For Immediate Release
Contact Information
Cynthia Santana
Phone: 206-256-5219
Email: cynthia.santana@seattle.gov
Final Administrative Rules for Seattle’s Commuter Benefits Ordinance – Chapter 180
Seattle – (January 23, 2020) The Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) announces final administrative rules for the Commuter Benefits Ordinance (SMC 14.30). The Commuter Benefits Ordinance requires employers with 20 or more employees to offer employees, who work an average of ten hours or more per week, the ability to deduct transit or vanpool expenses from an employee’s taxable wages up to the maximum level allowed by federal tax law. To meet this requirement, employers may instead provide a transit pass that is fully or partially subsidized.
The full text of the final rules is contained in a new Chapter 180 of the Seattle Human Rights Rules. It is available by clicking here, or may be found on the OLS website at http://seattle.gov/laborstandards/ordinances/commuter-benefits.
The rules, finalized after a 14-day public comment period, give guidance and clarification about the Ordinance. These rules cover such issues as:
• How to determine whether employers are covered;
• How to calculate the employer subsidy of a transit pass as an alternative method to satisfying the Ordinance’s requirements; and
• How the Ordinance will be enforced.
In addition to these rules, OLS will soon post on its website a detailed Questions & Answers document to elaborate on the meaning of the law and the rules.
For more information, visit https://www.seattle.gov/laborstandards or call 206-256-5297.
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