calculator prices a Washington hire at the wage you actually pay.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: RCW 26.23.040, 43.10.005, 49.46.020, 49.46.130, 49.46.210, 49.48.010, 49.58.100, 49.58.110, 49.62.020, 49.94.010; WAC 296-125, 296-126-023, 296-126-092, 296-128-545; L&I, Attorney General, ESD and Seattle Office of Labor Standards pages, read September 24, 2026.