Washington's overtime pay law is codified in Title 49, Chapter 49.46 of the Revised Code of Washington. There are also specific provisions concerning nurses at licensed health care facilities in Title 49, Chapter 49.28.

• RCW 49.46.010 Definitions.
• RCW 49.46.040 Investigation -- Services of federal agencies -- Employer's records -- Industrial homework.
• RCW 49.46.070 Records of employer -- Contents -- Inspection -- Sworn statement.
• RCW 49.46.090 Payment of wages less than chapter requirements -- Employer's liability -- Assignment of wage claim.
• RCW 49.46.100 Prohibited acts of employer -- Penalty.
• RCW 49.46.110 Collective bargaining not impaired.
• RCW 49.46.130 Minimum rate of compensation for employment in excess of forty hour work week -- Exceptions.
• RCW 49.46.140 Notification of employers.

• RCW 49.28. Overtime, Nurses at licensed health care facilities; Mandatory overtime prohibited.

(1) "Director" means the director of labor and industries;

(2) "Wage" means compensation due to an employee by reason of employment, payable in legal tender of the United States or checks on banks convertible into cash on demand at full face value, subject to such deductions, charges, or allowances as may be permitted by rules of the director;

(3) "Employ" includes to permit to work;

(4) "Employer" includes any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee;

(5) "Employee" includes any individual employed by an employer but shall not include:

(a) Any individual (i) employed as a hand harvest laborer and paid on a piece rate basis in an operation which has been, and is generally and customarily recognized as having been, paid on a piece rate basis in the region of employment; (ii) who commutes daily from his or her permanent residence to the farm on which he or she is employed; and (iii) who has been employed in agriculture less than thirteen weeks during the preceding calendar year;

(b) Any individual employed in casual labor in or about a private home, unless performed in the course of the employer's trade, business, or profession;

(c) Any individual employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity or in the capacity of outside salesman as those terms are defined and delimited by rules of the director. However, those terms shall be defined and delimited by the Washington personnel resources board pursuant to chapter 41.06 RCW;

(d) Any individual engaged in the activities of an educational, charitable, religious, state or local governmental body or agency, or nonprofit organization where the employer-employee relationship does not in fact exist or where the services are rendered to such organizations gratuitously. If the individual receives reimbursement in lieu of compensation for normally incurred out-of-pocket expenses or receives a nominal amount of compensation per unit of voluntary service rendered, an employer-employee relationship is deemed not to exist for the purpose of this section or for purposes of membership or qualification in any state, local government or publicly supported retirement system other than that provided under chapter 41.24 RCW;

(e) Any individual employed full time by any state or local governmental body or agency who provides voluntary services but only with regard to the provision of the voluntary services. The voluntary services and any compensation therefor shall not affect or add to qualification, entitlement or benefit rights under any state, local government, or publicly supported retirement system other than that provided under chapter 41.24 RCW;

(f) Any newspaper vendor or carrier;

(g) Any carrier subject to regulation by Part 1 of the Interstate Commerce Act;

(h) Any individual engaged in forest protection and fire prevention activities;

(i) Any individual employed by any charitable institution charged with child care responsibilities engaged primarily in the development of character or citizenship or promoting health or physical fitness or providing or sponsoring recreational opportunities or facilities for young people or members of the armed forces of the United States;

(j) Any individual whose duties require that he or she reside or sleep at the place of his or her employment or who otherwise spends a substantial portion of his or her work time subject to call, and not engaged in the performance of active duties;

(k) Any resident, inmate, or patient of a state, county, or municipal correctional, detention, treatment or rehabilitative institution;

(l) Any individual who holds a public elective or appointive office of the state, any county, city, town, municipal corporation or quasi municipal corporation, political subdivision, or any instrumentality thereof, or any employee of the state legislature;

(m) All vessel operating crews of the Washington state ferries operated by the department of transportation;

(n) Any individual employed as a seaman on a vessel other than an American vessel;

(6) "Occupation" means any occupation, service, trade, business, industry, or branch or group of industries or employment or class of employment in which employees are gainfully employed;

(7) "Retail or service establishment" means an establishment seventy-five percent of whose annual dollar volume of sales of goods or services, or both, is not for resale and is recognized as retail sales or services in the particular industry.

RCW 49.46.040 Investigation -- Services of federal agencies -- Employer's records -- Industrial homework.

(1) The director or his designated representatives may investigate and gather data regarding the wages, hours, and other conditions and practices of employment in any industry subject to this chapter, and may enter and inspect such places and such records (and make such transcriptions thereof), question such employees, and investigate such facts, conditions, practices, or matters as he may deem necessary or appropriate to determine whether any person has violated any provision of this chapter, or which may aid in the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter.

(2) With the consent and cooperation of federal agencies charged with the administration of federal labor laws, the director may, for the purpose of carrying out his functions and duties under this chapter, utilize the services of federal agencies and their employees and, notwithstanding any other provision of law, may reimburse such federal agencies and their employees for services rendered for such purposes.

(3) Every employer subject to any provision of this chapter or of any order issued under this chapter shall make, keep, and preserve such records of the persons employed by him and of the wages, hours, and other conditions and practices of employment maintained by him, and shall preserve such records for such periods of time, and shall make reports therefrom to the director as he shall prescribe by regulation as necessary or appropriate for the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter or the regulations thereunder.

(4) The director is authorized to make such regulations regulating, restricting, or prohibiting industrial homework as are necessary or appropriate to prevent the circumvention or evasion of and to safeguard the minimum wage rate prescribed in this chapter, and all existing regulations of the director relating to industrial homework are hereby continued in full force and effect.

RCW 49.46.070 Records of employer -- Contents -- Inspection -- Sworn statement.

Every employer subject to any provision of this chapter or of any regulation issued under this chapter shall make, and keep in or about the premises wherein any employee is employed, a record of the name, address, and occupation of each of his employees, the rate of pay, and the amount paid each pay period to each such employee, the hours worked each day and each work week by such employee, and such other information as the director shall prescribe by regulation as necessary or appropriate for the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter or of the regulations thereunder. Such records shall be open for inspection or transcription by the director or his authorized representative at any reasonable time. Every such employer shall furnish to the director or to his authorized representative on demand a sworn statement of such records and information upon forms prescribed or approved by the director.

RCW 49.46.090 Payment of wages less than chapter requirements -- Employer's liability -- Assignment of wage claim.

(1) Any employer who pays any employee less than wages to which such employee is entitled under or by virtue of this chapter, shall be liable to such employee affected for the full amount of such wage rate, less any amount actually paid to such employee by the employer, and for costs and such reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court. Any agreement between such employee and the employer to work for less than such wage rate shall be no defense to such action.

(2) At the written request of any employee paid less than the wages to which he is entitled under or by virtue of this chapter, the director may take an assignment under this chapter or as provided in RCW 49.48.040 of such wage claim in trust for the assigning employee and may bring any legal action necessary to collect such claim, and the employer shall be required to pay the costs and such reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court.

RCW 49.46.100 Prohibited acts of employer -- Penalty.

(1) Any employer who hinders or delays the director or his authorized representatives in the performance of his duties in the enforcement of this chapter, or refuses to admit the director or his authorized representatives to any place of employment, or fails to make, keep, and preserve any records as required under the provisions of this chapter, or falsifies any such record, or refuses to make any record accessible to the director or his authorized representatives upon demand, or refuses to furnish a sworn statement of such record or any other information required for the proper enforcement of this chapter to the director or his authorized representatives upon demand, or pays or agrees to pay wages at a rate less than the rate applicable under this chapter, or otherwise violates any provision of this chapter or of any regulation issued under this chapter shall be deemed in violation of this chapter and shall, upon conviction therefor, be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

(2) Any employer who discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because such employee has made any complaint to his employer, to the director, or his authorized representatives that he has not been paid wages in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, or that the employer has violated any provision of this chapter, or because such employee has caused to be instituted or is about to cause to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this chapter, or because such employee has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding shall be deemed in violation of this chapter and shall, upon conviction therefor, be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

RCW 49.46.110 Collective bargaining not impaired.

Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to interfere with, impede, or in any way diminish the right of employees to bargain collectively with their employers through representatives of their own choosing in order to establish wages or other conditions of work in excess of the applicable minimum under the provisions of this chapter.

RCW 49.46.130 Minimum rate of compensation for employment in excess of forty hour work week -- Exceptions.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no employer shall employ any of his employees for a work week longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.

(2) This section does not apply to:

(a) Any person exempted pursuant to RCW 49.46.010(5). The payment of compensation or provision of compensatory time off in addition to a salary shall not be a factor in determining whether a person is exempted under RCW 49.46.010(5)(c);

(b) Employees who request compensating time off in lieu of overtime pay;

(c) Any individual employed as a seaman whether or not the seaman is employed on a vessel other than an American vessel;

(d) Seasonal employees who are employed at concessions and recreational establishments at agricultural fairs, including those seasonal employees employed by agricultural fairs, within the state provided that the period of employment for any seasonal employee at any or all agricultural fairs does not exceed fourteen working days a year;

(e) Any individual employed as a motion picture projectionist if that employee is covered by a contract or collective bargaining agreement which regulates hours of work and overtime pay;

(f) An individual employed as a truck or bus driver who is subject to the provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Act (49 U.S.C. Sec. 3101 et seq. and 49 U.S.C. Sec. 10101 et seq.), if the compensation system under which the truck or bus driver is paid includes overtime pay, reasonably equivalent to that required by this subsection, for working longer than forty hours per week;

(g) Any individual employed (i) on a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with the cultivation of the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and management of livestock, bees, poultry, and furbearing animals and wildlife, or in the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement, or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment; or (ii) in packing, packaging, grading, storing or delivering to storage, or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, any agricultural or horticultural commodity; or (iii) commercial canning, commercial freezing, or any other commercial processing, or with respect to services performed in connection with the cultivation, raising, harvesting, and processing of oysters or in connection with any agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption;

(h) Any industry in which federal law provides for an overtime payment based on a work week other than forty hours. However, the provisions of the federal law regarding overtime payment based on a work week other than forty hours shall nevertheless apply to employees covered by this section without regard to the existence of actual federal jurisdiction over the industrial activity of the particular employer within this state. For the purposes of this subsection, "industry" means a trade, business, industry, or other activity, or branch, or group thereof, in which individuals are gainfully employed (section 3(h) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended (Public Law 93-259));

(i) Any hours worked by an employee of a carrier by air subject to the provisions of subchapter II of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. Sec. 181 et seq.), when such hours are voluntarily worked by the employee pursuant to a shift-trading practice under which the employee has the opportunity in the same or in other work weeks to reduce hours worked by voluntarily offering a shift for trade or reassignment.

(3) No employer shall be deemed to have violated subsection (1) of this section by employing any employee of a retail or service establishment for a work week in excess of the applicable work week specified in subsection (1) of this section if:

(a) The regular rate of pay of the employee is in excess of one and one-half times the minimum hourly rate required under RCW 49.46.020; and

(b) More than half of the employee's compensation for a representative period, of not less than one month, represents commissions on goods or services.

In determining the proportion of compensation representing commissions, all earnings resulting from the application of a bona fide commission rate is to be deemed commissions on goods or services without regard to whether the computed commissions exceed the draw or guarantee.

(4) No employer of commissioned salespeople primarily engaged in the business of selling automobiles, trucks, recreational vessels, recreational vessel trailers, recreational vehicle trailers, recreational campers, manufactured housing, or farm implements to ultimate purchasers shall violate subsection (1) of this section with respect to such commissioned salespeople if the commissioned salespeople are paid the greater of:

(a) Compensation at the hourly rate, which may not be less than the rate required under RCW 49.46.020, for each hour worked up to forty hours per week, and compensation of one and one-half times that hourly rate for all hours worked over forty hours in one week; or

(b) A straight commission, a salary plus commission, or a salary plus bonus applied to gross salary.

(5) No public agency shall be deemed to have violated subsection (1) of this section with respect to the employment of any employee in fire protection activities or any employee in law enforcement activities (including security personnel in correctional institutions) if: (a) In a work period of twenty-eight consecutive days the employee receives for tours of duty which in the aggregate exceed two hundred forty hours; or (b) in the case of such an employee to whom a work period of at least seven but less than twenty-eight days applies, in his or her work period the employee receives for tours of duty which in the aggregate exceed a number of hours which bears the same ratio to the number of consecutive days in his or her work period as two hundred forty hours bears to twenty-eight days; compensation at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he or she is employed.

RCW 49.46.140 Notification of employers.

The director of the department of labor and industries and the commissioner of employment security shall each notify employers of the requirements of chapter 289, Laws of 1975 1st ex. sess. through their regular quarterly notices to employers.

WAC 296-128-535 Are professional computer employees exempt from the Washington Minimum Wage Act?

(1) Any employee who is a computer system analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, software developer or other similarly skilled worker will be considered a "professional employee" and will be exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Washington Minimum Wage Act if:

(a) Their primary duty is of one of the following:

(i) Applying systems analysis techniques and procedures to determine hardware, software, or system functional specifications for any user of such services; or

(ii) Following user or system design specifications to design, develop, document, analyze, create, test or modify any computer system, application or program, including prototypes; or

(iii) Designing, documenting, testing, creating or modifying computer systems, applications or programs for machine operation systems; or

(iv) Any combination of the above primary duties whose performance requires the same skill level; and

(b) Their rate of pay is at least $27.63 per hour.

(2) This professional exemption only applies to highly skilled employees who:

(a) Possess a high degree of theoretical knowledge and understanding of computer system analysis, programming and software engineering; and

(b) Have the ability to practically apply that theoretical knowledge and understanding to highly specialized computer fields; and

(c) Generally attain the necessary level of expertise and skill to qualify for an exemption through a combination of education and experience in the field; and

(d) Consistently exercise discretion and judgment in the application of their special knowledge as opposed to performing purely mechanical or routine tasks; and

(e) Engage in work that is predominantly intellectual and inherently varied in character as opposed to work that is routinely mental, manual, mechanical, or physical.

(3) While many employees who qualify for this exemption hold a bachelor's or higher degree, no degree is required for this exemption.

(4) This professional exemption does not apply to:

(a) Trainees or employees in entry level positions learning to become proficient in computer systems analysis, programming and software engineering; or

(b) Employees in computer systems analysis, programming and software engineering positions who have not attained a level of skill and expertise which allows them to generally work independently and without close supervision; or

(c) Employees engaged in the operation of computers; or

(d) Employees engaged in the manufacture, repair or maintenance of computer hardware and related equipment; or

(e) Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Nurses at Licensed Health Care Facilities

RCW 49.28.
Overtime, Nurses at licensed health care facilities; Mandatory overtime prohibited.

(1) No employee of a health care facility may be required to work overtime. Attempts to compel or force employees to work overtime are contrary to public policy, and any such requirement contained in a contract, agreement, or understanding is void.

(2) The acceptance by any employee of overtime is strictly voluntary, and the refusal of an employee to accept such overtime work is not grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge, or any other penalty, threat of reports for discipline, or employment decision adverse to the employee.

(3) This section does not apply to overtime work that occurs:

(a) Because of any unforeseeable emergent circumstance;

(b) Because of prescheduled on-call time;

(c) When the employer documents that the employer has used reasonable efforts to obtain staffing. An employer has not used reasonable efforts if overtime work is used to fill vacancies resulting from chronic staff shortages; or

(d) When an employee is required to work overtime to complete a patient care procedure already in progress where the absence of the employee could have an adverse effect on the patient.