Since the Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act (EPOA) went into effect in 2023, hundreds of Washington State employers have been named in Class Action Lawsuits from individuals seeking damages of up to $1,000 per affected person, claiming the employers’ job ads were noncompliant. An amendment to this law, SB 5408, went into effect in July 2025, providing employers with a chance to correct their noncompliant job postings before a lawsuit is filed.

This article by Aaron Rocke covers what employers of 15+ Washington State-based employees need to know to easily avoid this type of class action lawsuit.

What is the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act?

The EPOA requires employers with 15+ Washington State-based employees to disclose pay rates and benefits in job postings intended to hire an employee in Washington State. The goal is to make the job search process fairer and more transparent for applicants. It also provides valuable insights for companies looking to analyze the competitiveness of their pay rates and benefits. Unfortunately, it has provided a payday opportunity for serial plaintiffs to initiate class actions against companies who are unaware of this new requirement.

What Is SB 5408?

An amendment to the existing Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act of 2023. The changes originating from SB 5408 are live as of summer 2025.

The amendment includes important changes for employers, such as a new grace period, excluded post types, and a new minimum and maximum on damages.

Why Was It Passed?

To provide a chance for employers to correct their honest mistakes before being required to pay out potentially thousands of dollars, and proceed with compliant practices.

Key Changes for Employers

1. NEW Grace Period

For jobs posted between July 27, 2025, and July 27, 2027, employers now have 5 business days, after being notified in writing, to correct their noncompliant job postings.

• If you make the corrections within the 5-business-day period, you avoid a lawsuit.
• Keep in mind, this ends in July of 2027. You should update your approach to writing and publishing job postings now!
• Note: you only need to focus on correcting the job posts that you made on your own accounts (your website, LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.).

2. Unauthorized Third-Party Posts = Liability Free!

Job boards regularly crawl the internet searching for new job posts to share on their own site. A job post that originates in this way, instead of from your company posting it, is considered an unauthorized third-party post, which your company is not liable for.

For example:

• ABC Company posts an open role, Office Manager, from their company account on Indeed.com.
• OpenJobs.com’s web crawler or “job scraper” tool crawls the internet, finds ABC Company’s post on their Indeed.com account, and copies it onto their site.

This would be considered an unauthorized third-party post because your company did not make it; OpenJobs.com’s web crawler did.

3. Damages Limit

• Statutory damages now have a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $5,000 per violation
  • Per violation = per affected “applicant”.
  • Depending on factors like willfulness, employer size, repeat offense, and more.
• Individuals can pursue either an Administrative Complaint or a Civil Lawsuit, not both

How to Make a Job Post That Meets EPOA Requirements

Include the following:

• Pay rate as a fixed amount, wage scale, or salary range – whichever is applicable,
• Other compensation, such as bonuses, commissions, profit-sharing, stock options, and so on, and
• General descriptions of benefits
  • Health care benefits, retirement benefits, any benefits permitting paid days off (including more generous paid sick leave accruals, parental leave, and paid time off or vacation benefits), and any other fringe benefits that must be reported for federal tax purposes. 

Include enough detail to give applicants a full picture of what they can expect for this role. Instead of saying “health insurance”, specifically say “medical and dental insurance”.

Important to note: this applies to both internal and external job postings!

Employer To-Do List

• Audit existing job posts: review your current and upcoming postings – do they meet the above requirements?
• Update your internal process: share this update with anyone authorized to create job posts for your company, including recruiters.
• Track your job-posting process: keep updated login information stored for all platforms, including internal, on which you post job openings. Consider creating, sharing, and storing job post templates to use as a starting point for writing new ones.
• Set a reminder: the grace period expires on July 27, 2027. Set a reminder for yourself to check in with your team to ensure you’re pursuing compliant practices.