Business owners across industries who have one or more employees must regularly review new employment regulations to guarantee that they’re meeting their legal obligations. Failure to adjust how they do business to match the law can cause extensive financial and reputational harm. With this guide, we outline three of the top new employment regulations that went into effect on January 1, 2025, in Washington State. Read on to learn more…
Pay Transparency Across All Hiring Processes
Pay transparency laws require employers to provide transparent details about compensation when using job listings and fairs and making internal hiring decisions. The goal of these laws is to primarily prevent a gender-based payment difference for a man working the same job as a woman. Transparency also addresses other protected category gap areas, including pay discrimination based on age, disability and religion.
The Washington State legislature previously passed the Washington Pay Transparency (Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5761) during the 2022 session. The law went into effect on January 1, 2023. That said, Washington has clarified the law in 2025 because of complaints by employers that some job applicants have used the law to make false non-compliance claims against them. The new rules provide context and clear up questionable areas for both employers and workers.
At the time of this writing, an employer, their hiring manager or their in-house or third-party recruiter must outline in detail the salary range or wage scale for a new position when they post a job as an online or other listing and when they discuss wages with a potential new hire or when offering a current worker a promotion or transfer. They must also clearly outline all other forms of compensation. Employers who refuse to follow the law can expect to lose a lot of money to penalties and damages.
State- and Local-Mandated Minimum Wages and Adjustments
The United States government requires states to offer at least $7.25 per hour minimum wage in 2025 for all hours defined as work. That said, Washington State requires that any worker 16 years old or older receive at least $16.66 per hour. Depending on the cost of living in a city or other area, local governments might require business owners to offer even more, such as $20.76 per hour in Seattle. Youths ages 14 and 15 must receive at least 85% of the adult minimum wage or $14.16 per hour. In all cases, workers must receive this wage even if they’re receiving training, sitting in meetings or helping with opening or closing a brick-and-mortar location.
Business owners also need to check for updates about wages in September 2025. Washington State lawmakers reassess the minimum wage for the next year at that time. They will likely make an increased cost-of-living adjustment that employers must comply with on January 1, 2026.
Light-Duty and Transitional Work Incentives
Employers must offer light-duty and transitional work options when they press workers on leave because of injury or another major event to return to work. That said, the most recent employment regulations actually offer employers incentives to lessen the burden of expenses related to paying workers who aren’t as productive as their healthy counterparts or need special accommodations.
Washington State Fund employers can ask for a 50% reimbursement of a return-to-work employee’s gross wages. The program caps the amount at $25,000 and 120 days. If they must pay for educational expenses and other extras to help the worker perform well, they can request up to $1,000 for clothing, $2,000 for training, and $5,000 for equipment and tools.
All Washington employers who deal with severely restricted workers, also known as preferred workers, can request reimbursement via the return-to-work Preferred Worker Program. They can request 50% reimbursement of wages up to $25,000 over 120 days, $1,000 for clothing and $5,000 for equipment and tools. Additionally, the program offers another $25,000 for 12 months of continuous stable wage employment of a preferred worker. For 36 months, they can even claim a premium discount and enjoy a pause on any claim by the worker.
