CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE relating to the organization of City government; moving the Office of Labor Standards from a subsidiary unit in the Office for Civil Rights to its own unit in the Executive Department; amending the powers and duties of the Office of Labor Standards; adding Sections 3.15.000, 3.15.002, 3.15.004, 3.15.006, 3.15.008, and 3.15.009 to the Seattle Municipal Code (SMC); amending Sections 6.208.020, 14.16.010, 14.17.010, 14.19.010, 14.20.010, and 14.22.010 of the SMC; renumbering Section 3.14.934 of the SMC as Section 3.15.010; and repealing Section 3.14.945 of the SMC and Sections 3 and 4 of Ordinance 125135.
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WHEREAS, in 2014, the Mayor and City Council ("Council") convened a 16-member Labor Standards Advisory Group to offer recommendations for achieving greater compliance with Seattle's labor standards; and
WHEREAS, the Labor Standards Advisory Group met for almost six months and unanimously recommended the creation of a centralized entity within The City of Seattle to house, implement, and coordinate all aspects of labor standards education, outreach, and enforcement; and
WHEREAS, in 2014, the Council passed Ordinance 124643 creating the Office of Labor Standards within the Office for Civil Rights; and
WHEREAS, the Office of Labor Standards became the third such agency in the country, following the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement and the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services; and
WHEREAS, in December 2015, the Council passed the Wage Theft Prevention and Harmonization Ordinance (Ordinance 124960) to enable the Office of Labor Standards to use ground-breaking enforcement methods and impose significant remedies for non-compliance to better protect workers and deter and penalize bad actors, while leveling the playing field for businesses who are already in compliance; and
WHEREAS, the Office of Labor Standards has developed and emp...
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