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InFocus podcast: Minimum wage, marijuana revenues, carbon cap & recycling

InFocus: Possible charter schools ruling re-do, construction jobs, paid family leave study

This week we’re discussing the Attorney General’s request that the state Supreme Court reconsider its ruling that charter schools are unconstitutional, the number of construction jobs staying essentially flat statewide, and a federal grant for Washington to study the feasibility of paid family leave implementation. In this episode:

Washington won't have nation's highest minimum wage in 2016

The Department of Labor and Industries has announced that Washington’s minimum wage will not change in 2016 — it will remain at $9.47. Washington’s minimum wage has been indexed to inflation since 1998, but the Consumer Price Index decreased this year. (And the minimum wage can only stay steady or go up.) Washington’s minimum wage […]

A good read from the WSIA on the workers' comp rate proposal

Kris Tefft of the Washington Self-Insurers Association has written a detailed, interesting analysis of the proposed increase in average workers' compensation rates for next year, including how the different pieces of the rate proposal fit together. I recommend reading it in its entirety, but here's one highlight: He writes about why the break-even point for […]

WA's unfunded paid family leave program gets a federal grant — for a feasibility study

Today the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it has awarded $1.55 million in grants to eight states to study paid family leave implementation. Washington is one of those eight states; it will receive $247,000 “to study the feasibility and impacts of the Washington Family Leave Insurance Act of 2007 that remains unimplemented.” Gov. Inslee’s […]

Average workers' comp rates could increase by 2 percent

The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) proposes that workers’ compensation rates increase by 2 percent next year (on average). There will be a comment period, and L&I will announce the final rates in December. (Last year, for example, it proposed a 1.8 percent increase and the final increase was 0.8 percent.) L&I Director Joel […]

InFocus podcast: Rent control, WA wine industry, state revenue & employment reports, and charter schools

Policy Today podcast, Common Ground edition: Rep. Drew Hansen

InFocus podcast: NLRB ruling, stock market turmoil, state business tax rankings

Independent contractor or employee?

I wrote yesterday about the NLRB’s changing definition of who is an employer. Related to that: Who is an employee? In many cases, the changing nature of work has led to situations where the traditional employer-employee relationship no longer applies. One such case is Uber. Uber considers the drivers who provide rides through its app […]