Some employment policy-related items from the past few weeks:

• Yesterday Seattle Mayor Ed Murray proposed an ordinance that "harmonizes enforcement procedures, remedies key definitions in the Minimum Wage, Administrative Wage Theft, Paid Sick and Safe Time, and Job Assistance ordinances." (A summary of the various items within the proposal is here.) The proposal includes a private right of action for employees to sue their employers for violations of these labor laws. 
• Washington's attorney general and three state legislators have signed onto amicus briefs in Friedrichs vs. the California Teachers Association. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in January. The case is about whether public employees may be forced to pay agency fees to a union. The Washington Post has more.
• The News Tribune has a story about health care for retired public employees: "Unfunded liability for retiree health-care benefits has grown 58 percent since a 2012 independent report expressed 'serious concerns.'" But Washington takes a pay-as-you-go approach to retiree health care, because "Unlike pensions, State Treasurer Jim McIntire said, health benefits aren’t a contractual obligation to employees." Further, "McIntire, the treasurer, said setting money aside would make a judge more likely to interpret retiree health insurance as a contractual promise. The state might be locked in."