Spokane, WA Minimum Wage: Minor Rates, Exemptions, and Penalties

The Spokane WA minimum wage is $17.13 per hour as of January 1, 2026. Spokane does not have its own local wage ordinance, so the statewide Washington rate applies to every covered employer in the city.¹ A few Washington cities — Seattle, SeaTac, and Tukwila — have adopted higher local rates. Spokane has not.

The state rate adjusts every January 1 based on inflation, so the number changes almost every year without any action by the legislature or the city.²

Rates for Workers Under 18

Employers can pay workers aged 14 and 15 at 85% of the adult rate. For 2026, that is $14.56 per hour.¹ The reduced rate is optional; an employer can choose to pay the full amount.

At 16, the discount ends. Workers aged 16 and 17 must be paid the full $17.13 per hour, the same as adults. The change takes effect on the employee’s birthday, so payroll should be updated the day a teenage worker turns 16.

Tipped Workers Get the Full Wage Plus Tips

Washington bans the tip credit. Servers, bartenders, delivery drivers, and any other tipped employee in Spokane must receive the full $17.13 per hour in base pay. Tips are on top of that, not counted toward it.³

Employers can run tip pools, but salaried managers and owners cannot take a share. Hourly back-of-house staff such as cooks and dishwashers can be included. No worker can be required to contribute more to a mandatory pool than they actually earned in tips.³

Who Is Exempt

The Washington Minimum Wage Act does not cover everyone. Exempt categories include executive, administrative, and professional employees who meet both a salary test and a duties test; outside salespeople; certain volunteers for charitable, religious, or government organizations; newspaper carriers; and incarcerated people working at the facility where they are held.⁴

For salaried office workers, the exemption depends on how much you earn. In 2026, the salary threshold is $1,541.70 per week, or $80,168.40 per year, and it applies regardless of employer size.⁵ Below that, a worker is generally entitled to minimum wage and overtime protections regardless of job title.

Farm workers are covered. They earn the full state minimum wage and, since a phase-in that ended in 2024, get overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek.⁶ A narrow exception remains for hand-harvest pieceworkers who commute daily from a permanent residence and worked in agriculture fewer than 13 weeks in the previous calendar year.⁴

Paid Sick Leave Comes With the Wage Law

Every Spokane employer covered by the minimum wage law must also provide paid sick leave. Workers accrue one hour for every 40 hours worked, with no waiting period. Unused hours carry over from year to year, with a minimum carryover of 40 hours; employers can be more generous.⁷

Sick leave can be used for your own illness or medical appointments, to care for a sick family member, when a public health closure shuts down your workplace or your child’s school, or for absences related to domestic violence.⁸ An employer cannot require you to find a replacement in order to use it.

What to Do if You’re Being Underpaid

If your Spokane employer is paying less than $17.13 per hour (or $14.56 for a worker aged 14 or 15), you can file a wage complaint with the Washington Department of Labor & Industries. Complaints can be submitted through the agency’s online portal or by mailing in the Worker Rights Complaint form.⁹¹⁰

Before you file, pull together your employer’s full legal name and address, your dates of employment, a log of the hours you worked, and copies of your pay stubs. The form asks for specific figures on what you believe you are owed, so the documentation matters. Investigations typically take up to 60 days, and the department will notify you if it needs longer.¹⁰ If the agency substantiates the complaint, it can order the employer to pay wages owed and take corrective action.⁹

Deadline to File

You have three years from the date wages were owed to file. The department cannot order payment for wages owed more than three years before the filing date. If you are considering a civil lawsuit instead, the statute of limitations is paused while the department is actively investigating your administrative complaint.¹¹ Filing sooner protects more of your back pay.

What Employers Face

A substantiated wage complaint can require the employer to pay all wages owed plus interest, going back up to three years from the complaint filing date. If the violation is willful, the department can add a civil penalty of at least $1,000 or 10% of the unpaid wages, whichever is greater, up to $20,000. Amendments taking effect in mid-2026 raise the minimum willful-violation penalty to $1,500 and remove the $20,000 cap for repeat violators. Workers who go to court instead can also recover reasonable attorney’s fees if they win a judgment for more than the employer admitted owing.¹¹

1
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Minimum Wage
2
Washington State Legislature. RCW 49.46.020
3
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Tips and Service Charges
4
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. ES.A.1 Minimum Wage Act Applicability
5
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Salary Threshold Implementation Schedule
6
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Overtime
7
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Paid Sick Leave Minimum Requirements
8
Washington State Legislature. RCW 49.46.210 – Paid Sick Leave, Authorized Purposes, Limitations
9
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Worker Rights Complaints
10
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Worker Rights Complaint Form
11
Washington State Legislature. Chapter 49.48 RCW – Wages, Payment, Collection