Minimum wage earners in Seattle will be getting a substantial raise starting January 1, 2016. At a time when most minimum wage rates will stay flat, the City’s Minimum Wage Ordinance ranks among the country’s highest paying minimum wage laws. It also establishes the most far-reaching minimum wage schedules in the nation. Scheduled increases in the minimum wage rate are based on employer size and continue through 2025. The City’s law was also amended this month to provide greater employee protections, expanded enforceability and additional remedies.
2016 Minimum Wage Rates
Large employers
Minimum wage workers at companies with more than 500 employees that don’t have employer-provided medical benefits will see an 18% increase in pay from $11.00 to $13.00 per hour. Employees of large employers with employer-provided benefits will earn $12.50 per hour.
Small employers
Small business employees will earn a minimum of $12.00 per hour, an increase of $1.00 per hour over last year. For employees that receive either $1.50 per hour in tips or employer-provided benefits the minimum hourly wage is increasing 50¢ to $10.50 per hour.
Employers may comply with the law’s mandatory notice to employees requirement by posting the City’s official Minimum Wage poster in English, Spanish and any other language commonly spoken by employees at the workplace. Compliance Poster Company has updated the Seattle Minimum Wage Poster to reflect 2016 Minimum Wage rates and current terminology.