What do SeaTac's employment standards require?
SeaTac's standards cover hospitality employers, such as hotels with 100 or more guest rooms and 30 or more workers, and transportation employers with 25 or more nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory employees in airport services, from baggage and cargo handling to fueling, and security in facilities where those services are performed52. The City says they apply at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport6.
Covered workers earn at least $20.74 an hour in 2026 and $21.47 from January 1, 202741. Additional hours go first to existing qualified part-time employees7. Paid sick and safe time accrues at 1 hour per 40 hours worked8. When a contract changes hands, the successor offers jobs to qualified retention employees3.
This text does not constitute legal advice. Obligations vary by establishment and change over time. Confirm yours with the City of SeaTac, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries or a qualified advisor.
Which dates matter at SeaTac?
- The ordinance takes effect
The effective date it sets for itself. It was passed by voter initiative, and the City's code notes that it cannot be amended or repealed without a vote of the people910.
- The City says the airport is covered
In the City's words, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that it can enforce its standards at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport6.
- Minimum wage: $20.74
For hospitality and transportation employees within the City4.
- Minimum wage: $21.47
The City's notice under SMC 7.45.0501.
Past or upcoming as of November 12, 2026.
What changes in the week at SeaTac?
When you staff the operation
A covered worker is any nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory individual employed by a hospitality or transportation employer52. Transportation employers include operators of curbside check-in, baggage, wheelchair escort, cargo, aircraft cleaning, fueling and ground transportation services, and of janitorial, maintenance, security or customer service in a facility where those services are performed, with 25 or more such employees; a certificated air carrier performing services for itself is excluded2.
They also include rental car, shuttle and parking operators above the fleet and space sizes the ordinance sets, with 25 or more such employees2.
When you need more hours
When someone calls in sick
Covered workers accrue at least 1 hour of paid sick and safe time for every 40 hours worked, and can use it as soon as it accrues. No certification of illness is needed for accrued hours, and an absence control policy may not count that time toward discipline8.
Hours not used by the end of the calendar year are paid out as a lump sum at the end of that year8. State law also applies: at least 1 hour of paid sick leave per 40 hours worked12.
In payroll
The living wage is $20.74 an hour in 2026 and $21.47 from January 1, 202741. It is adjusted each January 1 by inflation, the City Manager publishes the new rate by October 15, and the employer tells each worker in writing and adjusts payroll by January 113.
Tips, gratuities, service charges and commissions cannot be credited toward the wage13. At a hospitality employer, service charges and tips go to the nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory workers who serve the customers they come from14. State overtime also applies: hours over 40 in a 7-day workweek at no less than 1.5 times the regular rate1516.
When a contract changes hands
At least 60 days before its contract ends, the outgoing employer tells its retention employees in writing that they are on a qualified displaced worker list. The successor offers employment to qualified retention employees, by seniority within each job classification if it has fewer positions, and may not discharge them without just cause during the first ninety days3.
A retention employee is a covered worker employed by the predecessor for at least 30 workdays who lost, or is about to lose, the job because the operation closed or shrank17.
Watch for
- Union agreements. An individual worker cannot waive the chapter; a bona fide collective bargaining agreement can, but only if the waiver is explicit, in clear and unambiguous terms18.
- In-flight catering. The institutional foodservice that makes an employer a hospitality employer does not include food or beverage prepared to be served in flight19.
- Breaks. State rules apply: a meal period of at least 30 minutes between the second and fifth hour, and a paid 10-minute rest period for each four hours of working time2021.
What does an employer have to be able to show?
Covered employers keep records of hours worked, paid sick and safe time taken, and wages and benefits for each employee for two years, open to the City Manager22. Washington's payroll records rule is longer: at least three years23.
When the amount of sick or safe time available is in question and the employer has not kept adequate records of hours worked and time taken, the ordinance presumes a violation22.
What does the ordinance leave open?
Counting the 25 for a contractor with several services. A transportation employer is one that employs 25 or more nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory employees “in the performance of that service”2. The ordinance does not say how that count works for a company running security in one facility and another listed service elsewhere in the City. Confirm it with your counsel.
Year-end sick time. The ordinance pays out unused paid sick and safe time as a lump sum at the end of the calendar year8. State law says unused paid sick leave carries over, and lets an employer cap carryover at 40 hours24. How the two apply together to a covered worker is a question for your counsel.
What does the ordinance say exactly?
M. “Transportation Employer” means: 1) A person, excluding a certificated air carrier performing services for itself, who: a) operates or provides within the City any of the following: any curbside passenger check-in services; baggage check services; wheelchair escort services; baggage handling; cargo handling; rental luggage cart services; aircraft interior cleaning; aircraft carpet cleaning; aircraft washing and cleaning; aviation ground support equipment washing and cleaning; aircraft water or lavatory services; aircraft fueling; ground transportation management; or any janitorial and custodial services, facility maintenance services, security services, or customer service […] performed in any facility where any of the services listed in this paragraph are also performed; and b) employs twenty-five (25) or more nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory employees in the performance of that service. 2) A transportation employer also includes any person who: a) operates or provides rental car services utilizing or operating a fleet of more than one hundred (100) cars; shuttle transportation utilizing or operating a fleet of more than ten (10) vans or buses; or parking lot management controlling more than one hundred (100) parking spaces; and b) employs twenty-five (25) or more nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory employees in the performance of that operation. […] N. “Transportation Worker” means any nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory individual employed by a Transportation Employer.
SMC 7.45.010.D-E hospitality employers and workers
D. “Hospitality Employer” means a person who operates within the City any Hotel that has one hundred (100) or more guest rooms and thirty (30) or more workers or who operates any institutional foodservice or retail operation employing ten (10) or more nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory employees. This shall include any person who employs others providing services for customers on the aforementioned premises, such as a temporary agency or subcontractor. […] E. “Hospitality Worker” means any nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory individual employed by a Hospitality Employer.
SMC 7.45.030 offering hours to part-time employees first
If a Hospitality or Transportation Employer has additional hours of work to provide in job positions held by Covered Workers, then it shall offer those hours of work first to existing qualified part-time employees before hiring additional part-time employees or subcontractors.
SMC 7.45.020.A-D paid sick and safe time
A. A Covered Worker shall accrue at least one hour of paid sick and safe time for every 40 hours worked as an employee of a Hospitality Employer or Transportation Employer. The Covered Worker is entitled to use any accrued hours of compensated time as soon as those hours have accrued. B. The Covered Worker need not present certification of illness to claim compensated sick and safe time, provided that such Covered Worker has accrued the requested hours of compensated time at the time of the request. A Covered Worker shall be paid his or her normal hourly compensation for each compensated hour off. C. The Covered Worker shall not be disciplined or retaliated against for use of accrued paid sick and safe time. This includes a prohibition on any absence control policy that counts earned sick and safe time as an absence that may lead to or result in discipline against the Covered Worker. […] D. If any Covered Worker has not utilized all of his or her accrued compensated time by the end of any calendar year, the Hospitality Employer or Transportation Employer shall pay this worker a lump sum payment at the end of the calendar year equivalent to the compensation due for any unused compensated time.
SMC 7.45.050.B-D the living wage and its adjustment
B. On January 1, 2015, and on each following January 1, this living wage shall be adjusted to maintain employee purchasing power by increasing the current year’s wage rate by the rate of inflation. […] C. The City Manager shall publish a bulletin by October 15 of each year announcing the adjusted rates. […] D. Each Hospitality Employer and Transportation Employer shall provide written notification of the rate adjustments to each of its workers and make the necessary payroll adjustments by January 1 following the publication of the bulletin. Tips, gratuities, service charges and commissions shall not be credited as being any part of or be offset against the wage rates required by this Chapter.
SMC 7.45.060.A-C retention when a contract changes hands
A. Notice to Employees. No less than 60 days prior to the termination of a Predecessor Employer’s contract, the Predecessor Employer shall notify all Retention Employees in writing that they have been placed on a qualified displaced worker list and that the Successor Employer may be required to offer him/her continued employment. […] B. Retention Offer. Except as otherwise provided herein, the Successor Employer shall offer employment to all qualified Retention Employees. […] If the Successor Employer does not have enough positions available for all qualified Retention Employees, the Successor Employer shall hire the Retention Employees by seniority within each job classification. […] C. Retention Period. A Successor Employer shall not discharge a Retention Employee without just cause during the initial ninety-day period of his/her employment.
SMC 7.45.070 records
A. Hospitality Employers and Transportation Employers shall retain records documenting hours worked, paid sick and safe time taken by Covered Workers, and wages and benefits provided to each such employee, for a period of two years, […] When an issue arises as to the amount of accrued paid sick time and/or paid safe time available to a Covered Worker under this chapter, if the Hospitality Employers and Transportation Employers does not maintain or retain adequate records documenting hours worked by the Covered Worker and paid sick and safe time taken by the Covered Worker, it shall be presumed that the Hospitality Employers and Transportation Employers has violated this chapter.
SMC 7.45.080 waivers
The provisions of this Chapter may not be waived by agreement between an individual Covered Worker and a Hospitality or Transportation Employer. All of the provisions of this Chapter, or any part hereof, including the employee work environment reporting requirement set forth herein, may be waived in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement, but only if the waiver is explicitly set forth in such agreement in clear and unambiguous terms.
City of SeaTac, 2027 notice the 2027 rate
CITY OF SEATAC ANNOUNCES 2027 MINIMUM WAGE ADJUSTMENTS City of SeaTac, Wash., October 08, 2026 – The City of SeaTac is announcing the mandatory annual adjustments to the City’s Minimum Employment Standards Ordinance for Hospitality and Transportation Industry Employers. 2027 Minimum Wage: $21.47 per hour The increase in the living wage rate (3.52%) has been calculated using the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, ( CPI- W) for the twelve (12) months prior to September 1 as calculated by the United States Department of Labor. Therefore, in accordance with SeaTac Municipal Code (SMC) Section 7.45.050, the living wage rate in effect for hospitality and transportation employees within the City will increase to $21.47 effective January 1, 2027.
How does a system hold the hour rules?
At SeaTac, state overtime lands on the schedule and the timecard. This is how WorkAxle holds the hour rules:
- Daily and weekly hour limits and consecutive days are set up as rules, each with its start date.
- While the schedule is built, the platform flags each shift that breaks one of those rules and names the rule. The supervisor decides.
- Each clock-in and clock-out is recorded with its time, and at the close of the period hours come out classified by your rules, ready for your payroll system.
The supervisor keeps the last word.
What can you check this week?
- List each service you run in SeaTac and count the nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory employees in it against 252.
- Check every covered worker's rate against $21.47 from January 1, 2027, and that the written notice of the new rate goes out by then113.
- Before the next external hire, check that the hours were offered to qualified part-time staff first7.
- Check what payroll will pay out at the end of the calendar year for unused paid sick and safe time8.
- If a contract is ending, check the date that falls 60 days before it3.
Sending it to finance, operations or your counsel? The link opens this page, and the printed brief carries the rules, the dates and the sources.
This text does not constitute legal advice. Obligations vary by establishment and change over time. Confirm yours with the City of SeaTac, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries or a qualified advisor.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SeaTac minimum wage in 2027?
$21.47 an hour from January 1, 2027, for hospitality and transportation employees within the City, up from $20.74 in 202614. The state's is $17.73 for most workers the same day25.
Does the SeaTac minimum wage apply at the airport?
The City says yes: on August 20, 2015, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that it can enforce its minimum wage and other standards at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and hospitality and transportation employers there must follow them6.
Are airport security officers covered by SeaTac's standards?
Security services performed within the City, in a facility where listed airport services such as baggage or cargo handling are also performed, are among the transportation services, for an employer with 25 or more nonmanagerial, nonsupervisory employees in that service; a certificated air carrier performing services for itself is excluded2.
What is Prop 1 in SeaTac?
The ordinance, posted by the City as Prop 1, that sets minimum employment standards for hospitality and transportation industry employers, chapter 7.45 of the SeaTac Municipal Code, in effect since January 1, 20142695.
How much paid sick time do SeaTac employers owe?
At least 1 hour of paid sick and safe time for every 40 hours worked, usable as soon as it accrues, with unused hours paid out at the end of the calendar year8. State law also applies, including its carryover of unused leave; how the two combine is a question for your counsel24.
What happens to workers when an airport contract changes hands in SeaTac?
The outgoing employer notifies retention employees in writing at least 60 days before the contract ends. The successor offers them employment, by seniority within each job classification if it has fewer positions, and may not discharge them without just cause during the first ninety days3.
https://www.workaxle.com/compliance-center/united-states/washington/seatac