On Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, the City of Burien filed a complaint in King County Superior Court seeking a declaratory judgment on Burien Initiative 24-001 (“Initiative 1”) that was approved by voters in the Feb. 11 Special Election.
Final election results, certified on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 by King County Elections, showed 57.18% (4,988 votes) in favor and 42.82% (3,736 votes) opposed, confirming Initiative 1’s passage. Voter turnout in Burien was 28.97%, with 8,733 ballots counted out of 30,146 registered voters.
The lawsuit argues that Initiative 1 failed to repeal or acknowledge Burien’s existing minimum wage ordinance, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2025. As a result, Burien businesses may now be subject to two conflicting wage structures, leading to uncertainty for employers and workers alike.
Legal Challenge Over Wage Calculation
Burien contends that Initiative 1 creates confusion by tying Burien’s minimum wage to Tukwila’s wage law, which in turn references SeaTac’s municipal code. However, according to the lawsuit, SeaTac’s code does not actually set a minimum wage—instead, it applies only to hospitality and transportation workers.
“This initiative creates a legal contradiction, and the City is seeking court clarification to ensure employers and employees have a clear standard,” Burien stated in its complaint.
Additionally, Burien’s current wage law already provides a higher minimum wage for large employers than the rate outlined in Initiative 1, raising further questions about which law takes precedence.
City Seeks Court Ruling Before Law Takes Effect
The City of Burien has requested a declaratory judgment, asking the court to determine which wage law applies before Initiative 1 is set to take effect. The lawsuit also raises concerns about the constitutional validity of the initiative, arguing that it was vague, misleading to voters, and exceeded local initiative powers.
Burien said that it has received inquiries from business owners who are unsure about which wage law they must follow and is asking the court to provide legal clarity.
The case names the Transit Riders Union and Katie Wilson, sponsors of Initiative 1, as defendants.
Burien’s Demands
The following is Burien’s legal position regarding Initiative 1 and the rationale for Burien initiating a declaratory judgment action in King County Superior Court.
- Before Initiative 1 was submitted to King County Elections, Burien established a citywide minimum wage in Burien, which went into effect on January 1, 2025.
- The complaint alleges that Initiative 1 did not repeal Burien’s existing ordinance and failed to mention it as required by law. Thus, based on the complaint’s allegations, Burien voters unknowingly voted to have two competing or contradictory ordinances. As a result, Burien has asked a court to determine which ordinance applies.
- More specifically, the complaint alleges Initiative 1, in Section 3, states, “every large employer must pay to each employee an hourly wage of not less than the “large employer minimum wage rate” in effect in the City of Tukwila pursuant to Tukwila Municipal Code Section 5.63.” The complaint then notes that Tukwila Municipal Code Section 5.63.040 states that large employers shall pay “an hourly wage of not less than the 2022 ‘living wage rate’ in the City of SeaTac” under “SeaTac Municipal Code Section 7.45.060.” Finally, the complaint asserts that SMC 7.45.060 does not state or describe a minimum wage; it addresses additional labor standards for hospitality and transportation employees and fails to provide a minimum wage.
- The complaint also asserts that even if Initiative 1 provided the publicized minimum wage, in Initiative 1, Section 11, the initiative states it does not preempt a law “that provides greater wages or compensation.” Burien argued that based on Initiative 1’s language, Burien’s preexisting ordinance that provides at least a higher wage for larger employers would be the applicable law.
What’s Next?
Understanding that Burien residents, employees, and employers require absolute clarity on Burien’s minimum wage law, Burien has asked the Superior Court to provide guidance.
City doesn’t like the results of the initiative vote, so they decide to bring a lawsuit.
They did because it’s necessary and needs legal review, why do you have a problem with ambiguous language and conflicting rules being questioned so the business community knows how this will affect them.
This action by the City of Burien is entirely justified as legal clarity is required, especially when the outside interests Initiative sponsors failed to follow process.
And the saga continues to push Seattle out of Burien! Keep outside politics/agendas out of Burien. No one wants Burien to turn into downtown Seattle.
Look at the individuals selected as defendants in this court case: (who do they represent?) = Seattle. Yet their pursuing a minimum wage Initiative in Burien…
DEFENDANTS IN THIS COURT CASE:
1.) The Transit Riders Union – an independent, democratic, member-run union of transit riders organizing for better public transit in Seattle, King County and beyond. Seattle-based organization advocating for improving transit quality and making access more equitable.
2.) Katie Wilson – writes for the The Stranger (Seattle’s only newspaper) explores the Progressive left. Also general Secretary of the Transit Riders Union
These court cases and persistent issues within the inner city, particularly those associated with a specific group have become quite noticeable. I hope for a quick resolution to this case, allowing the city of Burien to continue its growth and progress.
I really want to know—who is making the decision to subvert the will of the people? Powerful business groups have far too much influence over our city government. But let’s be clear: city officials represent the people, and there are far more of us than there are wealthy donors trying to buy influence. So, are we really about to see yet another lawsuit filed by our own city against its residents? Why are we paying city attorneys to waste precious resources over and over again? Burien deserves better. It’s time for real change.
You say “Powerful business groups have far too much influence over our city government.” You should change that to read *Powerful outside labor groups, unions and activists have far to much….. I fixed it for you so it’s more accurate of the current reality here.
Seriously, what the heck is going on? The initiative passed handle, so the good faith approach to the “issues” would be to figure out a way to reconcile the two laws.
This instead has the appearance of throwing legal arguments at the wall to see what might stick.
Note to city council and Bailon: there are more workers than business owners in Burien.
” there are more workers than business owners in Burien.”
THANK YOU. Why is this so hard to understand?
Quote: “Why are we paying city attorneys to waste precious resources over and over again? Burien deserves better. It’s time for real change.”****do you say this when it’s the other way around, how many lawsuits have there been against the City?
Thank you city of Burien for the oversight & protection!
(Please keep Seattle organizations and their supporting agendas away!)
Odd how the people for this law don’t want it to be looked at and think the city is doing something fishy . I have to wonder why these people care so much about minimum wage anyways are these people out applying for minimum wage jobs or do they high school kids going in to employment age want their kid making $20 a hour for a job they got $5 a hour for when they where that age . Then these same people want to complain about the price of stuff going up .