JLARC: L&I meets safety-inspection timelines but wage-and-hour investigations lag; agency to report back
July 15, 2026 | Legislative Sessions, Washington
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JLARC staff told the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee that Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) meets most health-and-safety inspection timelines for agricultural complaints but struggles to resolve wage-and-hour and retaliation complaints within statutory deadlines because complaint volumes exceed unit capacity.
JLARC summary: Staff reported that from 2019–2025 L&I completed more than 95% of its health-and-safety inspections on time, and corrected 94% of reported violations within 30 days. By contrast, a workload analysis showed the wage unit could handle about 5,000 wage complaints per year while workers filed roughly 9,000 in 2025; L&I closed about 46% of farmworker wage complaints within the 60-day statutory window in 2025.
"This increase in complaint volume has decreased LNI's ability to resolve complaints in a timely manner," JLARC staff said, and they identified the primary delay as the time between a worker filing a complaint and assignment to an agent.
What changed in 2026: JLARC noted two 2026 legislative changes that may help: L&I can now prioritize certain complaints rather than processing strictly by order received, and the statutory 60-day timeframe now starts when L&I accepts a complaint rather than when it is filed. The wage unit also gained additional staff in 2025 and reorganized workloads.
Agency response: Caitlin Lopez Gates, L&I deputy policy director, told the committee the agency is finishing hiring additional investigators and implementing procedural changes; L&I plans to report on the effects of its backlog reduction efforts and implementation of the 2026 legislation to JLARC and relevant committees in December 2026 and December 2027.
Next steps: JLARC’s one formal recommendation for L&I is to report back to the committee in December 2026 and again in December 2027 on whether backlog mitigation steps and the 2026 statutory changes are meeting required timelines.
The committee discussed definitions of wage complaints and whether the low share of farmworker-filed complaints (about 2% of wage complaints) reflected compliance or barriers to filing; JLARC staff said the dataset indicates most wage complaints come from other industries and that barriers to reporting among agricultural workers remain a concern.
JLARC summary: Staff reported that from 2019–2025 L&I completed more than 95% of its health-and-safety inspections on time, and corrected 94% of reported violations within 30 days. By contrast, a workload analysis showed the wage unit could handle about 5,000 wage complaints per year while workers filed roughly 9,000 in 2025; L&I closed about 46% of farmworker wage complaints within the 60-day statutory window in 2025.
"This increase in complaint volume has decreased LNI's ability to resolve complaints in a timely manner," JLARC staff said, and they identified the primary delay as the time between a worker filing a complaint and assignment to an agent.
What changed in 2026: JLARC noted two 2026 legislative changes that may help: L&I can now prioritize certain complaints rather than processing strictly by order received, and the statutory 60-day timeframe now starts when L&I accepts a complaint rather than when it is filed. The wage unit also gained additional staff in 2025 and reorganized workloads.
Agency response: Caitlin Lopez Gates, L&I deputy policy director, told the committee the agency is finishing hiring additional investigators and implementing procedural changes; L&I plans to report on the effects of its backlog reduction efforts and implementation of the 2026 legislation to JLARC and relevant committees in December 2026 and December 2027.
Next steps: JLARC’s one formal recommendation for L&I is to report back to the committee in December 2026 and again in December 2027 on whether backlog mitigation steps and the 2026 statutory changes are meeting required timelines.
The committee discussed definitions of wage complaints and whether the low share of farmworker-filed complaints (about 2% of wage complaints) reflected compliance or barriers to filing; JLARC staff said the dataset indicates most wage complaints come from other industries and that barriers to reporting among agricultural workers remain a concern.
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