issue area reports | employment & workplace wage liens . The bill would have changed long-standing practices around lien rights and would have placed a wage lien in a superior position over financial institution liens . The financial institution would be placed in an inferior lien position on disputes that the financial institution had no control over and where the financial institution is not at fault . AWB opposed the bill .
pay equity
Pay equity legislation was once again a major issue in 2018 . Like last session , AWB worked with a bipartisan group of lawmakers , including Rep . Tana Senn , D-Mercer Island ( the prime sponsor of House Bill 1506 ), Rep . Gina Mosbrucker , R-Goldendale , and Sen . Annette Cleveland , D-Vancouver , ( the sponsor of Senate Bill 5140 ) to see if a compromise bill could be found . While progress was made , the final bill still failed to address the business community ’ s concerns .
HB 1506 gender pay equity
Passed / AWB Opposed
House Bill 1506 , sponsored by Rep . Tana Senn , D-Mercer Island , was the primary bill used during the negotiations . This was Senn ’ s previous pay equity bill retooled from the last three years . The bill modifies the Equal Pay Act by defining “ similarly employed ” and modifying defenses . It prohibits discrimination in providing employment opportunities based on gender . It further prohibits retaliation for certain workplace discussions about wages and other matters . Unfortunately , it still contained several elements of concern for employers .
This bill stalled in the Senate , but prior to cutoff it was amended . The amendments included a provision allowing for a 10-year look-back as well as a preemption clause .
Sagiv Barmor of Allegiance Staffing in Tukwila , center , and Heidi Sharpe of TrueBlue in Tacoma , left , with AWB Government Affairs Director Bob Battles testifying before the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee on Jan . 23 .
The House and Senate moved the bill in to committee to reconcile the differences . The consensus committee was made up of two members from each majority party caucuses and one member from each of the minority caucuses .
The consensus committee amended the bill as follows : 1 . It removed preemption ; 2 . It changed the 10-year look back to four years . Although this is an improvement , it still requires employers to keep records longer than any other wage of discrimination law in the state ; and ,
3 . It addressed the dual causes of action by mandating a dismissal of administrative actions if an employee brings a civil suit in superior court . The committee amendments were adopted , and the bill passed . AWB pushed to keep preemption in the final version to prevent a patchwork of policies throughout the state , similar to what we now have with paid sick-leave policies .
There are four different paid sick leave policies — Seattle , Tacoma , Spokane and the state . Likewise , there are four different minimum wage polices — Seattle , Tacoma , SeaTac and the rest of the state . This is a patchwork of regulations that results in higher cost for products and a substantial burden on businesses , especially small- business owners . We should be looking for solutions like the work that was done on Paid Family and Medical Leave ( PFML ) last year as the template for making this as simple as possible for businesses , especially small businesses , to comply with the law . Preemption was part of the PFML legislation . It was widely accepted that multiple regulatory schemes do not work . Because the final version removed a preemption clause AWB remained opposed to the legislation . Several amendments , as well as the bill ’ s final passage , were included in AWB ’ s vote record .
Bill considered as part of AWB ’ s voting record
Favorable outcome for Washington businesses
Missed Opportunities
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