WASHINGTON – The Employment Standards program is offering a series of webinars to help businesses and workers better understand how state law and Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) rules apply to them.

The series of Wednesday webinars, beginning this month, includes sessions on worker’s rights for businesses and employees, and another on the new overtime rules that took effect in 2020. Among the topics that will be covered are wage and hour laws, leave requirements and child labor laws.

Led by the Employment Standards outreach team, each webinar will be 45 minutes long, with time for questions afterward.

Here are details on each of the webinars:

Employer Guide to Workers’ Rights
This is for employers to help educate them about the rights of their employees and provide helpful resources to assist them in complying with the provisions of employment law under L&I’s jurisdiction. This includes the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act, agricultural labor, youth employment, isolated worker protections, termination and retaliation, wage requirements, minimum wage, overtime and tips, paid sick leave and other protected leave requirements, and the workplace rights complaint process.

This webinar will be offered on the second Wednesday of the month as well as one Thursday evening session. The current schedule is:

  • January 13 at 10 a.m.
  • February 10 at 1:30 p.m.
  • February 25 at 7 p.m.
  • March 10 at 10 a.m.
  • April 14 at 1:30 p.m.
  • May 12 at 10 a.m.
  • June 9 at 1:30 p.m.

Know your Worker Rights
This presentation is designed to inform employees of their wage and hour rights and other workplace protections enforced by L&I’s Employment Standards program. Helpful resources will be provided to assist employees in understanding their rights and what to do if they believe they are not receiving the benefit of those rights.

Among the topics that will be covered are wage requirements; hours of work and recordkeeping requirements; minimum wage, overtime and tips; paid sick leave and other protected leave; protections from retaliation and discrimination; and how to file a workplace rights complaint and the complaint process.

These webinars will take place on the fourth Wednesday of the month as well as one Thursday evening session. The schedule is:

  • January 27 at 10 a.m.
  • February 24 at 1:30 p.m.
  • March 11 at 7 p.m.
  • March 24 at 10 a.m.
  • April 28 at 1:30 p.m.
  • May 26 at 10 a.m.
  • June 23 at 1:30 p.m.

EAP Overtime
In this webinar, participants will learn about the overtime rules, including the job duties tests for each exemption category and the new minimum salary thresholds employees must earn to qualify as exempt from the protections of the state Minimum Wage Act. L&I updated on July 1, 2020, the overtime rules for executive, administrative, and professional workers as well as outside salespeople and computer professionals.

These sessions will be held on the third Wednesday of the month. They are scheduled for:

  • January 20 at 10 a.m.
  • February 17 at 1:30 p.m.
  • March 17 at 10 a.m.
  • April 21 at 1:30 p.m.
  • May 19 at 10 a.m.
  • June 16 at 1:30 p.m.

To register for any of these programs, go to the Workshops/Training web page and search for the webinar by its title in the “Event Title” drop-down menu.