To assist clarify and make clear modifications to the state’s Equal Pay and Alternatives Act (EPOA) that take impact on July 1, 2025, the Washington Division of Labor & Industries (L&I) has launched new guidelines that take impact on the identical day. The EPOA has undergone a number of revisions in recent times, together with expanded employee protections (past gender), elevated element required in job postings, and strict limits on asking about prior pay. The laws embody the next additions or clarifications:
- Discrimination in pay or profession development alternatives based mostly on perceived gender or perceived membership in a protected class is prohibited to the identical extent as actions based mostly on precise gender or precise membership in a protected class;
- Profession development alternatives are broadly outlined as “formal or casual events for an worker to collect extra abilities, data, or expertise” and embody promotions, trainings, lessons, mentorships, and particular tasks;
- When figuring out whether or not an employer has dedicated a sample of violations (which can lead to civil penalties), L&I or a courtroom can have a look at a number of violations involving a single worker or a single violation affecting a number of workers;
- Asking for a increase is protected alongside different wage inquiries;
- Employers can’t ask about wage historical past even when the query is optionally available. If an employer verifies wage historical past (which is allowed if the employee disclosed it voluntarily or accepted a job supply that included the quantity of compensation), the employer can’t cut back the supplied wage;
- Job posting necessities are fleshed out (however much less totally than in L&I’s Equal Pay and Alternatives Act Administrative Coverage, ES.E.1, which can want some modification according to SSB 5408 (2025), reported individually on this publication, which takes impact on July 27, 2025);
- Staff, former workers, and candidates have 4 years to file a grievance below the EPOA;
- L&I can examine with out complaints, and it may well additionally require the employer to conduct a self-audit; and
- Cures can embody orders to appropriate insurance policies and restore jobs, though so as to gather financial damages, staff should exhibit that the employer’s violation of the pay transparency necessities in a job posting triggered the denial or lack of compensation or different damages.
Suggestions: Whereas the brand new laws largely mirror the EPOA statute, the listing of variations above exhibits why you have to think about statutes and their supporting laws when analyzing your particular pay fairness, profession alternative, job posting, or wage inquiry subject. There are a number of different invaluable sources so that you can use, together with company administrative guides, manuals, and opinion letters (and don’t neglect Vigilant Authorized Guides!), most of which want revision to match the legal guidelines handed this 12 months. We’re within the technique of updating our Authorized Information, Equal Pay: Keep away from the Pitfalls, now. For those who’re not sure of the useful resource to make use of, or if the useful resource remains to be correct, contact your Vigilant Legislation Group employment lawyer.
