O’Reilly Auto Parts is paying out $163,458 to current and former workers after an investigation by Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) found the company unlawfully eliminated accrued sick pay.
Under Washington’s paid sick leave law, workers can carry over up to 40 hours of unused paid sick leave from one year to the next. But when O’Reilly switched to a new payroll vendor at the end of 2022, it began improperly eliminating unused sick leave, L&I said in a press statement. All told 2,327 employees at nearly 160 locations statewide were affected. Because most of the affected workers no longer work at O’Reilly, L&I ordered the company to pay all the workers the value of the lost leave.
