Previously limited to protecting against gender discrimination, legislation passed in 2024 expands the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act to also include:

• Sex, marital status, sexual orientation.
• Race, creed, color, age (40 and older).
• National origin, citizenship or immigration status.
• Honorably discharged veteran or military status.
• The presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability.

“This legislation extends current equal pay and workplace opportunities protections to hundreds of thousands more Washington workers,” said L&I director Joel Sacks. “Our state has long strived to make sure workers are paid fairly regardless of who they are. This keeps us at the forefront of this important effort.”

The state's first equal pay law was passed back in 1943. Employers could not pay a female less than a male for doing similar work. These first protections were updated and expanded in 2018 with the passage of the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act. It addressed the lack of clear definitions and strengthened L&I's enforcement capabilities.

Still, it is clear there is work to be done. In terms of gender pay, Washington in 2023 had the sixth widest pay gap in the nation. The median earnings for a woman that year were $17,400 less than those of a man.

With the changes taking effect today, a person's gender or membership in another protected class cannot be a reason for pay differences between employees with similar jobs or to determine if someone gets promoted. Determining if employees have similar jobs is based on skill, effort, and responsibility, not job titles. Only in certain limited circumstances is a difference in pay acceptable for similar jobs.

Other changes coming

Two additional changes to the law take effect July 27 based on legislative changes passed earlier this year.

One prohibits employers from requiring employees to have a driver’s license unless driving is an essential job function or part of a job’s legitimate business. They also can’t include such a requirement in job postings where the requirement is prohibited.

The other involves job posting requirements. Employers with 15 or more employees must include wage information, a general description of all benefits, and a general description of other compensation in their job postings. Under the upcoming change, after being notified a posting does not meet the law’s requirements, employers will have five business days to fix it and avoid penalties and damages. This opportunity to correct postings is in place until July 27, 2027. Employers will also be allowed to post a fixed wage amount rather than a wage range, if the employer is only offering a fixed amount. Otherwise, the salary range or wage scale must be provided in a job posting.

You can learn more about the law at L&I’s Equal Pay web page, which includes a question-and-answer page.