Second Substitute House Bill 2479 revises Washington law on recovery and enforcement of unpaid wages and related driver and workplace protections. It amends multiple sections of Title 49 and reenacts and amends RCW 43.79A.040, adds new sections to chapter 49.48 RCW and chapter 44.28 RCW, and repeals RCW 49.48.125. The bill establishes procedural limits and timelines for the Department of Labor and Industries’ investigation of wage and transportation network company (TNC) driver complaints (generally 60 days to issue a citation or determination, 90 days for retaliation or coercion complaints, and a three‑year lookback limit), tolls civil statutes of limitation while the department’s investigation is pending, requires service methods that can be tracked or confirmed, and sets interest on ordered unpaid wages or compensation at 1% per month calculated from the first date wages/compensation were owed (not for amounts owed more than three years before filing). The bill changes penalty and enforcement rules. It sets a new minimum civil penalty for willful wage‑payment violations at $1,500 or 10% of unpaid wages, whichever is greater, with the base penalty subject to inflation adjustments beginning in 2030. For TNC compensation claims the bill prescribes willful‑violation penalties of not less than $1,000 or 10% per claimant (up to $20,000 per claimant) and provides separate penalty ranges for noncompensation and retaliation violations (retaliation: floor of $1,000 or 10% per claimant, maximums of $20,000 for a first violation and $40,000 for repeat violations; coercion based on immigration status: up to $1,000 for a first violation, up to $5,000 for a second, and up to $10,000 for subsequent violations). The department may waive or reduce penalties in specified circumstances, employers are immune from penalties in limited cases of reasonable reliance on written director actions or filed department policies, and collections and enforcement tools include warrants, liens, withholding orders, successor liability for buyers of TNC businesses, and foreclosure of compensation liens. Civil penalties payable under various sections are directed into a new wage recovery account rather than the previously used supplemental pension fund. The bill creates a wage recovery program and wage recovery account to provide discretionary, pre‑collection disbursements to unpaid low‑wage employees who attest to immediate economic harm. Eligibility and program start depend on available appropriations and account funding (eligibility begins July 1, 2028, or when the account has at least $130,000). As a condition of receiving funds an employee must assign the department the right to collect the claim and waive appeals and private suits for the specific claim; disbursements may be up to 85% of anticipated wages capped at $2,500, total annual disbursements may not exceed 80% of the prior fiscal year’s account balance, and the department must report program data annually. The account is held by the state treasurer, expenditures are authorized only by the director or designee and are subject to allotment procedures, and the joint legislative committee must conduct a program and fiscal review by specified dates with a review section that expires July 1, 2036. Important provisions and some text are missing from the extracted material (including full text of Section 2 and Section 3, complete inflation‑adjustment mechanics, and some subsection details), and several references to subsections and effective dates are incomplete in the provided excerpts.

If enacted, low-wage workers who file valid wage complaints could receive discretionary emergency disbursements from a new wage recovery account before the department issues a citation, but only if they meet program rules, attest to immediate economic harm, assign their claim to the department, and waive appeals and private collection rights; payments would be discretionary, capped at 85 percent of anticipated wages up to $2,500 per person, begin no earlier than July 1, 2028 or when the account reaches $130,000, and total annual payments cannot exceed 80 percent of the account balance at the end of the previous fiscal year. At the same time transportation network companies and other employers face faster investigation timelines, tolling of statutes of limitation while investigations proceed, higher minimum civil penalties for willful wage or compensation violations (including a $1,500 or 10% minimum for wage-payment willful violations and specific scales for TNC compensation, retaliation and coercion), and successor liability on business transfers; penalties collected are routed into the wage recovery account overseen by the state treasurer. The Department of Labor and Industries would take on new operational duties to administer the program, set rules, prioritize and approve disbursements, require assignment and recoupments when employers later pay, and produce annual program reports; employers and TNCs should expect greater exposure to fines, faster enforcement deadlines, and the practical risk that buyers of a business can inherit unpaid assessments. Key fiscal and implementation details are missing from the extracts — including the full text creating the wage recovery account, whether specific appropriations are provided, and some definitions and procedural specifics — so the program’s actual start date, scale of available payments, and exact administrative mechanics depend on those unresolved provisions.