Follow us on LinkedIn to see future News.
July 1, 2025
By the end of July 2025, employees in Washington State will enjoy immigration status protections in two new ways.
First, Washington passed a law, effective July 1, to prohibit employers from coercing employees into sub-minimum wages or illegal working conditions based on the employee’s, or their family member’s, immigration status. See 2025 WA S.B. 5104.
“Coercion” means a threat to compel or induce a person to engage in conduct from which the person has a legal right to abstain, or to abstain from conduct in which the person has a legal right to engage.
“Threat” means any implicit or explicit communication by the employer specifically pertaining to an employee’s, or an employee’s family member’s, immigration status made to deter an employee from engaging in protected activities or exercising a right under laws related to wages, labor standards, industrial welfare, and agricultural labor.
An employee subject to coercion may file a complaint with the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) within 180 days of the coercive action. L&I must investigate the complaint and issue a decision no later than 90 days after L&I receives the complaint.
Each act of coercion against each affected employee counts as a separate violation.
L&I must assess a civil penalty for each coercive act found to be a violation, as follows:
Beginning July 1, 2028, L&I must adjust these penalties for inflation every three years.
Second, Washington amended its paid sick leave law, effective July 27, to allow employees to use paid sick leave to prepare for or participate in immigration proceedings involving the employee or the employee’s family member. See WA H.B. 1875.
In general, Washington law requires employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. Employees must accrue at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked. An employee may use paid sick leave for absences resulting from: (1) the employee’s mental or physical health needs; (2) care for an employee’s family member’s mental or physical health needs; (3) the closure of an employee’s place of business by order of a public official for a health-related reason, or when an employee’s child’s school or place of care has been closed for a health-related reason; or (4) events that authorize leave under the Domestic Violence Leave Act.
The recent amendment expands the reasons for which paid sick leave may be used to include absences resulting from the need to prepare for or attend judicial or administrative immigration proceedings involving the employee or the employee’s family member.
If an employer requests verification for an absence (employers may request such verification for absences exceeding three days), the employer must accept documentation from an advocate, attorney, member of the clergy, or other professional who is assisting the employee or the employee’s family member in the proceeding. The employer also must accept an employee’s written statement describing the employee or the employee’s family member’s involvement in a qualifying proceeding.
Washington Employers: Review your policies and practices to ensure compliance with these new laws and ensure that your Human Resources professionals and managers are trained on them.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, Washington, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
