Employment Law in Motion
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California’s Wage-and-Hour Litigation Playbook Has Arrived in the Pacific Northwest
Jul 09, 2026
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For years, wage-and-hour class actions were something Washington and Oregon employers watched happen to their California counterparts from a comfortable distance. That distance has closed. Filings against Pacific Northwest employers are climbing, and...
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Washington Employment Law Update: Mid-Year 2026 Legislative and Case Law Developments
It has already been an active year for Washington employers, and we are only halfway through. While the Washington Legislature added new laws impacting employers, the courts were also busy in some notable areas. Use the guide below to jump to the top...
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Washington Bans Noncompetes Beginning July 1, 2027
Deciding it had seen enough data suggesting that noncompete restrictions (also known as “noncompetes”) are bad for innovation, entrepreneurship and the economy, and that it was not willing to wait for the FTC’s attempted noncompetes ban to work its w...
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Ninth Circuit Again Affirms Employer’s Religious Freedom Rights
Last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals furthered a trend of ruling favorably for religious organization employers in Union Gospel Mission of Yakima v. Brown. In a case specific to Washington, the Ninth Circuit interpreted how the Washington L...
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Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Weighs in on Washington School District Employee’s First Amendment Free Speech Protections
A middle school assistant principal was demoted to a teaching position after his Facebook post containing slurs and violent language relating to the Democratic National Convention. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the speech was protected...
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Washington Employment Security Department Publishes Template 2026 PFML Notices
As we previously shared, effective January 1, 2026, Washington House Bill 1213 expanded worker protections under Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (PFML) and allows employers to limit employees’ ability to “stack” their job restoration benefits under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and PFML. Among the many changes to PFML, HB 1213 added two new employer notice requirements. Just recently, Washington’s Employment Security Department (ESD) published template notices that employers may tailor to particular circumstances. The PFML notice requirements—and the associated template notice—are summarized below.
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