Minimum wage laws change in Tacoma for 2020. Here’s what you need to know
Changes are coming to Tacoma’s minimum wage laws next year.
The City Council is poised to repeal its minimum wage code on Tuesday.
Instead, the city will rely on state minimum wage laws moving forward.
Starting 2020, minimum wage will increase from $12.35 an hour to $13.50 an hour for Tacoma workers.
Here’s what Tacoma workers and employees need to know.
Wages increasing
By repealing city code, people making minimum wage in Tacoma will see a bigger jump in their paychecks next year.
Under current city code, minimum wage workers would see a 19-cent increase in 2020, from $12.35 to $12.54.
Once the code is repealed, minimum wage instead will increase for Tacoma workers by $1.15, from $12.35 an hour to $13.50 in 2020.
In 2015, Tacoma voters agreed to increase minimum wage gradually every year.
A year later in 2016, state voters passed a statewide minimum wage increase.
Tacoma’s remained higher than the state’s every year, but that gap has rapidly closed.
In 2020, the state’s minimum wage is expected to surpass Tacoma’s for the first time.
To prevent Tacoma workers from making less than their state counterparts, Tacoma City Council is taking action to repeal its code.
While City Council could introduce a new motion to make the city’s minimum wage higher than the state’s, there is currently no plan to do so, according to council members.
State enforcement
Repealing its minimum wage code means Tacoma workers have to go to the state Department of Labor & Industries instead of the city when filing complaints.
Workers still can go to the city to file complaints regarding paid sick leave.
Tacoma City Council members decided not to repeal the city’s paid sick leave laws, citing concerns about the lack of anonymity and workplace investigations in the state’s complaint processes.
Employers
Aside from paying a higher minimum wage, employers will see little change.
Instead of hanging up a poster in their place of business showing both city minimum wage laws and state minimum wage laws, employers will only have to post state minimum wage laws, as city code will no longer exist.
