SEVERANCE AGREEMENT REVIEW
Before you sign a severance or separation agreement, have it reviewed. We examine every term, the restrictions it adds, and the facts of your termination, and we negotiate for better terms where the facts support it. Read more about separation agreement review.
Wrongful Termination
Washington is an at-will state, but at-will employment has limits. An employer may not fire an employee because of race, color, creed, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, genetic information, or veteran or military status. Nor may it fire an employee in violation of public policy. We test the reasons your employer gave against the record.
UNPAID WAGES (WAGE & HOUR)
Pay for work performed is the most basic right an employee has. We have represented Sea-Tac airport workers, construction workers, restaurant workers, hair stylists, and commissioned salespersons. Employers must pay every employee correctly under state and federal wage and hour law. An employer that willfully withholds wages in Washington can owe the employee twice the amount withheld, plus attorney fees and costs.
NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS
Washington's non-compete law is changing. A 2026 law, effective June 30, 2027, will void most non-compete agreements with employees and independent contractors, including existing agreements, with narrow exceptions such as the sale of a business. Until then, the 2020 statute, as amended in 2024, continues to apply and already limits who may be bound. Read more about Washington's changing non-compete law.
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION PACKAGES
Executives often negotiate their compensation once, at hiring, and live with those terms for years. We review and negotiate employment agreements, equity awards, bonus and commission plans, change-in-control provisions, and severance terms. We focus on what you keep when you leave: vesting, forfeiture, the definitions of cause and good reason, and the restrictive covenants attached to the package.
RETALIATION AND Whistleblower
An employer may not fire or punish an employee or independent contractor for engaging in activity that Washington public policy protects. Protected activity includes reporting sexual harassment or an illegal accounting practice, raising a safety concern, filing a workers' compensation claim, and refusing an employer's instruction to break the law. Retaliation often follows the report by days or weeks. We build the timeline that connects the two.
EMPLOYEE ADVISING
Some workplace problems are best solved before anyone files a lawsuit. We advise employees facing internal investigations, administrative leave, and disputes over disability accommodation. We can work in the background, preparing you for meetings and reviewing what you write to your employer, or step forward and represent you directly. Early advice often preserves the job, the record, or both, and keeps every legal option open.
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
Washington defines disability more broadly than federal law. An employer must reasonably accommodate an employee's disability and engage in good faith in an interactive process to find an accommodation that works. Some employers skip that process, stall it, or use it to push the employee out. We guide employees through the interactive process and litigate when an employer refuses to accommodate or retaliates for the request.
AGE DISCRIMINATION
Washington law protects employees 40 and older from discrimination in hiring, pay, promotion, and termination. Age bias often surfaces in a reorganization, when senior employees are chosen for layoff or replaced by younger hires. Federal law also governs severance: an agreement that waives age claims must give you at least 21 days to consider it, or 45 days in a group layoff, and 7 days to revoke it after signing.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
State and federal law prohibit sexual harassment and every other form of sex-based discrimination, whether the harasser is a supervisor, a coworker, or a customer. An employer that knows of harassment must act promptly to stop it. Our firm participates in the referral network of the National Women's Law Center, home of the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund, which connects victims of workplace harassment with counsel.
SEVERANCE AGREEMENTS
Have a severance or separation agreement reviewed by an attorney before you sign it. These agreements often impose post-employment restrictions that leave the employee worse off. Washington law voids provisions that bar an employee from discussing illegal discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or wage violations. We review every term, examine your termination for wrongful conduct, and negotiate better terms.
NON-SOLICITATION AGREEMENTS
Non-solicitation clauses are often the real battleground after an employee leaves. They restrict contact with the employer's clients and often bar recruiting coworkers. Washington defines an enforceable non-solicitation agreement narrowly, and many clauses reach former and prospective clients beyond that definition. We explain what the clause permits and forbids, and we defend you if your employer claims a breach.
CONFIDENTIALITY AND IP AGREEMENTS
Confidentiality and invention-assignment clauses appear in most non-compete agreements, and many reach too far, sweeping in general skills, public information, and industry knowledge. Washington law voids an invention assignment that covers work the employee developed entirely on personal time, without the employer's equipment, supplies, or trade secrets, unless it relates to the employer's business or results from the employee's work.