Information About the Future Tacoma Washington Paid Sick Leave Labor Law Poster

On January 27, 2015, the Tacoma WA City Council approved a paid sick leave ordinance that covers most workers in the city. This new city labor law includes a required employment poster.

An Overview

The new Tacoma paid sick leave law will take effect on February 1, 2016, and covers any employee working at least 80 hours in a calendar year within the city. All employees, full-time, part-time, and temporary, will earn one hour for every 40 hours worked with a maximum of 24 hours earned within a calendar year.

Employees may carry up to 24 hours of unused paid sick leave to the next year, but the ordinance specifies that paid leave is limited to 40 hours annually. New employees begin accruing paid leave immediately, but may only use the leave 180 days after the start of employment. Paid sick leave may be used in increments of one hour or greater unless an employer establishes a minimum use policy.

An employee may use leave to take care of their own medical needs, their family’s needs, or any needs arising from domestic violence, sexual harassment, assault or stalking.

Employers may also consider establishing:

• A more generous leave policy
• Donation of Paid Leave
• Front-loading / Loan of Paid Leave
• Notification requirements
• Shift trading, extra shifts
• A minimum use policy defining increment of use to one hour increments or smaller

Posting Requirement

The city of Tacoma has released a draft version of their future required notice, and will release a final version closer to the effective date of February 1, 2016. A model notice for the labor law poster will be produced by the finance director, and employers may comply with the notification requirement by posting the created notice in a location accessible to all employees. Employers also have the option of either distributing the notice to each employee, or updating employee handbooks with all of the needed information in order to fulfill the notification requirement. This labor law compliance requirement may also be fulfilled electronically.

For your convenience, Poster Compliance Center will be producing a Tacoma, WA labor law poster which will include all of the required information. In addition, we are currently tracking the possible implementation of a Tacoma minimum wage. To stay on top of this city change, or to purchase city employment posters that are currently required, check out our city poster page featuring the comprehensive  City 1-Year Plan with free automatic updates. For more information, please call us at (800) 322-3636.