The Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) announces that the 2019 minimum wage for all large employers (employing more than 500 workers worldwide) will be $16.00 per hour. In past years, there was a two-tier system under which large employers that contributed toward individual medical benefits paid a lower minimum wage than those that did not. This two-tier system ends in 2019.
Also, beginning on January 1, 2019, small employers (with 500 or fewer employees) must pay at least $15.00 per hour. Small employers can meet this requirement by paying no less than $12.00 per hour in wages and contributing at least $3.00 per hour toward an employee’s medical benefits and/or reported tips.
Under Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance, the minimum wage paid by large employers increases on an annual basis to reflect the rate of inflation measured by the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (the CPI-W) for the 12-month period ending in August 2018. By law, small employers must also pay its workers a higher minimum wage.
OLS will update the required Labor Standards poster to reflect the minimum wage increases on or before December 1, 2018. Employers are required to display this poster, in a noticeable area in the workplace, in English and the primary language(s) of the employees at the workplace. Detailed information on Seattle’s minimum wage increases also may be found online at http://www.seattle.gov/laborstandards/ordinances/minimum-wage
For more information, visit https://www.seattle.gov/laborstandards or call (206) 256-5297.
