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January 31, 2020
Dear Friends,
As you may have already heard, today is last my day at OLS, which marks the end of my two-year commitment as OLS Director. Even as I look forward to a more flexible work schedule and to more time with family and friends, my departure is bittersweet. I greatly enjoyed my work at OLS and will miss many aspects of this job.
However, I leave knowing that OLS is filled with talented people who will keep up the great work of our office. And, I am particularly pleased that we have an excellent interim team in place to lead the office while the Mayor’s Office completes its search for my permanent replacement. Jeneé Jahn, our current Policy Manager, will be the Interim OLS Director and Dwayne McClain, our Finance and Operations Manager, will serve as Interim Deputy Director. With Jeneé and Dwayne, you can rest assured that OLS will be in good hands.
It seems hard to believe that two years have passed since I took over as Director. As we enter a new year, it’s worth reviewing what has been accomplished and the challenges ahead.
OLS Now Implements Thirteen Labor Standards
We all can be very proud that the City of Seattle is a national leader when it comes to passing laws to protect workers. With each new law that is enacted, OLS becomes responsible for ensuring that employers comply with their legal obligations. That means promulgating rules and policies, issuing facts sheets and templates, and, when the need arises, enforcing these requirements.
Just in the past two years, the City has enacted seven new labor ordinances. These are the Domestic Workers Ordinance, four new laws protecting hotel workers, and two ordinances providing protections for Uber and Lyft drivers.
Here is the total list of labor standards (in the order in which they were enacted):
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Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance (PSST) (2012), requires employers to provide paid leave for absences due to medical conditions, domestic violence, or other critical safety issues;
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Fair Chance Employment Ordinance (2013), restricts how employers can use conviction and arrest records during the hiring process and course of employment;
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Minimum Wage Ordinance (2014), sets a minimum hourly wage that rises with the annual rate of inflation;
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Wage Theft Ordinance (2014), requires employers to pay all compensation due by reason of employment (including wages and tips);
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Secure Scheduling Ordinance (2016), establishes predictable scheduling requirements for large retail and food service establishments;
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Domestic Workers Ordinance (DWO) (2018), provides protections for independent contractors and employees who provide domestic worker services in and around the homes of thousands of Seattle families;
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Commuter Benefits Ordinance (2018), requires employers to provide commuter benefits on a pre-tax basis;
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Two ordinances protect the rights of drivers for transportation network companies (TNCs) (i.e., Uber and Lyft):
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TNC Driver Deactivation Rights Ordinance (2019), gives TNC drivers the right to challenge unwarranted deactivations before a neutral arbitrator, and creates a Driver Resolution Center to provide representation for drivers;
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TNC Minimum Compensation Ordinance (2019), requires that TNC drivers should be paid at least the minimum wage and be reimbursed for expenses, and funds a study to determine the precise method for accomplishing this goal;
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Four ordinances protect rights of hotel workers:
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Hotel Employee Safety Protections Ordinance (2019), requires employers to take certain steps to prevent and report violent and harassing conduct by guests and to support employees who report this misconduct.
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The Protecting Hotel Employees from Injury Ordinance (2019), limits the workload of employees who clean hotel rooms to reduce the frequency and occurrence of injuries associated with room cleaning.
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The Improving Access to Medical Care for Hotel Employees Ordinance (2019), requires employers to provide employees working in large hotels with increased access to medical care.
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The Hotel Employees Job Retention Ordinance (2019), requires employers to take certain actions to reduce job insecurity in the hospitality industry.
Highlights from the Enforcement Team:
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Reduction of backlog. At the start of 2018, we had a total of 206 open investigations that remained from 2015, 2016, or 2017. By the end of 2019, we made great strides in eliminating this backlog: we have resolved all outstanding 2015 and 2016 cases, and all but 13% of the 2017 matters. In all, we closed a total of 323 investigations over the last two years and opened 214 new ones.
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Increase in money for workers. Our investigations have become more effective over the past two years. From 2018 to 2019, OLS assessed a total of 4,823,402 for the benefit of 7,449 workers. To put this into perspective, for the period between 2014 through 2017, OLS assessed a total of $1,120,605. Thus, OLS assessed over four times as much over the past two years as we had in our previous four years of existence.
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New approach to strategic enforcement involving collaboration across all teams. Our office has worked hard to develop a more unified approach for enforcement. “Strategic enforcement” employs a multi-faceted approach in enforcement, policy and communications so that our efforts generate the greatest possible impact with our limited resources.
Highlights from the Policy Team:
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Domestic Worker Ordinance: We held seven stakeholder meetings and then issued rules (that went into effect in July 2019) as well as other informational materials to assist hiring entities and employees. In addition, we convened the Domestic Workers Standards Board (DWSB), which held four meetings in 2019. The DWSB is currently developing its work plan, which will be issued in early 2020.
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Commuter Benefits: We also conducted stakeholder meetings and issued regulations to guide the public on how to comply with this ordinance.
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Hotel Worker Protections: OLS staff helped draft four new labor standards protecting hotel workers. We are currently overseeing a stakeholder process after which we will issue detailed regulations.
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TNC Laws: Likewise, OLS staff helped research and draft this legislation (aka, the Mayor’s “Fare Share Plan”) that will protect the rights of Uber and Lyft drivers. We are currently overseeing the academic study designed to help the City set a minimum compensation standard, as well as the creation of the Driver Resolution Center.
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Technical Assistance & Trainings: Over the past two years, we responded to over 1,100 inquiries from employers and employees, and also conducted 52 labor standards presentations and trainings.
Highlights from Our Communications team:
- A new website! After months of planning, and with the help of a Racial Equity Toolkit, we launched a new, easier to navigate website, containing a wealth of information and guidelines.
- We issued numerous press releases and newsletters on enforcement and outreach successes.
- We provided key “takeaways” from enforcement cases to inform employers on mistakes to avoid.
- We published easy-to-read booklets on the Domestic Worker Ordinance, and arranged for large, attractive advertisements on the King County Metro buses.
- We placed radio ads about the Domestic Workers Ordinance on mainstream and ethnic radio stations.
Highlights from Our Community and Business Partners:
Our office funds and coordinates the efforts of Community Outreach and Education Fund (COEF) and the Business Outreach and Education Fund (BOEF), which fund educational efforts about our legal standards to vulnerable workers as well as to small and new businesses owed by immigrants and people of color.
In 2019, we conducted an extensive RFP process to select our community partners for the next two years contract period (2020-2021). In December, we issued award letters to nine successful applicants (some of whom work within “collaboratives” with other organizations. In total, there will be 16 participating community partners during the upcoming two years.
On the BOEF side, we have finalized contract extensions for 2020 to get the grant-making process on a calendar year basis. In 2020, we have four primary partners, but a total of 16 business organizations working in partnership with us. Our COEF and BOEF partners have conducted hundreds of outreach activities (community events, flyering, tabling, etc.), trainings, and individual consultations. These actions reached thousands of workers and small business owners and helped them to understand their rights as workers and obligations as employers. Also, we try to make our materials accessible to every employee and business regardless of language differences. We have translated our most critical materials into 19 different languages, and our trainings have been conducted in even more languages!
Final Thoughts
These past two years have been a highlight of my career. I have appreciated the support we have received from Mayor Durkan and her team, as well as the assistance from many City employees in other departments. Most of all, I want to thank and honor the work of my OLS colleagues. I could not have asked for a more hard-working or fun group of people. They come to work every day committed to the office’s mission of improving the lives of Seattle workers. I can’t wait to see what their future efforts achieve.
Thank you again for your interest in our work. From all of us at OLS, we wish you a peaceful and healthy new year.
Martin S. Garfinkel, Director
Seattle Office of Labor Standards
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