Yesterday the Spokane City Council voted to require employers in the city to provide workers with paid sick leave. The city clerk has not yet produced the final text; the ordinance was amended and passed late last night. But the Spokesman-Review reports that employers with more than 10 employees would have to provide five days of paid sick leave. Construction, work-study, seasonal, and temporary employees would be exempt. According to the Spokesman-Review, the mayor has said he will veto the ordinance, but the council has the votes to override the veto.

Employers in Seattle and SeaTac must also provide paid sick leave, and employers in Tacoma will have to do so beginning Feb. 1. A bill that would have required paid sick leave statewide was passed by the House last year but was not passed by the Senate. (We wrote about paid sick leave last year: Mandating Paid Sick Leave in Washington.)

Similarly, last year the House passed a bill that would have increased the state minimum wage to $12.00 over four years; the AP notes that it has been reintroduced this year.

Also yesterday, a group filed an initiative that would increase the state minimum wage to $11.00 in 2017, $11.50 in 2018, $12.00 in 2019, and $13.50 in 2020. In subsequent years, the minimum wage would be indexed to inflation (as it is currently). The initiative specifies, "Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage." (For more on the minimum wage, see this report.)

The initiative would also require employers statewide to provide paid sick leave. Employees would accrue one hour of leave for every 40 hours worked, beginning Jan. 1, 2018.

Interestingly, the initiative does not preempt cities on these topics:

Nothing in the initiative precludes local jurisdictions from enacting additional local fair labor standards that are more favorable to employees, including but not limited to more generous minimum wage or paid sick leave requirements.

As the Secretary of State's blog notes, the initiative will have to get 246,372 signatures by July 8 in order to qualify for the November ballot.