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Recently, the Washington Supreme Court held that noncompete agreements for employees earning less than twice the minimum wage must be reasonable and narrowly construed.  The court found that prohibiting employees from providing any kind of assistance to competitors exceeds the statutory duty of loyalty that an employee owes to their employer. RCW 49.62.070 limits a […]

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson is pleased to announce that Aaron Schwartz, Emily Husa and Faye Washburn have joined the firm. Aaron Schwartz joins the firm as Counsel, with nearly 20 years of litigation practice spanning a wide range of matters from simple wage disputes to complex class actions involving hundreds of millions of dollars. […]

Important developments are on the horizon for Washington State employers in 2024. Beginning on January 1, 2024, the minimum wage in Washington will go up to $16.28 per hour, up 3.4% from 2023 and the highest statewide minimum wage in the country.  For employers in Seattle, SeaTac, and Tukwila you can expect an increase in […]

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”) takes effect on June 27, 2023, and requires private employers with at least 15 employees to provide reasonable accommodations to their employees for pregnancy, childbirth, recovery, and related medical conditions, including lactation. Such reasonable accommodations may include flexible hours, additional break time, and/or light work activity and must be determined via […]

There has been a recent rash of targeted phishing attacks and misleading “filing offers” sent to Washington businesses. These scams access publicly available information from the Secretary of State’s website and use such information in attempts to obtain payment and confidential data from unsuspecting business owners. You may receive an email (often using official sounding titles) […]

Beginning on January 1, 2023,  all employers, with 15 or more employees (including employees in other states), engaging in any business, industry, profession, or activity in Washington (including recruiting for Washington-based employees) must disclose (i) a wage scale or salary range and (ii) a general description of benefits and other compensation on job postings that […]

For any business who uses independent contractors or has plans to hire an independent contractor who will be performing work in Seattle, an ordinance taking effect on September 1, 2022, impacts what information you must provide to the independent contractor at the start of the engagement and with each payment. The ordinance includes nearly every independent […]

Washington now prohibits nondisclosure and nondisparagement agreements between employers and employees relating to certain illegal conduct. The Silenced No More Act was signed into law this spring and makes void and unenforceable any provision in an agreement with a current, former, or prospective employee or independent contractor that bars the employee or contractor from “disclos[ing] or […]

On May 11, 2021, Governor Inslee signed into law the Health Emergency Labor Standards Act. The Act revises the state’s workers’ compensation and industrial health and safety statutes to provide new protections for high risk and frontline workers during any public health emergency, including the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the additional protections under […]

This Client Alert is a courtesy of the law firm of Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson PLLC to inform you of a potential tax trap that may affect your company and your employees if your Company reimburses employees for business related expenses. Please review the summary below as the tax consequences can be substantial. Historically […]