ES.E.1 Equal Pay and Opportunities Act- Draft Administrative Policy
Participation for this policy has concluded.
In order to be transparent and seek input from the diverse business and labor communities, L&I is currently seeking stakeholder feedback on a new draft administrative policy, ES.A.12.2 Tip, Gratuity, and Service Charge Examples.
We are asking the public to review the second draft of the administrative policy by April 15, 2023.
Feedback can be submitted directly to this page via the “Submit Comments” tab, or using an attached document via the “Upload Documents” tab.
Feedback can also be submitted via the ESRules@Lni.wa.gov email box. Feedback submitted to the email box will be uploaded to this engagement site.
A virtual stakeholder feedback session to discuss the content of the draft administrative policies is being held on April 5, 2023 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Details on how to participate can be found on the timeline via the Project Timeline of the "Review Draft Administrative Policies" page.
In order to be transparent and seek input from the diverse business and labor communities, L&I is currently seeking stakeholder feedback on a new draft administrative policy, ES.A.12.2 Tip, Gratuity, and Service Charge Examples.
We are asking the public to review the second draft of the administrative policy by April 15, 2023.
Feedback can be submitted directly to this page via the “Submit Comments” tab, or using an attached document via the “Upload Documents” tab.
Feedback can also be submitted via the ESRules@Lni.wa.gov email box. Feedback submitted to the email box will be uploaded to this engagement site.
A virtual stakeholder feedback session to discuss the content of the draft administrative policies is being held on April 5, 2023 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Details on how to participate can be found on the timeline via the Project Timeline of the "Review Draft Administrative Policies" page.
To submit your feedback directly to this page, please enter your comments in the text box below.
Participation for this policy has concluded.
You need to be signed in to comment in this Guest Book. Click here to Sign In or Register to get involved
Is a union dispatch that is a provision of a collective bargaining agreement considered exempt from the requirements of this rule and policy?
Christine Brewer
about 2 years ago
Do we need to include supplemental insurance, legal assistance benefits, HSA, HRA, or FSA?
Dawn Finlayson
about 2 years ago
What if, during job offer negotiation, we end up agreeing on a wage that is higher than the maximum posted on the job ad? Are there repercussions for this?
Dawn Finlayson
about 2 years ago
We have multiple levels of the job with the same job title. When we advertise, we only put job title, not level. Based on skill level, we will offer the position at one of the levels. (Assembler 1 or Assembler 2) Do we need to disclose the salary range for all of the levels on the job posting?
Dawn Finlayson
about 2 years ago
This is of grave concern for myself, and many of my small business friends for many reasons. Having to disclose salary or ranges is not appropriate in a free enterprise system and should not be regulated by the State. First and foremost, it shows your competitors what you are paying and is most times something more safe guarded by the company. If the intent by that is to raise the bar on salaries, companies will then also have to raise their prices to cover those, which then negates the higher wages and causes more inflation. This is a vicious cycle. In addition, most times, when an intention is brought forth, it most always has adverse unintended consequences. Second, when you interview someone, you are trying to assess where their skills sets are, and how they will add value to your company. Once that has occurred, you then make an offer to the candidate, and they either accept or decline. If a company is not able to attract and maintain good employees then the market will sort that out and the company has choices to make on what they need to do. Third, by having to disclose a range, you may be missing out on employees that you may have offered a higher wage too once you learned about their skills but because they didn't like the range, they did not apply. in the alternative, if you post a higher wage, you then have a person that thought their skills were at level 10, when they really were at level 4, and then is insulted if offered a range that more matches their skill level. While there are many other reasons, overall, this is not a good policy. Small and Medium Businesses are just that and the market will sort out what employers should and should not be offering to hire and maintain talent. Please do not pass this policy or make it a policy. Small and Medium sized business are struggling enough with this labor market and the overall burdens of legislation. Washington was label as a great place to live and do business, that is because of the many natural resources, space, and seasons, but we are not business friendly from a governmental standpoint.
Jason
over 2 years ago
Are employees allowed to request compensation rates for other employees in the company from management? Language describes that they cannot be prohibited from these discussions amongst themselves, but not specific to employee/management interactions on this subject.
Katya, Miltimore
over 2 years ago
What about exempt professional positions that are paid on a formula or profit-sharing basis? It is not possible to estimate a compensation range for these professionals, as this is dependent upon multiple, varying factors. There should be an exemption for, or at least further guidance as to, exempt employees who are paid other than a definitive salary or hourly rate.
Katherine Weber
over 2 years ago
Please provide clarification for when a position is never posted but transitioned to someone internally.
Alexis K
over 2 years ago
Please provide L&I's expectations if a wage is given outside of a posted range. For example, let's say we are hiring for an Electrical Engineer and the posted salary is $100,000 - $130,000, and it's decided to hire a candidate who doesn't meet all of the qualifications or have the experience to even be in the wage range or position, so a lower position and/or a lower salary is given to the new hire. Or what would happen if you decide to offer a position that was not posted, i.e., you decide to create a new position based on the person's experience, so the job was never posted, and no salary range was established? Or what if you hire someone at a rate over the posted salary range?
Emily A Gardner
over 2 years ago
I would like to request clearer guidance around positions that receive tips/service charge cash outs regularly. Is the phrase "plus tips" acceptable or would that be considered an open ended phrase?
Karl S
over 2 years ago
In higher education it is common for job openings for part-time faculty positions (so-called "adjunct" positions) to not be publicly advertised in any form. Instead, department chairs typically email colleagues to spread the word about an opening and job applicants blindly email department chairs asking if they have any work. I assume the definition of posting as "any solicitation" would cover such an email, but it might be helpful to include a specific mention of situations when job openings are never publicly advertised but still involve external hires.
Jeffrey Meyers
over 2 years ago
I serve as Chief People Officer at a Seattle-based company employing more than 15 employees. I support the requirements of ES.E.1 Equal Pay and Opportunities Act, namely the requirements to include a salary range and benefits on job postings. Indeed, our company adopted that practice over two years ago as a way to aid recruitment efforts while also supporting pay equity. It's good practice for people and for business. Thank you.
Is a union dispatch that is a provision of a collective bargaining agreement considered exempt from the requirements of this rule and policy?
Do we need to include supplemental insurance, legal assistance benefits, HSA, HRA, or FSA?
What if, during job offer negotiation, we end up agreeing on a wage that is higher than the maximum posted on the job ad? Are there repercussions for this?
We have multiple levels of the job with the same job title. When we advertise, we only put job title, not level. Based on skill level, we will offer the position at one of the levels. (Assembler 1 or Assembler 2) Do we need to disclose the salary range for all of the levels on the job posting?
This is of grave concern for myself, and many of my small business friends for many reasons. Having to disclose salary or ranges is not appropriate in a free enterprise system and should not be regulated by the State. First and foremost, it shows your competitors what you are paying and is most times something more safe guarded by the company. If the intent by that is to raise the bar on salaries, companies will then also have to raise their prices to cover those, which then negates the higher wages and causes more inflation. This is a vicious cycle. In addition, most times, when an intention is brought forth, it most always has adverse unintended consequences.
Second, when you interview someone, you are trying to assess where their skills sets are, and how they will add value to your company. Once that has occurred, you then make an offer to the candidate, and they either accept or decline. If a company is not able to attract and maintain good employees then the market will sort that out and the company has choices to make on what they need to do.
Third, by having to disclose a range, you may be missing out on employees that you may have offered a higher wage too once you learned about their skills but because they didn't like the range, they did not apply. in the alternative, if you post a higher wage, you then have a person that thought their skills were at level 10, when they really were at level 4, and then is insulted if offered a range that more matches their skill level.
While there are many other reasons, overall, this is not a good policy. Small and Medium Businesses are just that and the market will sort out what employers should and should not be offering to hire and maintain talent. Please do not pass this policy or make it a policy. Small and Medium sized business are struggling enough with this labor market and the overall burdens of legislation. Washington was label as a great place to live and do business, that is because of the many natural resources, space, and seasons, but we are not business friendly from a governmental standpoint.
Are employees allowed to request compensation rates for other employees in the company from management? Language describes that they cannot be prohibited from these discussions amongst themselves, but not specific to employee/management interactions on this subject.
What about exempt professional positions that are paid on a formula or profit-sharing basis? It is not possible to estimate a compensation range for these professionals, as this is dependent upon multiple, varying factors. There should be an exemption for, or at least further guidance as to, exempt employees who are paid other than a definitive salary or hourly rate.
Please provide clarification for when a position is never posted but transitioned to someone internally.
Please provide L&I's expectations if a wage is given outside of a posted range. For example, let's say we are hiring for an Electrical Engineer and the posted salary is $100,000 - $130,000, and it's decided to hire a candidate who doesn't meet all of the qualifications or have the experience to even be in the wage range or position, so a lower position and/or a lower salary is given to the new hire. Or what would happen if you decide to offer a position that was not posted, i.e., you decide to create a new position based on the person's experience, so the job was never posted, and no salary range was established? Or what if you hire someone at a rate over the posted salary range?
I would like to request clearer guidance around positions that receive tips/service charge cash outs regularly. Is the phrase "plus tips" acceptable or would that be considered an open ended phrase?
In higher education it is common for job openings for part-time faculty positions (so-called "adjunct" positions) to not be publicly advertised in any form. Instead, department chairs typically email colleagues to spread the word about an opening and job applicants blindly email department chairs asking if they have any work. I assume the definition of posting as "any solicitation" would cover such an email, but it might be helpful to include a specific mention of situations when job openings are never publicly advertised but still involve external hires.
I serve as Chief People Officer at a Seattle-based company employing more than 15 employees. I support the requirements of ES.E.1 Equal Pay and Opportunities Act, namely the requirements to include a salary range and benefits on job postings. Indeed, our company adopted that practice over two years ago as a way to aid recruitment efforts while also supporting pay equity. It's good practice for people and for business. Thank you.