Washington State has a high minimum wage, mandatory meal and rest break rules, and a robust Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) insurance programme administered by the Employment Security Department (ESD).
Washington State minimum wage is $16.28/hour from 1 January 2024, indexed annually to CPI. Seattle and other localities have higher rates. Most employees are entitled to this rate; agricultural piece-rate rules apply separately.
How ClockIt Helps
ClockIt validates hourly rates against Washington's annually adjusted minimum wage and any applicable local rate (Seattle, Tukwila, etc.) before each payroll run.
Washington requires a 30-minute unpaid meal break for shifts over 5 hours. Employees must also receive a paid 10-minute rest break for every 4 hours (or major fraction) of work. Rest breaks cannot be waived. Failure to provide breaks is a wage violation.
How ClockIt Helps
ClockIt enforces Washington break rules, logging actual break timestamps and generating compliance summaries for L&I audits.
Washington's PFML programme provides up to 12 weeks of paid family leave and up to 12 weeks of paid medical leave (up to 16 weeks combined). Premiums are collected via payroll: the combined rate is 0.74% of gross wages in 2024, split between employee (71.43%) and employer (28.57% for employers with 50+ employees).
How ClockIt Helps
ClockIt calculates PFML premium split by employee/employer share each pay run, generates ESD-compatible premium reports, and tracks each employee's leave balance against PFML eligibility criteria.
Never worry about missing an overtime threshold, break penalty, or leave entitlement again.
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