Leading Practices

Leading Practices

• In 2015, Seattle, Washington, created the Office of Labor Standards, and by 2022 it had 34 full-time equivalents enforcing 18 city laws including paid sick and safe time; fair chance employment; wage theft; the city’s stable scheduling ordinance for retail and food services workers; ordinances protecting domestic workers, transportation network company drivers and hotel workers and laws enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The office has instituted a number of successful enforcement actions and is active in city labor policymaking.

• In June 2020, voters amended the city charter to create the Philadelphia Department of Labor. The Office of Worker Protections, located within the Department of Labor, has a total of nine full-time employees and enforces wage theft, paid sick leave and fair work week laws; laws covering specific industries (domestic worker bill of rights, wrongful discharge, recall and/or retention of hotel, travel and hospitality workers) and more. The office established a domestic worker task force and has been tasked with creating a portable benefits system for domestic workers, one of the nation’s first. In addition, in 2020 and 2021, the office partnered with worker organizations on the Philadelphia Worker Relief Fund, helping to distribute more than $2,200,000 to 2,820 families left out of COVID-19 government relief.

• In 2016, Minneapolis, Minnesota, created the Labor Standards Enforcement Division within its Department of Civil Rights. Through a team of five employees, the office enforces the city’s paid sick and safe time, minimum wage, wage theft and freelance worker protection laws.

• The Office of Equality Assurance of San Jose, California, implements, monitors and administers living wage requirements for city contractors, the prevailing wage law for public construction projects and the minimum wage ordinance. The office also contracts with a number of neighboring localities to provide minimum wage enforcement services for their own local minimum wages, working together with smaller cities to enforce laws across the regional labor market.