On September 30, the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) announced an increase in the state minimum wage from the current $13.69 to $14.49
per hour starting in January 2022. Washington’s minimum wage is indexed to inflation using the Consumer Price Index, and by law, L&I recalculates the new wage for the following year in the end of September. This year’s recalculation
resulted in a larger wage hike than originally anticipated due to higher-than-expected inflation caused by spikes in the prices for housing, gas, and other consumer goods.
The wage increase will also yield a higher-than-expected increase in the salary threshold need for salaried employees to be exempt from overtime rules. The overtime exemption threshold is a multiplier of the minimum wage, and L&I adopted an eight-year implementation schedule for eventually increasing the multiplier to 2.5 times minimum wage by 2028. For 2022, the multiplier is 1.75 times the minimum
wage. Starting in January, salary earners will need to make at least $1,014.30 a week ($52,743.60 a year) to be exempt from overtime requirements.