CITY OF RENTON WASHINGTON

All employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate.

An employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million.

Covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer.

On July 1, 2024, covered employers will be required to pay a new higher minimum wage for hours worked in the City. Covered employers are required to pay employees not less than the minimum hourly wage as follows:

Covered Employers	2024 Minimum Wage Effective 7/1/24
Large Employer - More than 500 employees worldwide and certain franchises	$20.29
Mid-Size Employer - At least 15 but no more than 500 employees worldwide or over $2 million of annual gross revenue in Renton	$18.29

 

Employers that do not fall within the Large or Mid-Size Employer described above are not covered by the new minimum wage rates but must continue to meet the State of Washington minimum wage requirements.

• Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila.

• Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation.

• On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power.

• By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation.

• For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero.

Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count toward, the employee’s hourly minimum wage.

An agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which...

• A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate.

• The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or affiliate; and

• The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term “franchise fee” is meant to be construed broadly to include an instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor.

“Raise the Wage Renton” is a private organization and led the effort for creating the initiative.

No, the ordinance passed by the Council or by the voters, cannot later be modified unless done so by the voters. The City Council also cannot make changes to the ordinance before adopting or sending it to a public vote.

• Set a minimum wage of $20.29 to be increased annually by inflation and phased in for smaller employers

• Require offering additional hours to employees prior to hiring or contracting new positions

• Create rights and penalties for retaliation

• Require annual certification from all sized employers

Covered employers include those who:

• Employ at least 15 employees worldwide, or

• Have annual gross revenue over $2 million

July 1, 2024

• Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer’s good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours or work among those existing employees.

• The section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time-and-a-half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours.

• No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under Renton Municipal Code 5.28.

• No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under Renton Municipal Code 5.28. Such rights include but not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under Renton Municipal Code 5.28; the right to inform other about their rights under Renton Municipal Code 5.28; the right to inform the person’s employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person’s legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of Renton Municipal Code 5.28; the right to bring civil action for an alleged violation of Renton Municipal Code 5.28; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to Renton Municipal Code 5.28; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under Renton Municipal Code 5.28.

• An adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration-related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee’s status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited

• No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under Renton Municipal Code 5.28, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under Renton Municipal Code 5.28.

• There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person’s exercise of any right protected in Renton Municipal Code 5.28. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the resumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose.

• Standard of Proof of retaliation under Renton Municipal Code 5.28 shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person’s exercise of rights protected in Renton Municipal Code 5.28 was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity.

• The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of Renton Municipal Code 5.28.

Any person or class of person that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of RMC 5.28 or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under RMC 5.28, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating RMC 5.28 and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages, and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000.00 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation.

 

Employees who believe their employer is not complying with the new labor standards should:

• Contact a private attorney. Visit King County Bar Association referral service resource for a free 30 minute consultation.
• Contact their union, if they have one.
• Employees may also file a complaint with Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (LNI).