For decades, live-in workers at adult family homes have been exempt from the state's minimum wage law.
The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday declared that exemption unconstitutional — a ruling that could bring financial relief to workers and reshape the adult care industry.
Adult family homes are an assisted-living arrangement where multiple unrelated people live together in a house, often located in a residential neighborhood, and share round-the-clock care. Care providers can include shift workers who do not live on-site, as well as workers who live in the house full time.
The adult family home sector has historically been granted an immunity" from otherwise mandatory labor standards and minimum wage requirements, wrote the majority opinion. The opinion acknowledged the difficulty of tracking hours for employees who live where they work.
"For live-in caregiving at adult family homes, however," the opinion continued, "it is not a reasonable ground justifying the denial of basic worker safeguards."
Thursday's ruling is the latest development in a yearslong legal fight.
In 2023, a group of workers sued their employer, AssureCare, an operator of adult family homes in Washington, for violating the state's minimum wage law.
As part of the suit, they claimed that the law's exemption of live-in workers, as applied to adult family homes, was unconstitutional due to the dangerous nature of their profession. A trial court agreed in a September 2024 ruling. The Washington Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's ruling.
The state's minimum wage requirements and labor standards apply to most workers and set forth rules around pay, overtime and paid sick leave. But live-in workers have been exempt dating back to when the earliest version of the law was first enacted.
"They got no minimum wage, they got no overtime, and they were unable to accrue and use paid sick leave," said Jeremiah Miller, former legal director of the Fair Work Center, which helped the workers file their suit. "What this ruling has done is it's made sure that this group of workers gets those basic protections, too."
The ruling only applies to the adult family home sector. Numerous exemptions still remain in place, including live-in workers in other industries, employees in executive or professional positions and incarcerated people, among others.
Workers for AssureCare received a daily rate between $110 and $145, as well as room and board from their employer, according to legal documents. (The state minimum wage is $17.13 per hour in 2026.)
As part of their jobs, they helped clients with day-to-day living, including lifting and moving them between rooms, and into wheelchairs and beds.
While working for AssureCare, they alleged that they frequently worked more than 40 hours per week, did not get overtime pay, and did not receive breaks or sick leave.
The ruling could raise operating costs for adult family homes and potentially upend a long-standing business model.
"The Legislature enacted the rules such that there was an industry was created around it," said Seth Rosenberg, attorney for AssureCare.
Some adult family homes receive payment from the state through Medicaid. With Thursday's ruling, those businesses could face higher labor costs even as reimbursement rates remain unchanged.
"I suspect there will be places that go out of business," said Rosenberg.
In a concurring opinion, three justices noted that workers at adult family homes shouldn't have to pay the price.
"No one will dispute that having a place that is similar to a home for individuals who cannot live independently is beneficial for the residents and society," three judges wrote in a concurring opinion. "However, the cost of providing those facilities cannot be placed on the backs of workers.
The ruling sends the case back to the trial court for further proceedings, including the question of whether the workers are owed retroactive pay.
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