Washington live-in chefs and overtime from 1 July 2027
A briefing for households in Washington and the business managers who look after them.
Washington’s domestic workers law, passed in the 2026 session as Substitute House Bill 2355 and signed on 9 March 2026, takes effect on 1 July 2027. For a household that employs a chef who lives in the home, it changes how the week is paid, because it brings live-in chefs inside the state’s overtime rules, and it sets out what the agreement, the notice and the household’s conduct must look like.
Where things stand today
A chef who goes home each evening is already owed time and a half for every hour past 40 in a workweek under the state Minimum Wage Act (RCW 49.46.130). A chef who lives in the home is treated differently until the new law arrives, since the Act leaves out anyone whose duties require them to reside or sleep at the place of work (RCW 49.46.010). That leaves only federal law, which exempts live-in domestic employees from overtime (29 USC 213(b)(21)), so a live-in chef in Washington today has no overtime entitlement.
What changes on 1 July 2027
The law defines a domestic worker to include anyone who works in one or more private residences as a cook, among other household roles, for four or more paid hours a month, whether paid by the hour, on salary or as an independent contractor, so paying a chef as a contractor does not take the role outside it. The employer it reaches, the "hiring entity", includes corporations and business trusts, so a chef paid through a family LLC, a trust or a family office is covered in the same way as one paid by the family directly. From the effective date:
- Overtime after 40 hours in a workweek, at one and a half times the regular rate, applies to every domestic worker, and the live-in exclusion in RCW 49.46.010 no longer reaches them. A live-in chef’s week is then counted the same way as a live-out chef’s.
- A written agreement sets out the role and the rate of pay, plus the schedule, deductions, benefits and leave where they apply, in a language both sides understand. The chef receives a copy together with the state’s disclosure of rights, and the Department of Labor and Industries is to publish a model agreement and a model disclosure.
- Records of hours worked, pay and leave must be kept.
- Notice before ending the role is two weeks in writing, or four weeks for a live-in chef. A household that gives less notice pays the chef’s standard rate for their regular hours over the part of the notice period it missed. Notice does not apply during an agreed probationary period, when the household ends the role in a good-faith belief of misconduct, when the work was casual or one-time with no expectation of ongoing work, when it ends for reasons outside the household’s control, when the chef can no longer meet the requirements set out in the written agreement, or when both sides agree the household’s needs have changed so much that the role no longer fits.
What a household may not do
The law also sets limits on conduct, and these are the parts most worth reading twice. From 1 July 2027 a household may not:
- hold the chef’s passport, identity documents or immigration papers;
- monitor or record the chef’s private living quarters, a bathroom, or any place where they change;
- monitor or interfere with the chef’s private communications;
- require, as a condition of work, mandatory arbitration of future disputes, a noncompete, or a nondisclosure or non-disparagement clause that stops the chef from pursuing claims or complaints under this law.
Confidentiality remains entirely possible. An agreement can still protect the family’s privacy, provided it carves out the chef’s right to bring claims under this law, so an existing confidentiality clause is worth having reviewed before July 2027.
The law presumes retaliation when a household takes an adverse step within 90 days of a chef exercising a right under it, such as asking about overtime. That includes ending the role, as well as discipline, cutting hours, changing the schedule or reducing pay. The household can answer that presumption only with clear and convincing evidence. For retaliation, the state can order lost pay with interest, reinstatement, and a penalty of at least $1,000, up to $20,000 (or $40,000 for a repeat). Other willful violations carry a $1,000 penalty, and repeat willful violations $2,000 to $20,000 each. The chef may also sue for damages and attorneys’ fees.
The law also bars paying or dismissing a domestic worker differently because of age, sex, national origin, immigration status, disability and other protected traits.
What a household does before then
Most of the work is in the schedule and the paperwork, which is why it is worth settling well before July. We suggest a household with a live-in chef:
- Writes down the real week. Count the hours the chef actually works, including early starts, late dinners and travel days, since every hour past 40 will carry the overtime rate from 1 July 2027.
- Decides whether the salary or the schedule moves, and does it early. Some households keep the schedule and budget for the overtime, while others reshape the week to fit within 40 hours. Make the change before July 2027 and put it in the agreement, rather than in response to a question from the chef about overtime, and reach it together with the chef rather than announcing it.
- Puts the agreement in writing now. An agreement that already covers the role, pay, hours, deductions, leave and notice needs only light changes when the law arrives. Include an agreed probationary period for a new hire, and a confidentiality clause with the carve-out described above.
- Asks the payroll provider to track overtime for the role from the first workweek that includes 1 July 2027.
For households placing a chef now
A live-in offer made today in Washington should be priced for the week as it will be counted from July 2027, because the role will very likely outlast that date. When we run a search in Washington, the brief and the offer account for the new rule from the start, so the family agrees one set of terms rather than two.
This briefing is general information as of 14 October 2026 and is not legal or tax advice. A household’s payroll provider or employment adviser should confirm the treatment for its own arrangement.