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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBatch 007Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL CRY OFRENTON TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: AUG 3 1 2023 We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of nameRlEtmr �� listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitt6d1T G&S 'OFFICE residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 �G�S%rrc �i.Cdv. 17ze V1 4 Lnlh qJ-0 1 AGty t, Renton 2. 3. 4. (�! 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 4/4 10. C. O /) vo\ s a � I part Renton a LISFt �i�RSi i .cs rkr-rt_. �.i,k �1L211i Renton clz✓' �i-C 91 50'5K'L5-y lu d#k40 Renton nllVtGl l�l swsvns�� i� Renton ,1U1 f1,v ��rJ( SW Renton �3 Renton J o/it✓ /" ,4 %6 f 33 Si������ fi ��S Renton Renton CCA Y� '65�)— YaSa�� 3 RentonGS Warning ' IW- 23 Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor_ ®ado� igT 933M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following yew using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 20262 and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; c. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonablejudgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions m to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined m set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneselfrather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined m set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so m to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date SacutzEe`l/otrn Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Renton 2. z� �(/�J%LD�/ �,fOJ Renton v2o6-� S )YLo 3 z /-Z,.� 3. P i Pl1 c� �A �1�JC' Renton M 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 �43y 2`{� l,(t(� tZ• ��� 'i Tv" Renton S"y,tl - (- 5t f 3 -7 G G, st I Y p c_ �� Y 33 3 7v�1 411/z� �[..t- 1�$frtb�l r "65 Renton tic C ��> 1Z,S 3Sva �4z �4 j t'P� /CL D Remo � Renton Renton J Jc�s /ids �55 7�%/ Gfi� 9�? Renton > u3G 1 s' � l L / I(AWL a�Dr-i I )Qf_�,W�kblA Z I qk0 Renton 7jf 0-ZI'-1 -teISO 51ZZe 7-5 1674 , ( �Ohli�� l�� Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®-„GCC(B7� 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers we well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each yew thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar yen will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but me not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter, the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. _._ ... . .,,:. _... _.. ... Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: ■ Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date 5a��e2/°r�t Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. c t Renton .� 3/z �-1z3 2. �Z �U c'J ro kJua S 32 AIV �4 A' 10141, Renton FZe'/J 3VI � 1'� crU>' Q_ W Renton 5"71 1.- -7 ke I 4. /& Renton 312.8-1Z3 S90 NE 3e A Hw_� . ZA1r t r� a , a-6 Renton 1 I g 3/ ��/ �� s. h)froF/ut 6. (� 7 Renton ?3Z/ �� 23 on L 906L"' /6W OO L Renton , / 8. At r, � i (A7(IGIG �rb I4??4 0Cam-' Cl= Renton 9 S C- Renton 2 E123 1 . c��� / I i I c' �q� `%� ICiB T�.�tRr�G ?6 6 Renton �i - 3 q z3 / Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®---GCC/BTr 933-M ,,,,�o,,—�;'° AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide army of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees timing all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they forth an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter, the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter, Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees we similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confine compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terns shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or er aids. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer, "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49,46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: t 2nvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sam#& `/0An Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 l S� `'Renton �i 2, -7 279 _ 0 10 3 l8%Z3 2. IV�r "G �✓fi J Renton 3. , �I� c %� I(/ % LJ� Renton 4. (. H✓U S —ae 7'�o 0 N 6l tgTN �e S� Renton 4ZS 2-1-� - 3 5 3I fig' Z� Renton Renton 7. ?� /` l� f l%G(i0 G, S r (Z ! �' i �? �j2L Renton )\? '-6 n-30�0 3� ���25 s. C,- �� T�> �Vll�� r o ` /,� ✓�V I.Ju (IMP �d f`�� Renton 9. Sap Fvy-11P74L Al, Renton zdol- —ve-7f �q' to. ,j - sg11 5��1r` �s ��,��,Lv �, �e ,� Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars IV) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; gT P P , b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and l d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be constrmed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected trader this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter, the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and casts and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter, Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per atrium or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee For whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the proposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: vasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date sa'WA& 0 "t Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 4-ZS-SZq-4q{ 2� `JC[tAIL--V`zx��C�a,�eas�. ` 9l2 Gra�tAv� S 7 hem Renton 2. �l�J�� lV� rl U I�i� ili� S� I�� l Renton t�La �l ✓{�e ��%�•�� ��uy �� �Ci �Ca 525�! ` ct� off Renton �NZOSS 3. C qz 4. �j/v 0� U C Renton % Z� s. �.�% Renton 4Zs 7 ql 6�Z1 If 6. Renton 2X-29o-3o3�t W1�L lG•PP>L,�C���{ log (c.&am 3-26-Z3 (S11oC, 14041Ave S<;-:7' Renton 7. 'Jc) �� �✓� vtG 3�� z� 1 z 8. S6/� !/( l S/ Renton 9. �—� �0(�1\ wU�� l� fv� `1�1� Ck )�S Renton lo. ��Q��(� n�v S� `��pyr�vlo��' �2Iy', Renton LI2-5-`,-Z9-tsl0°t6 l.Qyoaj (�Zo-r' 1 I U3�uDlZ Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ® W9"-M <[A0.1¢PPPPo1m AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy, Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46,160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized a; not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; In Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1, Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that ate unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. I£ an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: I. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" isto be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. ler,, L�� �v�sre Fri L-yohs +ya KJce_ Renton qLC 1-64 �9 1�7�1a23 2. Renton 3. ,y v /2G�% � �e 1° h an 2 M Z Y�1 ) e r5 ZL0eaJo Lv N,2- /V Renton Renton 4. 7a� e C, S} Renton s. 9-snI �D\Ue b r� 6. V1 CJ(ok�i� ::k�" I Renton � J 7. en on + 46rc S p •5C 8. 1"C7 c�YTL'�rClz Renton 9• �// iy �4 k cr l� r ) COnpiq 41 AQ" Renton 10. /1.` (/ OI I,I%I Pi` `13� n)r� 5uh5t;�- IoJJi Ur:4 Renton 536-5 —I- r5q e,ZhtaA_, ;Lot,\ Z/T/Z13 -2 %3 .\ . co✓L Z/ O zZ� Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one-bedromn rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in foil -time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful trader this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or then job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter, 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employee' means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC Y. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: r7� Fr Date Canvassed: a'�r� - `� t -6 /7 Canvasser Email and Phone Number: � 11T - `/ r 6 C6 5 4' .. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date samlt& Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St �Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 IIG 3 7 ' a� ✓i 1. 1 CICj(— h Renton L ', /"9� _-� 2. 0,:A ��-c�- �� �l %��w�-c �`�Zy �� �_ ('��� Rentor�'� v 3. j Renton 4. �/GVV'OVV��� l�l(/I�S�1(ii WI<<<C(►i�LS �evt�srl k)ol °IB��(a Renton SOU-o(QOh aJ/Z3 'o �1 \j rnc���PL A I b I 6l/0 f1� e 02/ 1 i�cA C t Vt6A/ Y) Renton Gj (C� �1gly� I'�@ l it {.cJ Ynd i5�e3 � I�fZnLi �ac,e� 6. d Renton �i� �- 7. l\ U_�-►'1- oYl (Qr Lk3occ i`�`GS U ��Y 1 ` Renton l b/�Jj 8. )WJA SG Renton ff lS-`//I f 22i -�,w.o�hy dHncS i'; t" o �- �„ S SV7 N E 7-vh St J 9. fM AA P� �r I -( Renton �V4 10. `�-( 5 l 1 t� �V3�% I Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide stray of both long established and new mid evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimurn wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46,160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they font an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; gr P P , b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at tune -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a goverment agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any odder person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presmnption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible propose. 6. Standard of Proof, Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. Tlie City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49A6.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. f_ - IM Name Of Canvasser: �` �'� i � Cof 2.� Date Canvassed: � �' o`� ,I vasser Email and Phone Number: '�J V -J Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sa�rc�iFe`Uotac Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 t3�y s 1• ill � Renton 2. %i �e� e � LC7(�(� 2 0 Renton )12 St 2 3 /Y�i,—� ri aw-L, L'jv� IV QM TW IV V ,Aj K l k Renton Z-S 3 Renton 4. 3ZZG�z 12Y''rST C"C Renton QCS 3S/7��3 L/ Zsl Renton�i SiY'r�� IZSIZ�� 7: - Renton 8. l'iiZV I o� v �0 a V I Renton 9. l h q11 S. 5110(A-j Renton 70� 'q;()"077-) Renton 2V'760 25-197SP Z/Z�y 5 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, mid health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimun wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the ]hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour, I Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person mid the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: L A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature s v� 2. a V 3. 4. �; 1 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 Printed Name Printed Name Street and Number 1234 Anywhere St. 5-C)0 tj:jj,a, , R, S AeE 13 C�P,'rN vil'Sl� City Phone Number Renton 206-555-1234 Renton -'2 o �0 quo Email Date maria@something.org 4/10/2023 2/-)5/L3 Z/71S/z_� / '/� Renton y I z512� ( A Li ( k L 7 !a IAJ Re l 2 >C jb2iI�Z 2)z5/z3 �Sr Renton c,rlDsi� L Z-1 5, L3 r1 J0 ,-e- / I� �{ G} Renton 2 115/L3 ah 1�IV1J1 L . VV1�"l �V)� /TJ !dX on �� �G��` Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to Team in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2, Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, tanned CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined wider RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. I. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter, 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make mqutries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work ]yours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in dais chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in meant, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The tern, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49,46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: �.� b ✓, 6o F-�, Date Canvassed: Z 12 Email and Phone Number: $����.�ll��t?rV�y�4J%��t"!ny ( -� 7 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 9 10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number Cit Phone Number Email Date Sa�u/zPeee�/at� Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 / 6�av A, TW/�% Renton �Ass� -FAN w6o� g) Renton Ren i a3�-2_jq-5q5'/ j cLy d u��I/��y+ca1 2 -zra u ton (� 12-2d(D- �rICP 1p' QS J 1 Renton SL�z mr� 'S! L?i Renton 793 '10 133 f aOV woalV Ave ) Avt O ' entonAyj U] 7` Warning 2'ZS'21i Renton] aDt� �1�1 3f/3� v z/2s/ Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®_GC"BT" 939-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer o£jobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46,160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. I. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar yen in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonablejudgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter, the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49,46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49A6.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser. Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date .Sa*&I/arex Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. 50/1 �L V`( 1� '�' Uj Renton u 2. Gctc i&vt tO'VtUccJnt aS'# Chet n Af.e,. Renton J d S '�7 ) Z ` a' r i Renton -12 i 4. 1`�� �I11(t 0�%/��Q,y� ✓l S APB 5 Sb N,)f1iS aye .S Rzru� ,1.,/� Renton a Ll a s. r CA��A JaN�S I �o� N� CAf4v�-' Renton q— 7 6. ir�� �QZ.i{�j•( T, F��l�'�b" SG J � Renton Z .�'/_ �%w1 Renton 7. tyi�r�!� 1 n� A(, lDC %� 7c ^o� %'� Renton C>' `f J 8./io 9. f J G In LI i V v �l G f Renton (�� !( ( 3lJ �, '�✓ "S�l i /� �' S .H1eLw 10. i,(� /� Renton S " lf'd/'A Ilene Ger es-Al�o�t� Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established mid new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative MeasurdNo. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1. thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable'hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An ea jployer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($I) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but we not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to infomr others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a. federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. - 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to,any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that an provision of this chapter has been violated may 1 p y p p y also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The temp, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor -obits affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial- stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. . "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. .- "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). - "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49A6.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt roles and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: , \ 1 N T Szti 6. �F 1 Date Canvassed: `��� (-� / vasser Email and Phone Number: �-i0 `��l�.ti /�h�� �1C 17 �L ��`)tV I[. U" 2. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date saooee`wt Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Z�u ��4 tc l/2P, A 0 jh 6-rYtCd ZI-e, 5( Renton D`r'&C� I V 4.5. k q 6. J es si Cart �/I/ L{'h J 1'7.l,'01 &3g A' f ��- G"( kv �s )b4'4-\ I Pv C � Renton Renton `� Renton �, �.e Renton 2�G _ ��7 _ 6631 Renton --- Renton Renton 5 L Renton Renton o2-�i`ty- 3�("'v 107/;y Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. i� IIZ k/L� ® n-�GCC/IBT- 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with newly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their Family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Eamers and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees we similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. I£ an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: I. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. ,.. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: varier Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton CITyofRENTON INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL JUN 28 2OZ3 TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: RECEIVED �%p OFFICE We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of na sob o s listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Numbep City Phone Number Email '5400&-?late, Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 1• ��� Renton 2. �7'wa if Renton S�Sav�_ � 30� �f��k �E N Renton 3.79 4.� J'C%r 2�)aCOr?ES I Renton 5. 6 91 a W Iq Iaw,S f J,llrGM Y)le�ords 2S,a FL_ M= Date 4/10/2023 ` / 3 4, soc I CLQ so Renton )-oro-21fq-(Pq �_g Caws y/j 23 c�{ri Renton Renton 3� I� of RentonUYi Renton 15 l 1�t INO(� Renton ter g22.1��� 2-l3 ¢/Wz 3 4/1 & 2 3 I�,� v q rtb�U 1r✓b 9 s6 & gf�z� r U Renton 10. - GV�/A)I � �W ��� /G��l L(�J �(%U �d� Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®,1�E% 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each how worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar yew will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter, the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this. chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. _ Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of 1irrations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director trader this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather . than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall requiro,6mployers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 Rild 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of Ts application to other persons or circumstances. Raisir a The Minimum Waae In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date .Sam, &-71°t4 Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 L6 2. J 3.,p e—Z 4. Renton (42f-121 - ) MR 306 for Renton ZOG -77 1 23 LI���rry r Zp3 ry IWA PL, n: gyp,, , w 9d,vs7 Renton Cf25-i3Q-4/G6Z 6j1p/�3 s. C� .Sl�o� lSo�c) 5G l 17 JDL %}V� -�5A Renton // Jp 6. 7. S \ M S Renton �j p 1 -BAG 3g 13 glels 3 8.4�j t, t Renton } T .v _ hD r . mil. 9. G v � 2 vvSb S Af Renton 2 p(n u SLA 2 'A 10. Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with newly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila; SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualjfied part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the . 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. l,, approved by voters in November 9022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each yew thereafter, the Finance Department hall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year usingithe annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Eamers and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An Employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, me itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each how worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar yew in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar yew, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current yew. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous yew. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they we underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but we not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state,•or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clew and convincing evidence that the- adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this +w chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8.,Ertf ercement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible hams due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated. to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clew and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and me not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributinAoods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3.. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outsid6 the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops m4he City EXcept for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. 11s "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49,46,010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; andmothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047.(2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: ` Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sa�+r�ife`Dotrs Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. \\ Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 oG� L� v--.q �`•���'.. ,.� 11VAare�SZ Zo( 4�c.�. LG. 1. _ V��✓t/cSL�2 �e^��� �../>, Gl�`�� Renton �►7 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. k.� Pcc ZP6 iC. V / !�-c Renton (06 �� mil„ /•Gz � -r- 5 Renton 1 c i Renton 4" 14 �4 la Renton �cy� -oZ G Renton I�i� 54 c( `> U4$13JI4NS1-v'-o�t%vM �c�Is�n�fc�o�10 hoirr�� —f5 f�- .�Bmon WA Renton ✓I Vi2 U�� ���5 51 S C-rot ur A�z N E ►�wl� Renton Renton 10. IJ C" "Lk�'� ����v��i l�Z U� 1�L( �G�t a� tfV.� i�� RenCk Oton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent thew ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those horns; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of'Ilnkwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPT-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($I) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous yew. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to mmnemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved panty means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees me similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. it. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5.4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or Brands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 RM 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: C Date Canvassed: (/ Z V t 2/,7, Z U Z 3 e .. vasser Email and Phone Number: Z5 p } V OY 93 IN Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date sano&'verm Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. v--� ��� � S`✓'IpSavL 2y7�/ �ru�,� �}v2 S M3A Renton 2o4-33I-Y7yZ SivhPSos3��Wwi�<Cc✓A /l�tjzcz3 i Renton 753 _301­111V\G1C�2G�ylAl�((1 3. � � O0 &d nar d L %1 r U'56A t 5 114�-3q Il I Renton es Sub- �i�r1-lo �7 �- -�—� �a,•✓l�C156 n@�t'e.�tiar►s�k`o>>.u> / 19JZ3 4. „- Schen o. J RentonZO,Qh200(awoiloco J\CCq I �C�' ��ILYI�ei�L�� 1L_ Renton �J�lkf 'I.�OGQP �i�Gltl,Ct�YY\�"Z� 5. �>4��(� Renton 3N`tSeSoe t.t r�r�a sac l (.i3*� Z 2I 2� 7. ^ uh k S octl Renton 8.' 0J����`'� �"�Ibi �� 11w. Qt Renton 2�C.—u3Z.,��fyG ��s� ay�o�.;��r,a,/./��/Z3 9. t Renton 2�j-�j�`l-��9`11 G�YY\YV\Cnr\Cn�\�no�\� ctiM 10. r� q � � / / L 7 ' Renton -C' vl •�� ( 3 � YI %�L.�z.� i / c ,.,,, Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee we in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a Family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. j. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million, "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 Pad 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. l Name Of Canvasser: .vl Date Canvassed: Z/Z ' vasser Email and Phone Number: L rz 5 !!! 00 0�t 1 2 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date S `?/0&4 Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 ill Renton Renton &- 7s6--7(� 3/ 270 �Y\ i�ensl2� ( u�(�( f{GQUiCty/I Q`dr�VJCJ Renton Z06 ZZg 3-710 4. 5. �1(c�h 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 Renton Renton Renton 3/ I (\0_ .r044 5/27 `v1 @— I 3�a5 /a3 4Z 1_ 15'_ 1 �. Renton S J/I z qj Z�, �1a�a lam- 4to(9 n1E SO) -j Renton 4&� �s7o Renton qn 7J U 4 jc\q in � 6v12l l J ( IV Utt t S+ Renton %�aQ�c� � P� I 'n I T/ � Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. a AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. I. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part -tine employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of hnflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the homy of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the proposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46,070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49,46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to amorally certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of f� Canvasser ��j., �7V /I��%�17. /�2,3 7c� .. .. Date Canvassed: , J/ / - "( / (iV (� 3 Canvasser Email and Phone Number: (� ci"I ,✓yl/k�%l. -`% I/��,I�' (.. O M Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Sa�sr le2/oc Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org ci_ I, � D , J� 5 I � �\ Renton 2. Ott \ /t& 3. K ell 4. e— N 0 1 � P, 5. 6. d 7 .�3 10 &UY plvveq P�— V" S L- o, u> AL"j "V,✓,/ 11 i 3 5 E )L/12,nt1 < J— Renton u,G Renton Z-at'Y3rr—ay3z_ Renton �j6 _74h1-- /�y2� Renton 1"1�✓ �bZ �o�� 2E5 nG /ilC Renton 17Yy 5e I41 S V Renton ten o vl (A" 3(,-7( tit: -('� Renton '12-` Renton jW Renton Date 4/10/2023 3h�/-zbZ3 3/26�2 30106 3ll'z r/z3 3-zE�r-3z3 21&1-:�I�? Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. aQ:GCClIBT 933-M ,e,.aaawnwr�w+°'0 AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, we itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar yen, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonablejudgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about thew rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 Pad 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, - sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. ., Date Canvassed: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date 5�0D Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 I. iC ara� <<� rG 2z 5C t3J R (�t• Renton � 3-26--2-3 2. ��--� l� �D ihs 1SSS 1�A � k Renton CC g� 3 25 23 3. A'I'1 i'v71 p a Mom S � gag S� 5ri 1 S% Renton 425 26f� �r841 3W/23 Renton 5/2U12� 4. Ia�G d' 141zLl1 I i5I /�Le 5>: �2�-22,-52z� 32 Renton y2-5-306P-35qL 3112t;//2� s. 6. GIVl nuke nwVwt V?r Renton 7. ,' ✓L °� 2r U C��e IL Renton q2 ✓ iS"23g 2 �_2 8. �! �ZO�J� �`�J� Renton 3—� �� `SR) Renton o�-F/�J�S1 9.SAPT Z�I 10. Mv)E A-4P-5vr-� Z2� 1).14Aul Add 5C 'W Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®--GCC/IBTIw 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well m retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Farmers and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and in All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46,160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee, For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; In Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so w to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser. Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature 1 Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date .54M 4e`Uoien Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 s'I_ 1. j!%�{%��l uP �� %�� f� ely Renton .M C% jl �7r ������5 S i1K�IF5 2�1 lvl�f X ci S E Renton �( z. / 3. � � 4% C()�N Ik'N-61/k� �[(�V7 ,•iE Renton 3-gZ-J-Z�(Z LDP/ ��ll^CvvhC/�7luci b3 Z(P Z3 4. ��Y _ � ; Renton 5. W' GZr� errs��� t`�5 C � Renton �L _ 7� -I i f Sf �%f h Renton �. ,ch, a ��r'C�✓L 33 A ` z3 7. 13 qffi g,- / Renton y25-76/ 5� 5 one 1. Z!o Zaz �Q�� rf �P 37�7 U��rQ� �G �� Renton �60-5 /e? _� 1 Zw�2 � C 9. k'-' �-7b- Renton Ala 10. ��4% 1 �� � Renton 'Sufi) Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®= 9"-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees me similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of when those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: I. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The tern, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section It. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 91 INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Sam*-1/oteo Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org j2it "v A-M°V z 4lie- SW / q V PV� Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton77 Renton I �V1*1 � Renton 4 Lc� 4 �q C1'�6I Renton /_ 1,_ LD nton ( •-t ) /7I l Renton����CJ�`I f Date 4/10/2023 rd?"�?I4 112A Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is ]home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined wider RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($I) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved panty means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or Brands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Itvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature S 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. l� 7. 8./� 9. to. „7 Printed Name Printed Name Street and Number 1234 Anywhere St. (,Z-5(�i_ 1Z°,,J, %,?-- -7 1 1- City Phone Number Renton 206-555-1234 Renton Email maria@something.org Date 4/10/2023 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 721hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those ]hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar yew, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current yew. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs mid such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved parry was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point timing the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; mid C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that an provision of this chapter has been violated may also be resented to the City Attorney, who is P YP P Y P tY Y, Hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip, "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement mid ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance me declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser:- i ' Date Canvassed: vi sser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date 5440&`U0 Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Dorv< �ryG 00_ Z 126A-I N 1 ') PI Renton 2`-> -- �-\°) c: i 2_ fdr , r\ ci SeCj I C1 0 4L � cs6. caw) %4 1c054 Che6_1U_1Vyk1 q_`Y07 A-, kc l✓ 1 Renton 1P%I' C�12.lj��p} �hf 2. �fOE j�4��( -FC,D �tCClso, � A p , SC 17 4 cH sue, 23Zg Renton Renton (b14)531-8101 LerQclI.M'iE',JS<�fetrS�wl C(✓STa v© 8 Renton 6. F% o�/ao � 1Cvlcrx' 11�1A\n Renton L� � �,li'e/5 5Vt -l�j 1 7. >" l l l! JK u11 �oJ`� J (mil Renton g l/ �Ul re FA SG c�� W I /�C U Renton C � _ 9. I �uv �Z � ct� i I '� ��� t ��1 ��S `�� 11 ��� 15 h- Renton 10. :v C, Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, mid groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted slid become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minim at wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. Ali employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the permit's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point timing the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser Date Canvassed: Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date S"O&-1/otai Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the amoral rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Eamers and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49,46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar 1$1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, mid/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible propose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible barm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per an um or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point timing the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be constmed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records mid to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to horns). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code, Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date 5'aso&vater Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Renton UDC L1lJ-y �c%�IG:CT�� RentonJZk Renton ��(Z•5 `ot-2-R57 J 6c+�zS��aiM�,t. com 3 tVn 1� N Renton 4. 5. le FeOer\ ID05 N 3rd Sk Renton 2� 0-��7,75 C6�en�fr®(OyVIC4S�.he� 6. �U v Z q Pa/ (c WA nri' 14 Renton Renton / ( 122-62L3 l ea � l 11 A Renton -73 WIl�Iciw\,y Ave S Renton Q�' ��/ V1 � � VV\D (.c6vn J- l-20 10. e�c121 e\%Jay- A" wg ru ` (' Le �-Vl I� �� Renton �� -7c(3 y7r s (l A> f G VM(!) Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter•, the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to amorally certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the roles and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. is I Name Of Canvasser Date Canvasser vasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date S `�0 Printeo Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 f. Renton f� / LGU1S0. I0iz-7 Nt ZISt S-k -L0 C, 2. I Q< Lie Renton3. �S I/Z i /Z Renton 1 -a' CO- VW 4. Renton �q) 5. t� �Gl i G LA Renton �7-Z Lam' � /iCi z �j ti L, 6. ! (J' mot/ G�L�� i1 �� C i 1\� T 01j Renton ;� - bg 7f� � 5 2-� I I 1 /0a6 Neal ort C � q.a -73G y745 7. ; �`, C � i'cc� (evt or 1 e?- 4nf �l� �/�Gs� Renton a/.51,2 � c 8.�,�20 2�w' 1 L Renton 9. ' `.. �c �' Gl 1^✓i VG t ��'/ f VC/U / Yj !J l J� Renton 10. IWV I IUl �" t "% I I. `� Y'3 �U � I C Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries,. and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in tine City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46,160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter For each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. S. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the proposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The temp, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees we employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Date Canvassed: 0 i IIA / -1 I ()J],4M '1, J 11 hvasser Email and Phone Number: ' - `0�-i.Je,71 r'3 IU 16 t,iti Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date S4ftAe'l/etez Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 2. f 4. .. _.. s. 6. 7. • v i 8. �� _ 9. 10. 9 1//Ict - A\'�:g)V\ \ \ 1`1 ��1�Z.�ww _ Renton \ -K. Zk Li I Vve_kvv_o . (.Gt if in,y � I` i V �Vj1j r Renton C-oq JrL_ G.S�kV kUJIA Renton 1. I i l Renton fz�L�� Renton ( 1 /J �7 I ^ ' Renton )� �� �I �j�J� ! %I ��;" 'A>h (,, i)�%✓��i 4 Renton Li ) r-r ►— lei — Z3 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the lugestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, mid groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, mid Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health cue while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period eliding in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year, 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected trader this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights wider this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful wider this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs mid such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per amnum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that me unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the workshe and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and we not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: L The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees we employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name OF Canvasser: Date Canvassed: rv.sc r Email and Phone Number: A Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number S`UO Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. City Phone Number Renton 206-555-1234 Renton Email maria@something.org Date 4/10/2023 � —2 &f--Z, j �'NG�\C"(A Si�otP cloy ju ����I,aYN�,A Ioy Renton �C�-40_3- QW I i-c33 Aq CV)Magv�i i(otym � Z�1 L\{p+�S �� IJf Renton C�ZZ.bI ( IZq/ ZS &J� ' � �V �� 2 � Csi� cJ�✓� C Renton � 't`1 ( � 2 I I Renton �, / �I f I r� / ' / v��Celr flOVl��c� I�IOV�"G4yj '59oc `i 6 Ave- Renton `ZC�� lU�z���� 2q�1 , 7. T� S.—� E 10. Renton I tit 3 T__0 -12e (, f Renton 2 0 (o SJ 47 -'?, < �; '%%� � lC�j �. azo Fey6dalf ovt St Renton Ceo�-i,c,ic� 2.2 Renton _)Zce '13 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, will) thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families cam insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensue access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee we in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities shore common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. L Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional homy of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful wider this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19,52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clew and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. S. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement mid ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 RM 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser. Date Canvassed: re-s. rEmail and Phone Number: ce Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sak�ile`I/otec Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. — — iPorF Renton 2. �� MfaDELIN tVIL�' 1 t�1Nii 3% J IAL I �f� f�V� f� J Y� �� Renton N ... _. 3. Renton � )I- %i5 4. I ��/� L.{r>)e Renton V I �._- Renton ��7_ hVl�' ��ul JAoo 5. 0/lpklm �Q(Renton '12l� r b�6. `/I I i kt2c- 9. ilZ Renton 7 t I - Renton s L, L IZ,A -1 I, (� Z-1�l1 enton -� I ✓ Renton `r u Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer o£jobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but will now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuing that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending. in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. Air employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees timing all weeks in the previous calendar year fit which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue From the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52,020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d, Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unnelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49,46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "How worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of may other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If my clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, orcircumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: vase Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 2. 3. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date s400e`U0rM Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1 h w,r. lam''( urSY II L J� t� �U,i )il i)IV7 Renton Vr Renton J �- 36 t?( Renton say Al 4. lcz 'V-P, Utz ^ 16l S I VG S Renton �ZS 776 77irl - 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. j-7 1.3 Dn(1�4. Renton —2(f)_16,q S Renton c�(� 6,_\`� � 7 CA�pl. c �So1� .jvU(� ,\j 5 Renton �Ve Renton &I_V'Udo Abe dr L L l i cl Renton 1 �J (� 1141 e pol S � Renton IA ���� 1,�� ab kc ) Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction, The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but unfit now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the minus] rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, ternned CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. - Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3, Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: - a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the homy of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be consuved to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good Faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per am = or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; mid C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other Forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1 2. 4. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Sa�x7iee'Uatac Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org C&Scybr4i1 CIx, _ ")_,'bu11 1 1-46""o mL"A.,w Sc Arl L'dob atos f otuell Aue.S u,.-�- 5. �'J /�e�w>� SJC�-n 0)07 a-W Ads, 6. 134OV4 7. � a'ffj, le " 8. 10. Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton / e IVE Renton Renton 5'E-7 Renton 7 u�i C (� q Yv�c_,',lr ,). ' 5-ZZ4o G 4-6- - .Ucp a y J Date 4/10/2023 _ __---- d OS 77071 2/SV2 KYU Renton YES Z35 y�Z� Ilq //%C�rf�e �� /I/� Renton � � 3/3 -�Q� X ,jq'I�-5^,-ev Z�S� Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the la gestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers we well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they we more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for thew family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuing that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous yew. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hoes, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees me similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in die City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to amorally certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Inavasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date S 110t;vPrinted Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 13y _TQr.c�'a A, NE Renton l 1 (o dl-i -4' Jc I U'k St, Renton 7-� Z3 Renton 4 mil/ t/t VWC7 i3cs Renton V')"'�3 - Hill NE Renton /Vd-))3 sF Jim (��� ��� �Renton ���i��� 1�3p5�� UU�� �e////� y 2(� `�C 11 , � Renton 2 �5/L 3 I1 CA 611ac FQ Z Renton cti e(? 13�%s 230 t✓� Nrsf Avt C, ln� Renton S kASA-r'j �h mA,7) jJ 4D7 N� '� �L zS�K9y-�loz Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, mid groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar you will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities' gr P P , b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional horns of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, temtinating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers Financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be resented to the City Attorney, who is P P Y P e Y hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer, "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise Fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject"concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. i Fec r *AAr, A� � Co Name OfCanvasser: V� Date Canvassed: d.- `6 - OvZ1 /' vasser Email and Phone Number: � �l1( �� '/ CQ Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date •S ` reT Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 MA,�. t n / r / 1 / C--�m V ee IDS / �2/� v/ UV ��rl� Renton 2. Jftt- F WAtTzlm yu� mgtE Avf NN/ Cig°Renton 20(0 29s Kenhrely �i Mel Ielez*1 �! /2//2023 3.�• 1q ` ptz I SU U �� `✓ W I 4. �i.0 / /� Rtccc��O Slv�avwkl� 6./� 7. ROW ku 9 en 8. 9. % I m /A V V CSIr io. EIIUvwfV � Renton 2S 3 33j _ 'Y6�I-\ p C ('t yli ) 14 /10z' 2�k3� •� lZ�c 4 S EFT Renton C, Vo At n�j-n4o l (ZColZ3 Renton -yA�S qJ Renton Wenton ttj�( Renton 0 /n'/fLS AACf Renton S4tv\p� L Rrvu aidr. SI Renton Tc,Y- Z-7-77- I U,zI 4GI - a �nsr> , c�v� 1�26�2023 I v i i? tem-)v2 N n/d v,.-lIn .a from Fri a-ql u) Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, testaments and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healtficare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health cue, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health cue while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. I, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the mina] rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined wider RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee me in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less then the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar (M) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar yen will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time-and-a-halfor other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the uhgaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved pgrty of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46,070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter me cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. Anew section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees we employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of fi'anchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. FE.,ii Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: and Phone Number: � �e Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton -r9 INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date saftll& Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. JN,t'V1S 1, ��� CE I ��'�I. Renton i��p•2��'�i33b �J�s,r�,F� J jp 2. Renton 3. CA LN It Renton 4. �;'� ��" i� I C 13 J l C /� �� 1 Renton e`��, ti rM%G/ �'�i1��l /�(j7�VVy '�ncc�c1 �.0✓lSh� L�i3 �yL �5.�- Renton fcV4Y s. 1.4 7 s. p'An Sa��l�cr �V �h ��eo�tid t�S �,d ` F, Renton ac)C 1-75_ a 10. )4\\ i'a-')rl(� & 1-ey IyGo( Sr /4 3 rd 5/-- Renton 10014ee5_5V1' �JGx�,�c�;�,r 3/s123 \\=�^V�Q\c9� t�6sc�`�i�l� •�'1�Utz-�i�t�� Renton 3/S /z3 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar yew will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the homy of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: I. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or theemployee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 RM 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). ' Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number city Phone Number Email saoo& `UOrm Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org Ciz )G Z l is 3 bZ+, l Aye Renton Renton Renton 11 Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton I I) Z Sr I d _ 4- Renton Renton 6-GG�l— ;mil. Cal•1 Date 4/10/2023 0-0 31��1 - 22 (- 2z,-z� /- 2 Z - Z3 j -2Z'Z j Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health cane, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following yew using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee we in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($I) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter, the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs mid such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that an provision of this chapter has been violated p y p p may also be presented to the Ciry Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer beans the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except secton 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. OFName Of Ca Date Can Canvasser Email and Phone N Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Sa`U0te4 Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org J , Jai; elm %1I r Renton Zvi 4153 Date 4/10/2023 //2 �123 i Renton 2C�-ZK� - `1/��( pan, Sti���� I� ��,��I,�._ ) " -7-�3 ).-22-23 a HIS �' Renton � Gti n �Inn V � v GTh C 1 y ��m "I NIA6 n Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (I) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimun wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. L Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the mutual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -'lime Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staking agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work how's when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or, any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to -my aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter, 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: t`x) We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. �L�� Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 JA,Renton 2. rRenton 1VV�Lt L 3. C', Renton t •(ssJ� `_.._r 4. hn 4 Renton Se0 i�1an;c�' AVe Nt 1+F S� c� 3 b C� Renton Renton t`(�M Ynck; t- 6 , / %+V- y�7- 7. Renton S. �{?/lVGl�ililf 16"/ J . TA(7aRenton (y'ZS� -/371� /Z3 9. Renton 10. Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Lauding shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health cue, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuing that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring hew employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the moral rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, me itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to infomt the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, temrinating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly m indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter, The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date 54WA&varez Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 2. 3. 4. 5. f I; 1 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. z .go Renton ly �. _ .. �.0�� �% J�1 rn.�.J� _ a_.�.:� r1 ��. -?Cl Renton zoo, Renton Renton 6� g��o-13S7 J�IiA,AvXo.kj@_S hQ�).Cotnl 1 i �1;,73 4.0¢ ��MW i°Cf ig- lWJA3 " 71 %a 7�' Sfi Renton :., >. r� %(rG���y,j� 1�18/Z cl r� C S 6 �tC5 i �'5 r l $yj i-' S 1 Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. / /a 0/�3 AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the Ingest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health cue, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following yen using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes'of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar yen will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal intehruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right trader this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted trader RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. Anew section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: L The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement mid ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records mid to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circuo stances. Name D rv-�ser Email and PI Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature SaacjZFe `Uat�c 2. -{�t 3. 4.�� 5. 6. I 7. 8. 10. Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 ?VnA 0�— Renton l�'�'7 !21� 7,2 Email maria@something.org Date 4/10/2023 01 77 Z- � - 7 G' -�-�`�—�•z/ � o�-f✓�-� � t;�.. �� � �,`7 )�-, � � Renton Renton { _ Z3 Renton PZ 2 - 2� v,C v'I Renton Renton IP��yy '✓` 6L �Gu_�„��1�n\ I\o\ Renton ��b S'53 o ( Fill AA . A& , A.,� /_Ind 1i-Ivn t l C (n�V �)1� Renton �4 Z t`�, k4_ n 11we -- Renton Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to team in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent tree months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the homy of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time-and-a-halfor other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willinguess to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taker in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved parry of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: I. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email SaW,iee%rot Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 1. / hA_ 3. i L�vlz�1 4. 5. 6. 7. a 1 Renton Renton Renton Date 4/10/2023 1( 2— IL11/) ? Nn22?2 J� n�/,/% mil -o �J� /-Wee /OC 7 I � 1 /('`-I {A St Renton c" , Renton Renton enton 2C1 r/Z-2 Renton /?-g /c, .�//� �1�''< (/ �C�1✓1�. ��IY1 V1 I��I iG✓y 1 t Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined wider RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49,46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current yen. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter, the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right trader this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter me cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered empldyer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer, "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser. ' Dale Canvassed. Palvassu Email and Phone Number: 2. 3. 4. 5. 151 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number - city Phone Number Email Date Sa+x�fetiata� Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 —�( p c r� 4 �(/, have, "f .^n VrG\n S 'Fd � �eSn�C✓1 ) `nl l �UcJZ Renton O(��n> U5�`� l U%l ccvv , Cl I /6 V h �i '��� � l .n o(n�i lJ��✓lGf�k�� �, `a (S ry `� Yl l� � °k Renton �0) 6�% - Is GCS ti ga" 4e, C"94 7. %h 91 9.�L'� ��d Marc+ Cz9vy z� Renton Z-•I—znowr• �t�• ia�l�f� lbb11 ttG1" PI SC 2- k s/vJ .F'r�r1 E Ca11 NvOA'�C3 u °9`6o5`i Renton ZU v - 77 S — Z20't6 �0.E�y„_.+ . F t t S Renton Renton Renton f� zz' t/ Z -, / 70 % s Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Is AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide Gray of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the,lopportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. - It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: I a. All tips and gratuities; and 1- b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, me itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. v Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. L No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any odder person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. , 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presurnption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter Wss a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or css of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject off net illation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19,52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees we similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for die purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9, A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordir}ance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the. City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. " 4je" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicabilit5^.of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. ' Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code, Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. �...,y.P ._ RV ry Name Of Canvasser: YP,(-w ' 0 e (�- k ^ (y Date Canvassed: rrQ - a _,2/1 /� Canvasser Email and Phone Number: + + ^ G � 1Ots T ro ` 4110 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date 54000&I/o ac Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 ) 1. 11L n r� V� �) C'i P L1 f = Renton 1C1 =� I 11c�C Z7CCC'l � i Renton �3. Renton 6 Renton 3 u� 5 t/` z oC > S S 1— 5 Z Renton 5. Chi i e`5 r� I D2 IVi✓ 7 ; -Z/ Renton w 6. 8. 4,4 J Q, Ja*E>3 o 9. 10. N11 � 3 ,-d Pl. a �E, 1-72 �,1 Si /4'('cr0 SE ivo-z' sE 1 's - Renton N (S)'jti�; -AO'I Renton 7 LAG 5 `"-55 Renton 5 eil-_ Z l Renton Z`171 4a131,<p si r e GI-A,-�. 6— Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new mid evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4, When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -to Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. I. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management, C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right wider this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring am action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in meant, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The terns, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name OfCanvasser._ 1 '�D� i iv� C6Leq Date Canvassed: vasser Email and Phone Number: �l G ce, S \ Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton : INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL N TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date s4MAe`!/otrn Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 /9/, I @ raI 1. . � i'`- ii��XX C. G'1 (�c� n l' 1�h c U� {y Z ` 1 St- _ Renton 2. !�IL RAMA 2 4�t Renton 3 3.��� U ,n �7 n � % � � " �(il�' i�U�' I l 0..� �J�� l�C��'j23J(U Renton c���L 2 C / 7 C� 4. V �(/Ll / 1 U e' j1�(Q �' I l-e 1 �' Renton ��� 7/%� /�7�� �" s. kt3-cz 1� 6V jk-,A1 0 1`q- �L S� -Renton �S1 6�12� �Ca�o C�gSSS �' roo. corn 2 �" OZz p Renton t 7 Renton 7. 11L�_ Af '172511 cjoclo(ey�7,g� crt A_J.Cf3l?7� 91 a 10. Renton ,qj/t MtLCLk �WLv�SC',h o V�Livay6 P1 V7 APB [3ca Renton 125 2,46 t t Penn t1 e> �'1 5 T Renton 4�5 -22C4 ?4 52-- Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new mid evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted mid become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiving new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year, In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current yew. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a goverment agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c), "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement mid ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 Pad 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. Theprovisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: O 2�j� (,��/3�=1- , vasser Email and Phone Number: V--F �-�'C ,L 7--t>6 `Sri 6 i �_Ie67 1 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL 0: The Cito �il a �e&y of Renton: i We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Saow#&111otet Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 on I �1� Y dii%�il� " /�i � 1'i�1� �(%1✓ �� �� RPntnn 2. 3. r 4. x"I (ti'j �nwC,rt� Renton Renton Renton "340�--3:;u Nr t V �qA�a i( Law ' 1I�i J ` t� I�i/ 1 Y��{ f� v i� ��- CJ� f ✓f l �� b 1 ✓l�-„ r vu Renton ��- l! 7; t�G� / 6 l�Lj, 5. C E C I L /'✓1CLO Jo)i\,tQ(' NL �T 7 S� N_ y`i Renton Renton j7� Renton 2�UTL.- -1 �i l -3 xb '�' H'C�lo��i Renton Renton l 26,S Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. r Ti AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. I, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined wider RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49,46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current yew. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but we not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right wider this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter me cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defied as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. - Name Of Canvasser. ^��) Date Canvassed: Onvasser Email and Phone Number: Raisina The Minimum Waae In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sacngta8e` em Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 b : z (k�A w0 N PR 2. L,l L (A3. r 5. 6. 7` 8. 9. r Renton G 6-� � t-\ -Jo b kGr.S �i-- \�CDo J GsLJ �.�^ ?i•((- Zb23 Renton J Renton ���"1��(b�' �(�O�IVLW�oI ln� �n4ai(-C-ram �3/t/ZOO Renton { f1� Renton �4 I Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 933 M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiving new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer, Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at tent one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar yew will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter, the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. S. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees we similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: I. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise Fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The. provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: 4. an asser Email and--It5: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sa.:o&ti Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 2. 4. 5. 7. 8. G a 10. l Ai ro n ME r�u (5-six lk o.P,c A { UC U S �1 i�2. .6 )Iv� 7130zz Ods 7���11.1�v,�u�y�� AEI q tb C 1 � GI � c�S1!YI I�'► �? � 1 cJ1� fila r 4 I SN to Renton 201Q 06-)( 8) Renton Renton �Z� ZG S3z2 Renton Renton �C ' 3IZ (W y15,Z55 30. Renton q�S 7�6 y Renton S�'17i�f > I ( 1.�%� Renton S/� 5 a35 5 7(('3 8,41 I A` r10Z Renton i-/ � _'�/ Renton . 6C c' Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 0 �CC4BT- 933-M AepSPC �) AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have nay employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous yew. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on thew behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall aceme from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. it. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Eachcovered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that nay provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 190 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. 7- 777 E- Name Of Canvasser: � I��r�t�'Y�IJy Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: q 2,-1 Za ,1-n (1'7 11 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1 2. 3. 9 5. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date .54MA& Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 kir h wenV" f 51 Renton Spy -BIZ$ �57) - Renton Z0 6 - `ti . C y 57 'll 2-/ Z 3 �ZZ lC1/� c? 0' (' ��Renton ��'�o`��T C L/�� / > c_ C '"� �(� �' �� ✓�Gt t'l[ //�� Renton t12� �15'U �7 (%��a lu'J/c Rentoni c�v r'rsY.� -7 "21'P Renton 2GC (�6,�7o3�tj', 7. c\ 1 ��j1�� �fZ �4_20S � 4 3 "�Ay% �E 0 Renton �0G (n?�2 �?�7 �unL Rentons. ?&J�b �fUZ -33 9. V. _- Renton 10. _1 A Renton 4,1112 413- Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ® ��`°eT` 93'.M IBM [AOOBiAC0.T1No AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Newby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health cue while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Eamers and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, we itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each how worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar yew in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonablejudgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and c. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the workshe and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: a Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: 40 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 5. a 8. C 10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email s4ofo&f/aru Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org a C11J Q .S ? J C6 C_'� 4 Kr k.5 Gi1l,Iu// poe0 YZo b-I'S o ✓1 PL 5 E J 7'75 u\�►,�i 41 Renton L'S 7�' �Z �ZD fj�;Sle y �Cy !'� Renton Renton C (avn St Renton f \ I 1 Renton ' SSaf Renton 51zo NE 15+ 3-4- 31rn oZOO S `-/ l - 346' `m2 4)e A L 1W1a (j'70gMA 11 L41f2_-kil5( 2 (a '2-06'JIS 6n3�x ,el zS— S2)- 83% -7rjI_-_�q)-O''; L Q-A u�. r t `coM Date 4/10/2023 z /Z 2 3 N/ Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers me well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July t, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. I . Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, join employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but we not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity, 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competerniurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees me employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destgration outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 Pad 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circunstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons br circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Date 4/10/2023 INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email SaHcl�e`U Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org V�o`r l�S 1.r10a�{/AJ� N L �t:u2uv ,,L,fa A .v G Renton K Ao\or^� �`L�OS�p Renton R-I1 -312-5-10 > Ll(�;Zi� Cka2II Asa C I"Ctj?'et sW G � h Renton 2 Renton 11 r�gjr al ) /755V `C 2 ( / C 4 6i j�RAit -202. Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®��"EZ 9" AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established. by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49,46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. - 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position, The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subjbct `concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature S�Od Printed Name Printed Name Street and Number 1234 Anywhere St. City Renton Phone Number Email 206-555-1234 maria@something.org Date 4/10/2023 1. a �G L h�1 ct IC y- ) 46) / P__Ur Renton A5J V1.4 2. k5h 50 CAL) I: 1— 533L1 ►)E_ 2-�)o ST Renton 253 20� U3,L- 2-3 Q�r l" MAI 57,;4 Ne- wo ST Renton 711- 3. wwistophe�- R�+'�Tt_c;io-H� / 4. R 6 / r GCEG�l�4 pp;; c�-� (' 0dl J�S� Renton 'iZ�"S �72fa/tom 7Z-I Renton _ 77777f -- 6.-- 7. �„utl G�Ic ���°I Sc IV`ik�, ST Renton 20(, Sg1 a. Z q 110� (� Renton ��!!/I__ ((/� (00) �7r`-lZ� Z 9. Ijo Renton — _ -- 10. _ /7 tM>VV T (I l� � U S Renton 2� " � /W 7 3 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The. people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health cue, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1„2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shalrestablish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes ofrthis chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. y 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the -average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar yew, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have FairAccess to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiving additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to Inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter, 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of r" employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected r citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or Cocal agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unlessrthe employer can prove jhat the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. I 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of my unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice -the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due,at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; - b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49,46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested insubstantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; " 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly:to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of,origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no,employment-related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or* a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). - "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage andaddressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. 40 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Numbe City Phone Number Email Date sawtA& Uoten Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 1 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 rr.C, Lobo i Renton 2. 4. 5. M TOAD fCyRT�-I.," 1sa e Ar- t-)L �73/'E4t9 ,9Vc Nam' K s' 3 (d ,eve /V ��_ Renton yz3 ` Z S3 Renton — % f 9'Y0 A . C�,_ Renton Z -Y23 I I j_/1r-AM C� au� (dul{ e, 9,A-1 AN (-�116/Z 3 O z_ V�ccve Lc 1<k — l Renton / V10rkb`w��{-c�ai�C 'Mcki CC(/% 1 Z3 `.A (/ Ci 1 l `'� (O ( I-) Renton ,. Ltr1� �t�J2 �'1�'�` L Renton 4 [�V& llzt)� S �( Renton ���2�6 Sao 41 /:, Z2 (MS �-�T IS YYIG�(1 / �IY�G.�.,� Renton 81b • W1• 5A0 We,1Wq-CMA4,D C Va� l ui,— �[((Ph ) 3� 2,3 1 to L" a Atit S Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. // 1 C-Q LS nQ=GCC/IBT=—. 933-M, AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January I, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each yea thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Eamers and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($I) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have FairAccess to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time-and-a-halfor other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of my unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per am = or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that we unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees me employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. ,s Canvasser Email and Phone No Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name - t"T Land Nul 6r City a Number Email Date SaWA& Printed Name / 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 C. Gem �r _ 1AGRenton 2. ' Jet o/27V Sf Renton 3.f6 JC I�C«3 ,J� `�'�( J-j Renton 4. @ Al k4(4 i' �I��Gt�L�� � �,Q����� 2�� � �fN�� kAUe �" � .1— Renton � (P W 12-02- 5. f V'T N (RentoniP'Z3 /� Renton 7. 8. 9. 10 '1t 1 4.21�3 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®=-�GCClIBT,� 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs,with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each yew thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Pbase-In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar yew, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar yew will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar yew, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current yew. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they me under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiving additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional howl of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position, The employer may rebut the presumption with clew and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: I. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, m a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees we employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section It. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rates and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTae, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. s ' - Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: kanvasser Email and Phone Number: 40 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date sa�u&&Printed Name / 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1 Renton 2. 3. 4. 5. 9. 10. SG'1 aro $Yt 14 Renton 7l k7i .1�1+1M�1 1i1- S1nc�nnon [ ✓�wt Renton Ue'c v' 5-C611a5C a0 I vF1i on A )5 SE S-57U Ve 171(1 S </�d 4 UC Rento �C Z S c119767j) enton 2S-'3 -25`1 '��Z IS)Lo5 11404.vi VJ it 330y Renton 3(7 Tentjon �Z��`'`L��IL 6�Re_n_f_o_n C-�v Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®, GCGI6T� 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in die City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized a; not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. I. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous yew. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they me under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter, 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first, due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point timing the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and c. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clew and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: I. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers" See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 193 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: and Phone Number: 40 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number x City Phone Number Email Date s-710tm Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1• (n��XiiR�A A J.Q hclr c�� �il �2� r�1 c�c� I t� rt'�<tih Ryt. i Renton 2. X 1 J /ham (Y��c N�k�Z tJ l�i� Renton 3. <; /�� 'r/sJ<6'rn �S4 �C ��L%ate /N.,t� Ile Renton 4. Z�� � I �l�K- `b 2'r'�CLQQeL -A'l- N Renton L�2�-S72:3t�-- t t—A Renton L�%f( b 3 �( Renton r 6. i Fi �.v� -1 r,U 11C r� �l ; D _\ r,� 21 4.(�i 7r 11i� Z.1 3- 4IL4- f `f 9,�, 4 6�Z3 7. Ll bcty- CJ 4 %�' (v �017 G S ff / �'� Renton Renton 8. C �� � 9. cl � li j' �wd Renton V2 &c_C6q-3q 10.'' (V1ColP LPN INZ� IPCr;+A' rL SC 1 Renton U171� b�rC-yv>ic Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®-,GCCIIBT � 933-M ' AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($ I) per how. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section S. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1, Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each how worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clew and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and we not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees me employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL i TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date .Sam Ild&t Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 L,CA10) Ytoks C� Renton Zc�iy .'"5- eloo cz> 2./udC V C1� ( ��` 1U I �j�� Renton 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 933-M nevcwuw.v AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees timing all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and it. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonablejudgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter•, the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the. higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participmejointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. S. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: I. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip, "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 Pad 10405 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: a� HCanvasser Email and Phone Number. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Saw/,& Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1• I.0 !�-� 8j :21 I\(01A ivies 1�oV 10h9 Renton 2. 3. 0\� � 4. 5. 6. - 4 - 7. n� �1Ut 0-0 1141 tL qa. IM- "C;t( D dv ►yc)` eez Cox 4114.23 Renton 20& 56 �) Renton S G S Renton 7 Renton .� ��. -� S, �u��4 Dr. 5LZ Renton '660o5 NE 67`P-Pf Renton Renton ST14ci✓a J� Renton Renton 7�5 ..2 7ZSoy{ 3e-F V� G /23 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be ®--_GCC/IBT.- 9 3 3 - M guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to enswe access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hows of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. I. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees timing the previous calendar yew, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, thewillingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of toe person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per amman or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.0702 as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of when those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large emplbyer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rainmaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Of Canvasser: Date Phone Number: 40 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Savke`Uotvr Printed Name Street and Number 1234 Anywhere St. City Renton Phone Number Email 206-555-1234 maria@something.org Date 4/10/2023 1. ° '�wp� fFU4Z'_ Renton 2. ��� Renton 3. l,e �eCCa- Aqe. j Renton �/� /.�Z.3 t�"•5 fx�n� 1�1603 l(o`i�`^ �L S�- 4. 000xj Renton 40 LJO IM P% Renton 2 3 5. 6. �1 �7N UG3a e✓ PG�EIrI �j l �lN! A 2-1si Steel Renton 7. d 1 �%J/✓ 6/i-l/,'5 j��(l Renton �� t�aS Renton 6" Zns" %✓2w9 �v�� Q �f� N��l • COv1 ��L 9�Z� 8. / i /✓' �l l✓��1 %�V�S � 9. Renton dam! l ,/�i 10. /77 S✓�'A 20G z��-��3� C lei/�i ln Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Q--GCC/IBTi� 933-M 'ez¢�orewewm"` AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become. homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Sutton 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current yew. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter, the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees me similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participatejointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject `concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: & Date Canvassed: 'asser Email and Phone Number: 1 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date SaMkEe?/otvc Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 -- MSel e- 'P 1vav\ kyi I� ,2_; { !�L'z� Renton Yam' lWzl• 33 'V/ pu\o R,Oe Vo.1 cv. . coves. q • 1,5 -Z3 2. v C r« l /c/o S c� / j/ S� E2e Renton 3. / lavr Cos H14L � 19f Way (F2-0t Renton 4. s. 31 8. N 10. 4- l;,s - ��23 6',V2 R ac N498/-vr IPdti /L c• 3rc4 c T Renton n PAt& 4i n��r!2 � �� Mc�r� hl�E Renton y j(:�—Z IF U Renton Renton JGe._Ki� 'C Avn/ Renton �-15-Z Z-_4G-z3 �� \'J �C Renton (� ' (� -7 ?,. / z Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor._ °wGc�e 433-M 9 AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. I. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July I., 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January I, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each yew thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Eamers and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional meant of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. I£ an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participatejointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director most deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: ,a;se, •Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email S"A&%&4 Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org N£ 2`"� �� Renton 2. i �l d ��J !�Q �) , �7 ✓ Renton 3. 5. 6. 7. s. 9. 10 c�oS�S 'DL-SbN 6Y I S •� . 10 1 %, L44 f/ "L-fOOd <C v/�i t�(P If tCi`vluaytd A u-o NE �F?j Iolu ifUE1 Zednor �oMC� �0� 1 Kifwcij K\e. NP g Renton Renton d Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton .\0or 0 KT N �'tu �l� Date 4/10/2023 V1 23 ku- Cbv-A � 2-1 123 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Q gGCCFIBL 933-M 9B5gC�bMPM"" AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they we more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 20252 and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they me underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonablejudgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49,46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: ,. °amasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date SaHt�iFz`Uotac Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Amp /Ul65<5 �(6 � �Yrrc _ J Renton 7-195 93072 0 2. 3 4. 5. N If Aj" ell 6. 7 7. U 10. ./ P� t:)(t",(e--, popv ✓ Z..67 P)L- Renton �5 7�'77-a j 12/e3 Cal IG0ii%l, Renton Renton A*_Renton Renton SOJw+ 1, 11-4 A H�r� ��v� R` 3 '/:6 6�� I Renton S3 4 Y, Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 1 ®GCC(IBT 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter, the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury a; a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: L The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. .. "Franchise" means an agreement,@xpress or implied, oral or written by which: . 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The. term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not quality as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking, Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: ser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date saotlz&10e'L Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. Ji✓ o,�� iC S 3a� g 9 i-Z\ S Renton 266-'Z90-9 13/1�t�a3 1a039 GyTM '4- 2. Renton 3. US �a a o 4S (pb3 L Lun +6Y-, p Renton Z0e`9 Z- IIbl� 2,3 4. MA S � `�-ZO S T"dtVt'n � Renton l 2 763- 9132 3) 1(-1 l23 L l L`k �L� (�� L;� Klee 1522 Renton 6�-��-�$Z ?j�1� 5. 6. Renton 1�� J I� ✓. 'Jf�.uloRW �nav s�v\�D �y ��2J 7 \ Renton 8. Renton 9. A.rr��-n7,� ` Renton 10. (yam—lyizocl� /l�a,ttiun �afsuu�� fV5; S C't4yefpy^rtr�- F3oi Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®=,cans-- 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. L The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July. 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Delius ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar yew in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar yea, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar yew, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have FairAccess to Additional Hours. L Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing. employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonablejudgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter, the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clew and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52,020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter we cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v, City of SeaTac, 183 Wash..2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name OT'Cartvasser: ""' P Date Canvassed: Lasser Email and Phone Number: 1 2. 3. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: p 'aw'GCC/IBT 933-M uo Mom`^ We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email S400&I/oft Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org t�A,,1,-( P, t e � Js\'m0. GAG-sr\p- g G 6 -� z r-1 C� P L Renton Renton \� I� Z (M C Renton V 4. _x �v L61V 5. 6. 9. 7VW � -N w �l� mot; L.id Q �G56 ft N Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton Date 4/10/2023 �jj 2 � Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1, Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, tented CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they font an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter, 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clew and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees me similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; i b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because thew claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010, "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer, "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rates and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject `concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Sa�u�zCe`Uotvc Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org L I �IAnAI,�/� `vU� ���0 It/i�1 Renton IJ " \ 2 3 4. a 10. Pr�,OL M44-1 J J Z2 ogacam 4of,., �� S -0- LIZ Ze.A.yO.G ti J�Cf R-t.lc� J�31 fl,� bn>ti6r' i rta(�i7 L124dl St 1` 114 '0 kQ,v� WA a�K056( U 1) Y1I If V lgbb 1110 4won 6 a Zu 1 i 11 vim_ SG i\j e vsc_o Z- ,. wjaN i $s05 ��� nc1 tiNtNj E �d 4J V, Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton u(C5 14'Xi� 1 ! Renton Renton �a35 S i f Renton Date 4/10/2023 q`7, ry23 '; - a. 3 - �3 Wctrning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ® eGCC/MBT 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified .part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. S. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee me in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate order any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but we not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter, the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible ham due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. S. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: I. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer, "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date saw* `Umm Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. (� ,�("\` "" / `�(JbP%l �l�l��1�y� /�entonIQ�J��J 2. Ivy ,� f 5 Ll1 u S� 13Z "� � Renton v '' `86-7Z� - - a z yl 3. i v� C{ 1 l� Avg /�1, Renton V �o(�S 4. en. c� 1 ab 1 t, S�7 !j tevua�►�ar.� �1 �vC� Renton �ZS �I S S6%SZ �/ Z� T� }�I i z �G/ i\j Renton 5. D0o� -0e P Renton (ji 3 c�v�Kn1L �C S yoco'Z)�l w JS�D Renton c 8 0,,�CcASM I N ^A ' RentonS)QM(JyN Zj ��� 9. _- `�Wlj;)i Z53 Crin1�S 4��SL �Z�rt��� tniP 2So56 Renton ' / t Z3 10. /3 1 _,fin G. eQv.e C3vo-r4.s2v�oca (D61 tGCO4vA y.A� Renton q2.s 5.2 - Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adapting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee, For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and me not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be, subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. - "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File, Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. i. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date SaN! `/arm Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 2. � � Al i (-a 3.VIM e 2� 4. (-� l9� �fI�IWC(V1 KCU�IVUlrtln t144 5. '2fcx�S- 0-r- o-1, t Z Int'lon MON '% � Renton W 61 Renton �j0°I-`l3Z-SU$ N �(Q_ S7i12 Renton p' s Renton 41_ z e'er 3,,i 7 grn,5 c5�_ Renton i30(t 4q Renton Renton Renton L4 I a12 74� LI i'l 4s} 4-3(4- tz�;- gA �sj Renton Renton Y a( l23 on (`>' f -Z3 yi9iz� _ Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ® --_GGc/BTU'- 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts mound the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers we well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July I, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, we itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee we in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; c. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonablejudgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency I}ecause the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter, Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelye percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. it. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If anemployer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clew and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: I. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: I. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking: Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensue compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its applicationto other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser. Date Canvassed: ` vasser Email and Phone Number: 1. 4. 6. 13 10.' Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. -�� Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date sdoo %tm Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 SeS�_5 Carba',nl tX3 S5 169+" 51' Renton qA51_ZQ_ q /l ,S/z"'-63 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ZaL-3 ®q6CC/BTr 933-M =Ut��o AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction, The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers me well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families am insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2, intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimumwage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: - a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section S. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this. chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per aanum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19,52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the pprpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personahmeals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 Pad 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: -anvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date S44,tAz`(/atcn Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 VT s. IsTok' \ ; lk-oi`1 1 l S� Z4111 Renton Gvndf t Ja I�Sn .P o Renton c Renton Renton S �'70F9Z9 Renton 45:5I&,, 6. /l i f V\o C S l�l�p� 1 ZKc1 I'� 5L ' " W" Renton t(04J11`gq-2<_1 7.&Ak- ( 7 b D- �5 Renton { � q U -at/7 Gt/ uyb 8.1�1z Znj LT Renton 9. jY`,S i;/ wLw G� �vv �J � � !' Renton 60 �� lIq rut v� N l 2 to. �tcw `Do1� Renton Warning _ Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®CC/IBTy- 833-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors.. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers we well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduing other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensue access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour, 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar yew, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar yew, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; c. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonablejudgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hoes when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and c. Seek similar forms of relief. it. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other fors of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date SawcllCe`U°tom Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 y 9)V� Renton a• 3. R �`; v ✓t 4. s. .� �,.� a 11yv 6. 7. s. a.,� 6�6QS 10. C ILA C/eiu� Sf 0 1y41 eF (15�n I Wo q p65 % boo Owoo a 0,)c WA q S� 1 tAA 'f G+ .' v 1 ire A rP w A 4 9VS�0 ,2,q * jl}-Ist sfi. \NA ci'Mi c- L(� it A)of--. rkAN-O( C"T 'S Urus'� rNQ Izolo J 1-5i 9Sca Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton Renton FRenton Renton Renton LI/ltiz3 L�(/1(/z3 �i/jdlz3 A3 �lvzi Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or sign,, -b retition seek- "1 t' h ' I.I I t t;f h h h; th I;f; d h t t t shall he g an e ec ion w h en e or h s e is no a ega vo er, or signs a pe i ion w en e or s e is o erwise not qua i ie to sign, or who makes ere" any rU se s a emen , ®-M guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hows; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Pbase-In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per how. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications.- 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each how worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous yew.. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue dwing the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. M01 Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter•, the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hows outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse notion was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the proposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees me similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are uwelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt tales and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 10402 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hows). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: vasser Email and Phone Number: A Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1 INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number city Phone Number Email Sae`Uota�c Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org I20 S r= Z to `l N`c.� I 6. 9. 10. o 7 nl E 911�h ;11 Si Renton IY�S -266-00 Renton Ia1 37'S (e- Renton Renton �20'v*T) _') qUJw SI �C1 Renton Renton Renton ZV, Renton -It)(0—al4_6?,4� Renton Renton 45s-SO) Date 4/10/2023 it 7- cm L412-Al2,3 �1 Xj 5/Sh?u-�E3 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. . 0 0'' AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health cue while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified par -time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the amoral rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers. shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3, minus Two Dollars ($2) per how. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous yew For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; g P P b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work bows if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly m indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. S. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees me employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer, "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial par by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish mid publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: vWser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sam* z Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. �r `�/ -I� r l �� /! l �1��' ft %�e SRenton 9 2 3 2. TGi�iOva � c ��r -� /�t-7- 7;�, 4�71_ d Renton �f 1 du/G Fw��� :7 6 Y BUJ �i= C/LS S 77 ?� r 3. Renton 4. ULw��� ��� Renton `i--- �JOlvb1 �J�L Woo �1 Renton Z� 5. 6. ! 1� K11 � no P Y1 131J �CY1�ClvIC IL JC' I Renton 2C;Co�� 4 l�-G(-z3 7. %(dl'„,�If— l`ia✓(�Q �Gu'h /q64/ '206`f4 14C�p SL Renton /ZS -577- goo a I 10. 3 77- 10 Ifc�0^ wc- 5 �? w6 Renton vos- :3cy-_g95 Renton Dnntnn Warning Ever ercon who si ns this etition with an other than his or her true name or who knowin I si ns more than one of these petitions or signs a petition seek- yP 9 p y I gy 1-1ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. �/9/Z3 y/9/z 3 Y/9/2'� ®? CVIBL 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but me not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work horns if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief, 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director trader this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising; or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Saou/zte�(/at�n Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Renton � Zt_S Ob�L 6 R �Z�j7� k'�AuLL 5F Renton i p dr> 6rvk' 20r Lj'rfoVLO Renton �i '�3o f/6Cr �f�/zxj2J 3. 4. !PA I�/\ii �ii [ �1`��� b AV�. Renton 2���•�C�G 5. �,� _T�?/2KA r� ofAFFr(CE a60g PIE ?-3 Renton -3'otq S� bpi' S� Renton d tu� (�L Renton 7. 8.t ���YXl�� `9Vt✓ . Renton 9. V 4KVl S� a 1 I Renton to. ysf/) t ��13� cJ� �t`( / �� Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®=-GCC/f6h= 933-M IBIyCMMMPgN�'� AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuing that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with newly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education, Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($I) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar yen will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degreeto which the entities share common management C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hoursoutside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19,52,020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. it. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksim and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this -chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject `concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: 40 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sadflt&`(/orm Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Ave- SE f. Renton X6 9S% 2. 3. L I �, l�.J�/l �✓11 ► -1 12 �� �J I L1 I�� \ �=L1— 4. 5. Renton Renton a �/2_4 f z-3 i1 — 2 �y Renton 3/2 L v✓� 3v7 r jr 3-- �} k- Renton q, Z Lqq, 1 l 3`A �9 Renton Z� �j�iS' 2(Z( � l >/z's Red T( NFRenton Ial ���Q �I (. � � / qILy _ IQ8. S Jeorr) �° �1 CgU SE Renton 2-06,70-(13`19 9. 0_0_ '12r�\e UZ),se-a1a0 IyGoZ aZZS17+K� �� Renton 47( -e� SS�ZSaa 10.'�Wt �Vvl �L (IL! R A be f��V►J UL �L �kl,�� I % Sc� Renton �3DCA 34s'3 �Zi (40QMi .f . Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ® '�'BT' 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton, According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section S. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first doe at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.5' 020` 2. For purposes of determining not ibership within a glass of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b' Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differin ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participmejointly or in cooperation with Washington. State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: I. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v, City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: o—sce'neT, 933-M We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature 54W'h e `li0rM Printed Name Printed Name Street and Number 1234 Anywhere St. city Phone Number Email Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org z:?7-16ot Date 4/10/2023 j ti� `Chl S �����U� �Iti,�,' A, gRenton ,��"b.M��\5rS �� I( Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. -e"_ AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other bardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter, the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per armour or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in meant, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clew and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any - other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. .. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer hems the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number' ' ` City Phone Number Email Sa a�2e`Uot� Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org �hau `tic N31-r'� 09i9 /f/E If A.zf Renton Renton Date 4/10/2023 W�//zip43 ' f �I1o�Pi Z t Renton Renton Renton L\ �� �� }� �l Renton d i✓ 1 Renton p � Renton cc Renton tj Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true narne, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®--��;._%� 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with newly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January I, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section S. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under his chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of my right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible Purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accme from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. it. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that me unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The tern, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number city Phone Number Email Date SaHa,TrQe2/ot Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Renton 2. pl� Renton 2oY `633'`IC�ZS .s1 2��2 ?7 3. (�(���� '✓� I ` fi Z LO N— I I� Renton 4. 1, l.-1 (O��/ Renton 5. VVL% �- I V( 3*� NE T� c.J)- #H� Renton 3Tg� �G 4+h Si-�I lOt( Renton sob 269 OFsu�v 6. R � t2�. � >n, ti>4 Renton 7• T»rb a Ye. xi. Rhcr, 36bY NE ql 51-:J� -.35(�3`wi`i -25--73 s. S Z..- eC boa Renton -mil Z3 9. C661 �G�G,� l 1 uV� At T h L� f2C Renton 10. Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ® cccnsr - 933-M AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the la gestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer o£jobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people,to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage. comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each yen thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar yew in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter, the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible hum due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the workshe and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement. of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" ,means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: I. Aperson is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by theemployee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject `concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 RM 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: zxz Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: p cccneT 933-M We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sas A&I/otei Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 ---�7aG)_ �C6�7 i `1j ISU Ci S= Renton 0(066 5j-1 /60 S"C9Z4G� QP'k, (tV /'v� (\e�c Ce460 I,eUA ✓ULU,- fin, Sow (0ti UcC - Renton 1.(2 j'ZZ CTfei•�q�a� {�v�G /vC Renton 4116= 76 -- 3�6-5-- Renton )!�o5 —36 Renton Renton �V / 1 e A-10 2 JI A/)� Aflv n Renton Z& Renton AVQ Renton (572) 0/0-03G-b2- 4/23/Z; ,t-JIz3 )z? �Y123 /z--? �w. ,1 h1„V� 1 - rt1 E 14� jf Renton 10. .1uc� Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter•, the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter, 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksim and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. Anew section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director trader this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer, "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set Forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Ella Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1. I 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.'. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: p-cccne>✓ 933-M We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number . Email SaHr�iFe?/otac Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org '< b S-c Vn a r l Y21 SS 4 1�� IJ I JzSF>cc cv, \o-� ( 0 1 S I 1• IVf Renton Renton Date 4/10/2023 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. _z:�3 - �/2_ , 7 1 AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health cue while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to team in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each how worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current yew. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but me not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of dteir availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose, 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: I. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "How worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees we employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance we declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser Date Canvassed Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: ® sce519? 933-M We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 7 �zl >;u At /VJF Renton z. % f tl U (�l C _ 7 C 1? ��i �rL . 2Z Ar/ /l/ Renton I i.�•S - (� 3 C-• la�r &y Lr. 1-), 3. �f/, I`o7wu L,OeII 0�1Cv� ��)�1L� Renton 4. I �b I I IL lG. ���1 l l/I I C)>i 4—L Renton Cc �w�l/ V�L"�Mc� Vv�`i N(1 �,e Renton G 5. -- r� 6. (7I�o�J,Renton L/ 7 � Renton I // s. 1I� �( iu�� /V qAA( �c Renton zwl Z3 9.�b�o✓ ri•1ZL j`ZS0 S �� �c�'( jr4� Renton I I �� cj I j 10./i����� litf�� ��% 3��/1.2J lTv Renton 0�/�% Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who Knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families can insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to team in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. I, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following yew using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Eamers and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4, Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be alculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the ost recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification se arate en[itieesill be considered a single employer if the form PureP BY an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without "imitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance, "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing. in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rrrlemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Fito Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severabllity. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser. Date Canvasse C vasscr Email and Phone Number: -�- Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: ® 1 GCC/ 933-M We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date 5a,wA&1/otu Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 1 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. Renton 2. (/ QJCxut N (� I(fcr iZ- cwfi�� (.e.�fl ,Jee%Sg� Renton ��Z�L� 3. 1 C . , � Renton c��5 L alb aW� 4. Renton �3 C ���y� Renton 6•(� jr, r C r L Renton _ 7. �0 Renton 0 7 8. Cr �Xc /C �/J �' r'r7 Renton e / l�r .l Renton 9. (> 5' / l I1��J�/ �) a� 10., dw� III 014 e (I Q c IJI Renton Warning � Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTaq Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to team in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle-Tacoma-Bellewe Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per how. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar yea, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter, the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situatep if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and c. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "How worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTaq 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hows). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: ® ilm..DP 933-M We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Sar�Fe `U� 1. 2. 3. 4. Printed Name Printed Name j (0— 1 i5y'rCf'5 e u k-o Street and Number 1234 Anywhere St. t(s o A'e V P/ CIE city Phone Number Renton 206-555-1234 V Renton �ictn�oili�%C i%1 7u lJ S�c� fIk SIT Renton b� Renton Renton Renton Renigrf U Email maria@something.org Re Date 4/10/2023 Gi.D `4, a /. C41�, �f h 12 e V E I v Renton ]i Tr J J0n2� Rerlt�n r11\1 , 4-3 7S, `1 -` Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other bardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established order Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3, For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in meant, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Ham worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 RM 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Nai r��ser Email and Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: ®e� wwasucccnrw�^" 933-M 'e We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date SawA&Ileem Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. � Anqrt,) KL 5+bl,_A6C/'e z_ b jc",C�o 4✓e �L` Renton J60 iyZ-57"?J 2. -{�C�� C lc (/( 'E (Wc—ao �G S� Renton 3. �� GQ c{/� O �G l i l �l Renton a"r /y�/ � A re /Ret f Ll 3 3 FTC�C(401i 4ve. ) E Renton ,Sza -pop 4. 5. �1� �l'V ✓�� T��IM lb� �buJC' Renton 6. Renton (Q53�y�+z-ia� 125/23 7. 8. 9. 10. �% as' K6- 1a (, Renton -STI 7 Renton 71�/ j/ Renton 09 VM _ZRe v, 1- � W of �b Renton y'oi�' Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health cue, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Pbase-In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Delius ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($I) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees timing all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple.entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hums of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter we cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip, "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 RM 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Date rws-, l and Phony Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: ® cccns� 933-M 1BMC1WeMiP1M� We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email S400&?/611= Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org I 1. V f�6YlGL �� 2. 3. l�v n 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. P'5k rco Es�o� iPi J� 0 / ,t / C"IJ �23 (�GL✓�er� 5 tl ��✓� `L �-7� Ct�.aS Rvee" Renton Renton -7V ��S 1 I bb- Renton Renton Renton ` Renton Renton LvcM,/ QEIJ�D b/LEi2— �s ais ; I�t2r,ST ��FN'181v Renton III (��r I \ I (n , An l D /\ Pv' 2 L Nii t�e�v Renton Date 4/10/2023 " I.cGw �/z 5"/z3 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 horns each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTaq Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than are. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, me itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee we in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Delta ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. I. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar yew, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of thew location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar yew, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter•, the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of thew availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because thew claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which; 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or erands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees we employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTaq 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: asser Email and Phone Number: 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. s. 9. 10. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date SaHrti Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 yyc) Ma,tjc Ave SV Renton �SS(�� �`15 aa`i bU l ,ikr'%Vgo jr.Wl� ow Renton 2p'Co =4c� Renton a06—B16 3' O t\ Renton rl � Renton //LOr f Renton 0 I2 �� / GIQ11 /d ° s� Imo' �z _5 .-- 2:�� Renton �li(y l 7-lrd l /G A. �)�-jOU 2.U157 A\Je 5..f Renton / / 0t / 23 Im / 1Renton �LA Vej j,6 /Va , (Sf�i 2nnuro�� (2� Si l2� ivi, WA Renton "- Y�'33 ill / Z3 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®---e��,��.�.e 933-M <ea ° AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTaq Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to Team in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief a; may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. it. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. - 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial par by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or Brands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTaq 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances.. Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email SaNt�iPz`U°te� Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 1. .wtil�n �n rinap( MAtiV-1)k ./ �/S I 2�PL Renton 7S3, Z4S_-47Z,� 2. 3. Date 4/10/2023 'Z2.L lac Stia> five 56- Renton Renton /�. -A U 4. Ar r� s. db °F 1 lC-(A' 6. 8. !/ 11 Y" 9. 9/1/1 wr�O r i 0,6 V�f� A't� /JL Renton �� ���� e���+ �✓ Renton Renton qV0 �A Vv\ �� 7�� �1 �ll� pJr t C( Pa Renton NkS 1y, ,J qq(' S e 0 Kam- s 6-b `1 Z'Iva i 1.4r t A-V t /9U7'515 /5'7" Tt-,) N L, Renton Renton 4 ZS 6_912/s'1 Renton 1tz _1_3 142-3 y/z/z 4lz/z3 YIZ-12 3 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ®� 9" AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health cue while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. L Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per armum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right,to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees we employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of my other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. 40 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1 2 INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email SaaujzFe`l/otvr Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org Renton ►^'S�i "C� �, I.Caw� 3. 4�_e2o� 8 5. 7,,j 5Tz,�,Aw,7 l J v 3,,-`4 5 L// -' Renton -�3C`7 N6 rdtza 5L Renton c2�S aa3 by�7 Date 4/10/2023 'I -1-.7o� AL/�4�� A jlr�Ft nZ 2� !V _t Renton __ �OO�lrov�"`%I Y 6 kJok b� tOd�4o Renton SUe} Lelai a3 6. �)"� �' U u v �U ✓ I + l lU ( 1�6g& Renton 7,110 I VVWVlfi 01- �Renton z 8. U W 1 C J tlV N i Renton "U J !lZ 9. �1t/tn' `�l� PJ1�2� �I �a?a 1� ��N �� Renton t 1Z3 10. vV1�Y, ``�4 cc��iSr / % U� l// �, /�--" Renton �� L s Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- in g of a misdemeanor. election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be ®n_���;BT.- 933-M uoo AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working familiesearn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power, 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly mimmurn wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. - 3. Employer classification for the current calendar yew will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous yen. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section S. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from thedate the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that dmploy more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number city Phone Number Email Date Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 Renton SG Cq cl 6 L-t3lo? f Z. 2.�O ��.�6C�7Lfv 1/e Renton�/e V5. % Renton K (J�O Q�l Jan s l3 S %`b� C� Renton (� I� 3l�( �t Renton Renton 6. f �- i � = 2 ill /z� 7. d I1��/ �}�Uv� t21a Z iV A� f Renton �l 1 8. �G/ �� 11�1�4 �� ���� �3�7v� j Renton Z�Z/ 9. �/'--• J-.oTI� a ��g� 53�b ��� T Renton 20j,2z� �oSZ f Z c�3 to. ��onr ��1��hlrulcr $9$�p .NT," (�I Renton ` / z I Z3 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring coveredemployers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July I, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January I, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar yen will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they me under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter•, the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the workshe and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participatejointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements o£RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: 1. 2. 3 II' 4. 7 5. 6.( 7. 8. 9. 101 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: ®=cccner 933 M We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email saao& `U0ter Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org SCfcobS c 0 MUM t\L6 k ol-ee-_n i►- n RVi RWA i2o Z 3(2y NE )yfi+, ST 5U0,ri 3 V) PV �i N (' for cnJL P e 6-\ VJA L)-1 S(�_ - m a PL Renton (LiVj)--�00_255S Renton Renton Renton (027 'etsb-SS Renton Renton US- (-2- 3,tg Renton b1(s Renton Renton Renton e264 iG y /, - Date 4/10/2023 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 25/ 23 116 123 Z72�> __2S/ 23 23 AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per how. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar yew in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar yew, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue timing the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but we not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. I. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a, permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof, Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their clams seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to thew claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or Indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees He employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip, "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Ds rvws, Email and Ph Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature SaaxJ,fe?/otac Printed Name Printed Name Street and Number 1234 Anywhere St. =11-000000 City Phone Number Renton 206-555-1234 Renton Email maria@something.org Date 4/10/2023 aw (l/� 1.01 Win �wv� (✓ u\ Renton ca, 5 ty� i^ Cy ` r cr�s t l �7 �f ��' dot ov �J Z l I Z'�7 ma1$Sa 1L�q-z- wv vvJ lji�7 Warning Renton `(?h _ 9 t-i i _ ZL 3 Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with newly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined wider RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, -part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter me cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the proposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49,46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: L A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of my other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. orName Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton > INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date 5amAec 6� - , Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1• � )I' Renton J'ZS123 1 2. 4UV , 4tA j lY K ACC aj Renton J N 7tp Co uw<< S 33 J 3. �� �w��ul rlv� `f`S�. Renton y 2 ��. 15 � I-i l2 `5 l23- P7 A"h24. Renton S. Renton 7 6. 6 Renton 7. /L(U t i✓�a�J�s ��0 ��6LA cJ %��, �� Renton cl Ell L.(�V� �V11�`�tv�e. �UY� `3�5 JA\Ov. R� Renton V�1(rXlv�QbCiYk���tr}i�.CQw1 L IZ3 Renton 17J V7 10. Renton c d gel Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuing that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established mid new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton, According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 721hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health cue while enduing other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the proposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs mid such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per ammin or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of [his ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject `concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to haws). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 2. 5. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: ® cccn'eT 933 M 9BWgWdMVMNM� We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request�that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: . ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. i Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 SSR '�S41_v�' 115i (-, iy/v) Renton 1- S� Q4 %' A. JZ-/ �1,7— (Jr(a{M�I�U yFVpf�( Renton 6. V. 2 l/1/l n F r lac-a:✓.J 7�2 li5/ o//r�PiF avE nlE. Renton -211, 33Zj �F IZt�S�, f1� Ivf Renton G iL I 7 �j IND L F ' j � Z�I Mow Renton 7. u 0 I tv�- s. - 9. 10. Q'OUl PI Renton 1701 �� l5 1 lcr(.c- P I f 'l I JPr/c'tA a Ct V2 Renton Renton Renton Renton Go- 10`I-000 I `-I 0 `I I a3 `f ' ZiI GZS '1/ z,5_1Zdz3 l q Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2, The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they we more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. I. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. I. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are trader joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter, the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per arum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees me similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer falls to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: I. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton o �-e 6 C- 1 0,' avi AJ� . —r�I ��GO ✓l�s INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email s?iaat Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. — Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org k.1 b h Cc -116 r Renton `s Renton ri'D�P I-IF`f )4Pa� zc�oc��� zZB�}�q`tc'� S(✓ Renton 1 Z5- 27/ _5r,-S/ kv-; s tz (bI Renton 2 5 3-%,to (o (3 e Renton Date 4/10/2023 64 �.� 3 8& `t V C� Renton I�✓ ��� ��0 G. 1 V � zS/ -2 T LDr�6'o/ Renton enton 2V 2) D L-11ZSZ2 3 2307 �t qk5W Renton ZOO y [ 213 % ��1 � � 2'� Pn-3IA-Dt tl16ZGAIJ ley l( St 15pk A\Ie Renton �l2�j'v7 Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49,46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar 1$1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they me underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work homy when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse. action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Nae Of Canvasser: (L\ t_ J Date Canvassed: C-) YZ 7i1-2 i y vowr Email and Phone Number: 'N"-0.l✓�%� ���L� y"`G t r /' �'`� Za -3 -7 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Sa"`U0 Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org C W . tj t �V' Cj U � c`i VLD �Ir�lnSAMIze Renton I /`y ��i1 Renton Z 1 � 7�Z 33D plc.: L rmT vi-4= -;�i1_X5E_ Renton Date 4/10/2023 0 Zr317- Renton 5k't Jas2SW,all .Cove) "I (�/2S S3Fs 'f j Renton 26 Y31 � 0 Renton p�DL�' �� YI2r/ 7-,3 Renton oM 1,rJ-3d-`rT �J 1�L�2e@�>►'c�iD' .�► G1(�y��2� Renton `r/;;-, 5--l-2-3 Renton Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. y AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-montily Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section S. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar yea, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year, For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities' g P P b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19,52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the workshe and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: (h^,(g(/�,-2J� � Sbe-. / ;p Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: 1 cs-1 Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1 2. 3. 4. 5 0 8. Ga INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email .�av�afi otvo Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 - maria@something.org braG��a( 4Ja'1 �P�Ci�j cJiTo✓1 Renton Dav )cl Z) S'WA`i Ali�7- '39 I S> N� �4 // Renton Date 4/10/2023 41 tf /'L© Z 3 f� �orC�an &'N )- v�`hit�� �14 1 0E IU � Renton G�2� v aVGtj V L, Z6Renton �`ze - 41- I-if(A2 VJ, dg4f'�IEIP i2rfi17/✓IU�v+� i� Renton Z7-/4111%IZ.3 yzs - i�3y ��6 �a� ��v Renton -9/9 �32 7- �fI1Z / / Renton ��/SL/7T( (l�� ENNNE Renton y17-4 I Z3 4-'Lba � (�p� Q A.�v�/��,,�I\n-`{�-j- I rInI'n �, Int�-L� Wy(�"A A �l�ldxr VVr)gh I ') � O��ihlyo * Q Renton +1ZI IZ3 10.I, �U�z Skv� �r ��� (IS"/ 011/ ola' 1plv'E Renton 7�o�%��� Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be w0 �GCC/IBT - guilty of a misdemeanor. „ �. 933�m AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. L The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bus, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Newby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, we itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based uponthe average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but we not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but we not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter, the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, m well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksim and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees we employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If my clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: ® acccn-P933-M e We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. �I � u N / � �. %¢.� l'j (� `'�,i � �'K_ (,, �_ �,� i� Renton i 2. fAMCV IA M �me G 83 Z i U/ 1q1 Renton L3 3. i�%` 9i c— ✓wSc r Gc� 36a I`r0)M ,cxs �I w J Renton 4. ��U�Gu�li� °"/�Qr�iGrLll S�I"' i�.otfr,r_>15 PIQ SW Renton L/!I(�/�3 5. _ � . N I �` � c� wdall Renton u;� I g1Z,3 6. t'� 4�1 �10Sf1�2 Jz�e 3�� _T�nrnzS X\j\j SVJ Renton 10c8-3`i6 -�Z�� L(W/Z,3 7 s. , 9. V'✓w J�/�� 10. �-(A C c�-��✓�2 f rr), i '. () 0 Tl. Pr ?)0`f Renton \'�o W Renton qT1-5 )3-04bI r�pf y`3 i {S l /DID C( /- �•� `� 5� Renton Renton c,s i 77(F r"_t�i L C.CvLA q j I ql Z l/2Y2 '�/ 2 V-Z Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. r AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they straggle to pay for basic necessities like health cue, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health cue while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for thew family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education, Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adbpting'enfbrcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July I, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each how worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue timing the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. I. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 1 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per ammm or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point timing the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are uwelated to thew claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and " 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or Brands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees we employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. ' This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law; regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rates and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 193 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 RM 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). . Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL i TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date Sar�Fe`U°t�� Printed Name 1234 Anywhere,, Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 G/NH@.Yq/t00.C�� 1. Renton 2nV �L/� ✓t. Renton3�✓� 1 \ �/ ca (� �� �� 5-�JG� �� �r Renton 4. U i Renton 2� ��%Gig�S TaSlotrllll 6 uG, o �� i Renton 5. Renton S 9 Pg123 7. c"v� C`\cn�vGv �51� Renton% 8. 1l ` VC C� Renton �— VnC" p0 V- 9. ) ' ✓ (] V C� Renton 10. ZP4� �Krr51 o f��� L Renton _ Ir Warning ' Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- �a ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 933-m AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. - An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, me itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous yew. For employers that did not have gross revenue timing the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about thew rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying a job or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clew and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per armum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: I. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least IS employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by thegrantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth In RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within I80 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL % TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: ® cccn'er, 933-M r/ We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date S"VA&I/ar c Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 v� S� Renton Z 53 A1 L 1 �=y 5�. Renton 2 q <<�� % (��/G /Z j l Renton CAS PL�- Cl� �Z2/-) ale RentonJIM �O II,,,,,__ ^^ �-�3 2 (� � 3d_ Renton Renton _ A ��1 3 /' q I{ �--r Renton '-in P9r a'.,f'n. ��iii. <ni'.�/n!/A /� / � .,Y�. ✓� A f�. ,..0 7 \ � Yn ! L %l, i "7 l l r r1�i! C .l_ i L � I 9 �C e�f� e V �i ���' �Z �'iL{� �t✓e 5� Renton �r 1 Gl V1 F0�1 �^� 2 ZSJC Renton l�`Jl�lei' 1)IIYIAarv-1 , 47JI Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office mid warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child cue, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health cue while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the =not rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2, Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible hann due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per antrum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or theirjob titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter we cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Dr vasser Email and Ph �5 3� Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number city Phone Number Email Date s `/mm Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. n Renton 5. 6. 7 l�rev�, —5 ((-�,(% vI ar V ` I \ � fog ) P v E/ Renton C, z 1 " f 0 C� 2 /fig V�4 y ';+!, Renton �06 P'64J(AV N (t-07 &v-t f4.) Renton �-j I Z CPC ) (Y AuL _Al. Renton �Z - '651-)Y6 12f2 3//Y/l3 ti�1'/ t eyesvtii� yzz �e1��� f��� �J Renton yZs>3 7797 �// (2,�z3 �^ , l 2 I 1 2 W� � ZZ ��(� 1 �1 Renton 1-( �{ >✓ jo "�s 9. tSC Ira eS l E I 1 aT� Jto1 gLA0 PC,, 10. Renton Renton 91-5 533 i `,_18 Renton 2'(' 5/lq/z Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide array of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuing that the vast majority of employees in One City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section S. Coverage and Employer Classifications. L Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part -tine employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring am action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point dining the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be. presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section IS. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: vasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature 2. 3. 4. I VimA # j 5. 6. 7. 1 i'4r Printed Name Printed Name 1 Street and Number 1234 Anywhere St. V'sor -3_3a, (a.(,r 1, ,SSo ),lE- ( I 11-7 City Phone Number Renton 206-555-1234 Renton Renton IZOT41 11 Renton �— 1'_l 15 7`YC/ LVL J �� Renton 3� ,, /Lz /� r / y Renton-__---_ Renton 8. P � ; I.isv��i h C�� IS7�I"(%Sc�AQtts' L4 Renton 10. r1qgU ct-'� au- S Renton Renton Email maria@something.org Date 4/10/2023 �Iad �jNlz::s Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, mid groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January I thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. Air employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section S. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer bad at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form tar integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiving through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terns and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clew and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. I. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; mid C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that an provision of this chapter has been violated may al e r p y p p y also presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement mid ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See FED Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hows). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section,. subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. FF Name Of Canvasser. ' v l(f' ItDate Canvassed: . �tC7 �� Z f vasser Email and Phone Number. Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. 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G �p'I 5`-1 Renton 10. �pv f P/ Renton Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ® �=-`GCC/IBT ' 93341 IBRIGWBMLRP"� AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largestjob centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide may of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with housing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. ;. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined under RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: I. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. I. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are underjoint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities shaze common management; c. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but we not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved party of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per annum or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. S. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures. Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See File Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 RM 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code. Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser: Date Canvassed: Canvasser Email and Phone Number: Raising The Minimum Wage In Renton INITIATIVE PETITION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE RENTON CITY COUNCIL TO: The City Council of the City of Renton: We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Renton, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, being equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of names of persons listed as registered voters within the City on the day of the last preceding City general election, respectfully request that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City. The title of the said ordinance is as follows: ORDINANCE CONCERNING LABOR STANDARDS FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES A full, true and correct copy of the ordinance is attached to this Petition. Each of us for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a registered voter of the City of Renton, State of Washington; and my residence is correctly stated. Signature Printed Name Street and Number City Phone Number Email Date SamA&'r/orm Printed Name 1234 Anywhere St. Renton 206-555-1234 maria@something.org 4/10/2023 1. Aw *rties 4 Alo _AQrales 503 dou)o—r WctY S Renton Cv)3q? c5mle5,Cdct I ()V4 lil-C'o""I J/ (I q � Pl SE Renton C z s� 3a� Z ��Z� u �� %� tZ�G �atvrs� �b S 3�° V �c� Renton 3. C2 ) �� 3 b (7voe ruy"�kr@3V-"A cow 4. ` Renton 41m ?fUG� s. /lu a Renton 2" I ZJ7 Renton 6• -Q�u. b � OS S Z — 14 4-6 .� 21 2 1 p .-Z� Renton j 1 VL 2 J c s.� (� V(� GPI L- Renton a D ��i''p /�f%� RUI)r G�I 9. /G" Q r U (U$21 S>; I�Z"c' S-� l/rtt �I Renton 2�6 Z6<)-z3 i 1 � Renton (v 10. 6a) , �/ /2f Warning Every person who signs this petition with any other than his or her true name, or who knowingly signs more than one of these petitions, or signs a petition seek- ing an election when he or she is not a legal voter, or signs a petition when he or she is otherwise not qualified to sign, or who makes herein any false statement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. AN ORDINANCE concerning labor standards for certain employees. Section 1. Findings. 1. The people of the City of Renton hereby adopt this citizen initiative addressing labor standards for certain employees, for the purpose of ensuring that, to the extent reasonably practicable, people employed in Renton have good wages and access to sufficient hours of work. 2. The City of Renton is one of the largest job centers in Washington State, with thousands of shoppers and workers visiting daily to participate in the local economy. Renton is home to The Landing shopping center, the historic Downtown Urban Center, as well as retail and commercial office and warehouse districts around the Rainier/Grady Way Junction. The City is a net importer ofjobs, with nearly 60,000 employed workers. Renton has a wide army of both long established and new and evolving business sectors. Retail businesses, restaurants and bars, auto sales, hospitality, healthcare, and office workers are well represented. 3. The statewide minimum wage is not sufficient to afford rising rents and costs of living in Renton. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a worker making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 72 hours each week (up from 70 hours each week in 2021) to afford a modest one -bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent. 4. When working families earn insufficient income due to low wages and involuntary under -employment, they struggle to pay for basic necessities like health care, child care, and groceries, and they are more likely to be evicted and become homeless. 5. Nearby King County cities of SeaTac, Seattle, and Tukwila enacted higher minimum wages in 2013, 2014, and 2022 respectively, but until now Renton has not followed suit. 6. Children growing up in poverty experience insecurity with (rousing, nutrition, and health care while enduring other hardships that prevent their ability to learn in school. Full time working parents must be able to reasonably provide for their family to ensure access to the opportunities and promise of public education. Section 2. Intent. It is the intent of the people to establish fair labor standards and protect the rights of workers by: (1) ensuring that the vast majority of employees in the City of Renton receive a minimum wage comparable to employees in the nearby cities of Tukwila, SeaTac, and Seattle; (2) requiring covered employers to offer additional hours of work to qualified part-time employees before hiring new employees to fill those hours; and (3) adopting enforcement requirements. Section 3. Large Employers Shall Pay Minimum Wages Comparable to Those in Nearby Cities. 1. Effective July 1, 2024, every large employer shall pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the 2023 new minimum wage rate in the City of Tukwila, established by City of Tukwila Initiative Measure No. 1, approved by voters in November 2022, adjusted for 2024 by the annual rate of inflation. 2. On January 1, 2025, and on each January 1 thereafter, the hourly minimum wage shall increase by the annual rate of inflation to maintain employee purchasing power. 3. By December 31, 2023, and by October 15 of each year thereafter, the Finance Department shall establish and publish the applicable hourly minimum wage for the following year using the annual rate of inflation. 4. For purposes of this chapter, the annual rate of inflation means 100 percent of the annual average growth rate of the bi-monthly Seattle -Tacoma -Bellevue Area Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, termed CPI-W, for the 12-month period ending in August, provided that the percentage increase shall not be less than zero. 5. An employer must pay to its employees: a. All tips and gratuities; and b. All service charges as defined corder RCW 49.46.160 except those that, pursuant to RCW 49.46.160, are itemized as not being payable to the employee or employees servicing the customer. Tips and service charges paid to an employee are in addition to, and may not count towards, the employee's hourly minimum wage. Section 4. Other Covered Employers Shall Have a Multiyear Phase -In Period. Other covered employers shall phase in the new minimum wage, as follows: 1. Effective July 1, 2024, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus Two Dollars ($2) per hour. 2. Effective July 1, 2025, other covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3 minus One Dollar ($1) per hour. 3. Effective July 1, 2026, and thereafter, all covered employers shall pay employees not less than the hourly minimum wage established under Section 3. Section 5. Coverage and Employer Classifications. 1. Covered employers must pay employees at least the minimum wage established by this chapter for each hour worked within the City. 2. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the average number of employees during all weeks in the previous calendar year in which the employer had at least one employee. For employers that did not have any employees during the previous calendar year, classification will be based upon the average number of employees during the most recent three months of the current year. In this determination, all employees will be counted, regardless of their location, and including employees who worked in full-time employment, part-time employment, joint employment, temporary employment, or through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity. 3. Employer classification for the current calendar year will be calculated based upon the gross revenue for the previous year. For employers that did not have gross revenue during the previous calendar year, annual gross revenue will be calculated from the gross revenue during the most recent three months of the current year. 4. For the purposes of employer classification, separate entities will be considered a single employer if they form an integrated enterprise or they are under joint control by one of those entities or a separate entity. The factors to consider in making this assessment include, but are not limited to: a. Degree of interrelation between the operations of multiple entities; b. Degree to which the entities share common management; C. Centralized control of labor relations; and d. Degree of common ownership or financial control over the entities. Section 6. Part -Time Employees Shall Have Fair Access to Additional Hours. 1. Before hiring additional employees or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, covered employers must offer additional hours of work to existing employees who, in the employer's good faith and reasonable judgment, have the skills and experience to perform the work, and shall use a reasonable, transparent, and nondiscriminatory process to distribute the hours of work among those existing employees. 2. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer an employee work hours if the employer would be required to compensate the employee at time -and -a -half or other premium rate under any law or collective bargaining agreement, nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. Section 7. Retaliation Prohibited. 1. No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this chapter. 2. No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights under this chapter. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this chapter; the right to inform others about their rights under this chapter; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this chapter; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this chapter; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this chapter. 3. For the purposes of this section, an adverse action means denying ajob or promotion, demoting, terminating, failing to rehire after a seasonal interruption of work, threatening, penalizing, retaliating, engaging in unfair immigration -related practices, filing a false report with a government agency, changing an employee's status to nonemployee, decreasing or declining to provide additional work hours when they otherwise would have been offered, scheduling an employee for hours outside of their availability, or otherwise discriminating against any person for any reason prohibited by this chapter. "Adverse action" for an employee may involve any aspect of employment, including pay, work hours, responsibilities, or other material change in the terms and conditions of employment. 4. No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected under this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of the person or a family member of the person to a federal, state, or local agency because the person has exercised a right under this chapter. 5. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of any right protected in this chapter. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90-day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. 6. Standard of Proof. Proof of retaliation under this chapter shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this chapter was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. 7. The protections afforded under this section shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this chapter. Section 8. Enforcement. 1. Any person or class of persons that suffers financial injury as a result of a violation of this chapter or is the subject of prohibited retaliation under this chapter, or any other individual or entity acting on their behalf, may bring a civil action in a court of competentjurisdiction against the employer or other person violating this chapter and, upon prevailing, shall be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs and such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to remedy the violation including, without limitation, the payment of any unpaid wages plus interest due to the person and liquidated damages in an additional amount of up to twice the unpaid wages; compensatory damages; and a penalty payable to any aggrieved parry of up to $5,000 if the aggrieved party was subject to prohibited retaliation. For the purposes of this section, an aggrieved party means an employee or other person who suffers tangible or intangible harm due to an employer or other person's violation of this chapter. Interest shall accrue from the date the unpaid wages were first due at the higher of twelve percent per atrium or the maximum rate permitted under RCW 19.52.020. 2. For purposes of determining membership within a class of persons entitled to bring an action under this section, two or more employees are similarly situated if they: a. Are or were employed by the same employer or employers, whether concurrently or otherwise, at some point during the applicable statute of limitations period; b. Allege one or more violations that raise similar questions as to liability; and C. Seek similar forms of relief. d. Employees shall not be considered dissimilar solely because their claims seek damages that differ in amount, or their job titles or other means of classifying employees differ in ways that are unrelated to their claims. 3. Each covered employer shall retain records as required by RCW 49.46.070, as well as such information as the City may require to confirm compliance with this chapter. If an employer fails to retain such records, there shall be a presumption, rebuttable by clear and convincing evidence, that the employer violated this chapter for the periods and for each employee for whom records were not retained. 4. Employers shall permit authorized City representatives access to work sites and relevant records for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the chapter and investigating complaints of noncompliance, including production for inspection and copying of employment records. The City may designate representatives, including city contractors and representatives of unions or worker advocacy organizations, to access the worksite and relevant records. 5. Complaints that any provision of this chapter has been violated may also be presented to the City Attorney, who is hereby authorized to investigate and, if they deem appropriate, initiate legal or other action to remedy any violation of this chapter. 6. The City has the authority to issue administrative citations and to order injunctive relief including reinstatement, restitution, payment of back wages, or other forms of relief. 7. The City may, in the exercise of its authority and performance of its functions and services, agree by contract or otherwise to participate jointly or in cooperation with Washington State, King County, or any city, town, or other incorporated place, or subdivision thereof, or engage outside counsel, to enforce this chapter. 8. The remedies and penalties provided under this chapter are cumulative and are not intended to be exclusive of any other available remedies or penalties, including existing remedies for enforcement of Renton Municipal Code chapters. 9. The statute of limitations for any enforcement action shall be five (5) years. Section 9. A new section is added to Renton Municipal Code (RMC) Section 5-5-4 as follows: 1. The Finance Director may deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for violation of this ordinance. 2. The Finance Director must deny, suspend, or revoke any license under this chapter for repeated intentional violations of this ordinance. 3. Any action by the Finance Director under this section shall be subject to the procedures and requirements of RMC subsection 5-5-3.E, as well as other due process rights that a court may require. Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: "City" means the City of Renton. "Covered employer" means an employer that either (1) employs at least 15 employees regardless of where those employees are employed, or (2) has annual gross revenue over $2 million. "Effective date" is the effective date of this ordinance. "Employee" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. An employer bears the burden of proof that the individual is, as a matter of economic reality, in business for oneself rather than dependent upon the alleged employer. "Employer" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. "Employer classification" includes the determination of whether an employer is a covered employer and whether a covered employer is a large employer. "Franchise" means an agreement, express or implied, oral or written by which: 1. A person is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling, or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the grantor or its affiliate; 2. The operation of the business is substantially associated with a trademark, service mark, trade time, advertising, or other commercial symbol; designating, owned by, or licensed by the grantor or its affiliate; and 3. The person pays, agrees to pay, or is required to pay, directly or indirectly, a franchise fee. The term, "franchise fee" is meant to be construed broadly to include any instance in which the grantor or its affiliate derives income or profit from a person who enters into a franchise agreement with the grantor. "Hour worked within the City" is to be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning, including all hours worked within the geographic boundaries of the City, excluding time spent in the City solely for the purpose of traveling through the City from a point of origin outside the City to a destination outside the City, with no employment -related or commercial stops in the City except for refueling or the employee's personal meals or errands. "Large Employer" means all employers that employ more than 500 employees, regardless of where those employees are employed, and all franchisees associated with a franchisor or a network of franchises with franchisees that employ more than 500 employees in aggregate. "Other covered employer" means a covered employer that does not qualify as a large employer. "Service charge" is defined as set faith in RCW 49.46.160(2)(c). "Tips" means a verifiable sum to be presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for the customer by the employee receiving the tip. "Wage" is defined as set forth in RCW 49.46.010. Section 11. Other Legal Requirements. This ordinance shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater wages or compensation; and nothing in this ordinance shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty in conflict with federal or state law. Section 12. Rulemaking. Within 180 days after the effective date, the City shall adopt rules and procedures to implement and ensure compliance with this chapter, which shall require employers to maintain adequate records and to annually certify compliance with this chapter. The City shall seek feedback from worker organizations and covered employers before finalizing the rules and procedures, Section 13. Constitutional Subject. For constitutional purposes, this measure's subject "concerns labor standards for certain employers." See Filo Foods, LLC v. City of SeaTac, 183 Wash. 2d 770, 783, 357 P.3d 1040, 1047 (2015) (upholding this statement of subject for an initiative that set a minimum wage and addressed employees' access to hours). Section 14. Codification. All sections of this ordinance except section 9 shall be codified in a new chapter of the Renton Municipal Code, Section 15. Election date. In the event that the election on this measure takes place later than November 7, 2023, the Finance Department must establish and publish the initial minimum wage within 30 days of the effective date. Section 16. Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are declared to be separate and severable. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, subsection, or portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any employer, employee, or circumstance, is held to be invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this ordinance, or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances. Name Of Canvasser. l l 1/l,y�% l (G Date Canvassed: JJ nrrAEmail and Phone Number: Tk t-A %A-