January brings important staffing law updates and compliance deadlines for Washington hospitals, and WSHA’s Jan. 23 Hospital Staffing Law webinar is a great resource to help hospital leaders understand 2026 requirements and prepare for upcoming meal and rest break and staffing plan reporting obligations.
Topics include:
- Hospital staffing law overview, including 2026 updates
- Meal and rest breaks
- Mandatory overtime prohibition
- Hospital Staffing Committees
- Hospital Staffing Plans
Urban/system (Track A) hospitals have two important compliance reporting deadlines in January.
Meal and Rest Break Compliance Reports
Jan. 30 is the deadline to submit quarterly meal and rest break compliance reports to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) covering Oct. 1- Dec. 31, 2025.
- Instructions for submitting the report can be found on the L&I Health Care Labor Standards webpage by clocking on the “Medical facilities, hospitals” tab.
Staffing Plan Compliance Reports
Jan. 31 is the deadline to submit semiannual staffing plan compliance reports to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) covering July 1 thru Dec. 31, 2025.
- Monthly Non-compliance Report should still be submitted by Jan. 7 if applicable (less than 80% compliance for December).
- Reporting instructions and forms can be found on the DOH Hospital Staffing webpage. Submit reports via email to [email protected].
For questions or technical assistance, contact [email protected], DOH directly at [email protected], or L&I directly at [email protected].
Smaller hospitals (Track B) are not required to report break compliance until July 2026 and are exempt from staffing plan compliance reporting, but are still subject to complaint investigation. This group includes:
- Hospitals with fewer than 25 acute care licensed beds
- Sole community hospitals independent of a health system
- Hospitals located on an island operating within a public hospital district in Skagit county