Several new employment laws were passed during the recent Washington legislative session that will go into effect on July 27, 2025.  Below is a summary of the key updates. 

I.                 Personnel Records Requirements and Written Discharge Statements

               House Bill 1308 was passed, imposing new legal requirements on employers when providing personnel files to current and former employees. It also, for the first time, statutorily defines what records must be included in an employee’s personnel file. A personnel file is now statutorily defined to include the following: 

  • Job application records
  • Performance evaluations
  • Non-active or closed disciplinary records
  • Leave and accommodation records
  • Payroll records
  • Employment agreements

               Effective July 27, 2025, upon request from an employee or former employee, employers must produce a copy of an employee’s personnel file within 21 calendar days. A “former employee” is one who separated from the employer within three years of the date of the request. 

               Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employee medical documents must be stored in a confidential file separate from personnel files. This requirement remains intact; however, when an employee requests a personnel file, the employer must produce the employee’s medical file. Payroll records are now included as part of the personnel file. Many employers elect to store payroll records electronically and not in a personnel file.  As a result of this new law, payroll records must be produced as part of the employee’s personnel file when requested.  

               The new law creates a private cause of action. However, prior to commencing legal action, the employer must be given five days’ notice of the employee’s intent to sue, and the notice must reference the right to bring a legal action under Washington law. An employee may be entitled to damages ranging from $250 to $1,000, equitable relief, and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. 

II.               Driver’s License Requirements in Job Postings 

               Senate Bill 5501 adds a new section to RCW 49.58.080 pertaining to driver’s license requirements in job postings. Unless driving is an essential job function or is related to a legitimate business purpose for a job position, SB 5501 makes it unlawful for an employer to require a driver’s license as a condition of employment or include in a job posting that an applicant must have a valid driver’s license. 

III.              Expanded Use of Washington Paid Sick Leave: Use for Immigration Proceedings

               House Bill 1875 expands the permissible uses of paid sick leave for covered employees under Washington’s Paid Sick Leave statute, RCW 49.46.010. Effective July 27, 2025, covered employees may use paid sick time to prepare for or participate in any judicial or administrative immigration proceeding involving the employee or the employee’s designated family member. 

IV.             Washington’s Mini-WARN Act

               Washington state has enacted its own version of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act). The state version (generally referred to as a “mini-WARN Act,”) expands employer obligations beyond what is required by federal law.           The federal WARN Act generally requires employers with 100 or more full-time employees to provide a 60-day written notice in advance of qualified mass layoffs and plant closings to affected workers or their representatives and other required notifications. Washington state’s mini-WARN Act differs from the federal WARN Act in some of the following ways:

  • Smaller Businesses are Covered: Employers with only 50 or more full-time employees in Washington state are subject to the mini-WARN Act.
  • The Definition of “Qualifying Mass Layoff” is Different: Under Washington’s mini-WARN Act, a qualifying mass layoff is one that impacts 50 full-time employees, regardless of whether the number of employees laid off represents at least 33% of the remaining workforce or whether the layoffs are spread among multiple employment sites. 
  • No 90-Day Look Forward/Look Back for Mass Layoffs: The federal WARN Act provides guidance regarding when smaller layoffs that occur over a 90-day period may be aggregated and trigger the notice requirements. Washington’s law is triggered if at least 50 employees are laid off within any 30-day period. 
  • Required Notice: In addition to the federal notice requirements, Washington employers must provide additional details in the written notices to employees and the applicable agencies. 
  • Employees on Paid Medical/Family Leave: Employees on Washington Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) cannot be included in a mass layoff unless exceptions like unforeseeable business circumstances or natural disasters apply. 
  • Exceptions: Under both federal and state law, employers may be exempt from the WARN Act’s notice requirement under certain conditions, such as unforeseeable business circumstances, natural disasters, and other qualifying exemptions. 

Please contact a member of our Labor & Employment group if you have any questions about these new laws or would like us to update your employment policies or handbook in accordance with these changes.

Shelly Andrew, Amanda O’Halloran, Andrea McNeely, Chelsea Rauch, Owen Taylor, and Nadine Khalidi