WA Penalizes Retail Giant for Alleged Sick Pay Violations

Gov. Bob Ferguson and the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries are meting out compensation to over 2,000 past and present employees of O’Reilly Auto Parts after the retailer supposedly eliminated unused sick pay.

This did not accord with Washington labor law, under which workers can "carry over up to 40 hours of unused paid sick leave from one year to the next," according to Ferguson's office.

The issue is said to have arisen when O’Reilly switched payroll vendors in late 2022, adversely impacting scores of workers across dozens of locations.

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But the O'Reilly probe, conducted by L&I's Proactive Investigations and Enforcement Unit, started at a lone distribution center in Pullyapp in September 2023. Soon enough, investigators "discovered the issue affected locations statewide."

"Typically, Labor & Industries allows workers to choose whether to have their leave reinstated or receive a payout for the value of the leave. Because most of the workers in this case no longer work at O’Reilly, the state ordered the retailer to pay all the workers the value of the lost leave," which amounted to just north of $163K.

This case follows past penalties against O’Reilly for alleged discrimination.

Ferguson was still Attorney General when he filed suit in 2023, accusing O'Reilly of unlawful treatment of pregnant workers. According to Ferguson, the women were denied "reasonable workplace accommodations, such as the ability to sit or rest, limit how much they lift or handle hazardous materials, allow flexibility for restroom breaks and pump breastmilk for their newborn babies after returning to work postpartum."

Women who persisted in seeking accommodation were "routinely" demoted, threatened with termination, forced to take unpaid leave or pushed out of the organization, according to Ferguson's suit.

Nearly a decade earlier, in 2014, Ferguson alleged a different kind of workplace imparity at O'Reilly. Same-sex couples in the retailer's employ were not, the A.G. said, provided healthcare benefits, unlike their hetero colleagues. This has since been corrected.

Workers believing they are owed money should contact L&I directly: 1-866-219-7321.

A request for comment from O'Reilly went unanswered.