On July 12, the Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) filed a lawsuit challenging a newly issued administrative policy from the state Department of Labor and Industries (L&I).
The suit stems from an administrative policy released by L&I on June 20 that says:
- In addition to pay for time worked, hospitals must pay staff a penalty of an extra 30 minutes pay when their unpaid meal period is missed, impermissibly interrupted, or untimely. This is regardless of how much of the break was missed or by how much it was delayed – even one minute missed or one minute late triggers the penalty.
- Hospitals must pay a similar penalty of 10-15 minutes extra pay for rest breaks that are missed, interrupted, or fall outside the required timeframe.
“Washington hospitals are committed to supporting our health care workforce and recently worked with labor advocates to pass an updated staffing law. We absolutely agree that workers need and should have breaks and be compensated for the time worked when breaks are missed or interrupted,” said Cassie Sauer, President and CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association. “However, the new policies proposed by L&I are a broad overreach in authority and impose significant penalties that will only increase costs for Washington patients and hospitals.”
It is unfortunate that L&I announced this new penalty though an “administrative policy.” Doing so allowed them to avoid the rigorous analysis the legislature has demanded for significant rules such as this, including a cost-benefit analysis. In a very real sense, L&I is mandating this new penalty without considering the impact on patient care throughout the state.
WSHA believes the new policy exceeds the scope of penalties allowed by state law. Penalties can only be created through the legislative process, making L&I’s policy an overreach that extends beyond its scope of authority.
The administrative policy is related to implementation of legislation passed in 2019 and expanded in 2023 regarding meal and rest breaks for hospital workers. Generally, when staff take meal breaks, they are not paid for the time they are on break. This is consistent with many industries across the state and is not unique to health care workers. However, in a dynamic health care workplace, sometimes patient needs result in staff missing a break, delaying a break, or returning to work before a break is completed. In these cases, staff are paid for time worked, including if this pushes them into overtime which is compensated at a higher rate.
L&I’s new administrative policy drastically changes current practice. The administrative policy also unfairly targets only acute care hospitals; no other industries with workforces that require breaks are covered by the new policy.
“We are dedicated to creating environments that meet the needs of our workforce and ensuring they have the resources they need to care for Washington patients,” Sauer continued. “However, this administrative policy is a blatant overreach that unfairly targets hospitals. The policy contributes to the instability of the delivery system and threatens access to care. We look forward to laying out our concerns in court.”
