Since 2020, Washington has protected workers’ desire to hold down a 2nd job or take on additional work through RCW 49.62.070 commonly referred to as the “moonlighting law”. The statute provides protections for lower paid workers who want to take a second job, work as an independent contractor, or be self employed alongside their employment. However, courts still recognized the common law “duty of loyalty,” which generally allowed employers to impose reasonable restrictions on employees to ensure they do not act in ways that would affirmatively detract from the employer’s business. Indeed, the moonlighting law even provides that “ The question thus arose: how should courts interpret this duty of loyalty in light of the moonlighting law?  

On June 9, 2026, two federal appeals courts issued decisions in favor of employees in workers’ wage cases. One case began in a line outside an Illinois warehouse, where employees allegedly waited on-premises through mandatory COVID-19 health screenings before they were allowed to clock in, and a court said that time was not paid time. The other reached the appeals court after a California trial court told a former delivery driver that her wage lawsuit must be arbitrated, and could not stay in court. Both cases represent important victories for workers.