With all of the votes counted, Initiative 1433, which will raise the minimum wage and require paid sick leave throughout Washington, has passed by a fairly wide margin. The first substantial increase in the minimum wage begins on January 1, 2017, while the paid sick leave requirement goes into effect on January 1, 2018. Here are the key details about both the minimum wage increase and the paid sick leave requirements.

On Aug. 24, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council issued the final rule on blacklisting (also known as the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order 13673, issued July 2014) that will require federal contractors and subcontractors to disclose any "violations" of 14 federal labor laws and OSHA-approved state plans to the federal government before being awarded federal contracts covered by this rule.  The rule was accompanied by a guidance document issued by the DOL and a White House amendment to Executive Order 13673. ABC issued a press release slamming the final blacklisting rule immediately afterward.

On May 18, the DOL released the final overtime rule, which will change federal exemptions to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for administrative, executive and professional employees, the so-called "white collar" worker classifications that have long been exempt from time-and-one-half pay for working more than 40 hours per week. The DOL's final rule will affect both public and private work by all employers that are covered under the FLSA. Specifically, the rule doubles the current minimum standard salary level for exemption from $23,660 to $47,476 annually. It also increases the highly compensated employees (HCE) to an annual compensation of $134,000. DOL made no changes to the standard duties test.

On March 23, the DOL issued its final persuader rule, officially titled the Interpretation of the 'Advice' Exemption in Section 203(c) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), which drastically redefines "persuader" activity under Section 203 of the LMRDA. On June 27, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction that blocked the DOL from implementing the final persuader rule, which was scheduled to take effect  July 1. On Nov. 16, the court found the rule to be unlawful and permanently blocked it from going into effect. 

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 9–Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today released the following statement on the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.

“Associated Builders and Contractors congratulates President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence and looks forward to working with this administration to craft policies rooted in free enterprise that will encourage open competition and result in greater business investment and more construction jobs,” said ABC President and CEO Michael Bellaman.

Lynda Wilson (Republican) is leading strongly in Vancouver 17th District for the seat Don Benton vacated upon retirement.

Hans Zeiger (Republican) is leading in the 25th in Puyallup for the seat Bruce Dammier vacated.

Maureen Walsh is leading in Walla Walla 16th District for the seat Mike Hewitt vacated.

November 8, 2016, general election results bring more of the same.

Among several ballot initiatives, voters approved an increase in the statewide minimum wage to $13.50 by 2020 with 60 percent of the vote (I-1433), but also defeated a proposed carbon tax by 41% to 59% (I-732).

Governor Jay Inslee was re-elected with 56% of the vote.  Democratic state Senator Cyrus Habib (D-Bellevue) also won with 56% of the vote.  Attorney General Bob Ferguson was re-elected handily.

See who IPC-ABC endorsed for 2016.

On September 29, the federal government issued the following regulations of interest to ABC stakeholders:

·         the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued the final rule on paid sick leave

·         the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued the revised Employer Information Report or EEO-1

 

DOL’s Final Rule on Paid Sick Leave

 

The final rule will require certain federal contractors to offer employees up to seven days (56 hours) of paid sick leave annually, including paid leave for family care.  The paid sick leave required by the final rule is in addition to a contractor’s obligations under the Service Contract Act (SCA) and Davis-Bacon Act (DBA).  Therefore, a contractor may not receive credit toward its prevailing wage or fringe benefit obligation under the SCA and DBA for paid sick leave provided in satisfaction of the requirements of the final rule.