The Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act (EPOA) requires businesses with at least 15 employees to include the wage scale and salary range for a position in all job postings. Under the statute, “A job applicant or employee may bring a civil action against an employer for a violation of this section. A prevailing job applicant or employee is entitled to statutory damages of no less than $100 and no more than $5,000 per violation, plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs” (RCW 49.58.110).

Today, the state Supreme Court held that although a plaintiff “must apply to a specific job posting,” the plaintiff “is not required to prove they are a ‘bona fide’ or ‘good faith’ applicant to obtain remedies under the statute.”

As the dissent by Justice Gordon McCloud notes, this effectively means that “any person who submits a job application in response to a noncompliant posting is entitled to $5,000 worth of statutory damages—even if that person’s sole intent is to collect a damages award, not to redress any personal harm and not to obtain an offer of employment.”

The statute was amended this year to give employers an opportunity to correct violations of the salary posting requirement. If a business corrects the violation within five business days of being alerted to the violation, no penalties, damages, or other relief may be awarded. However, this opportunity is only available from July 27, 2025 through July 27, 2027.