AG Brown launches Worker Rights Unit

Unit tasked with enforcing Washington’s worker protections and tackling wage theft

OLYMPIA, WA (November 25, 2025) — Shoplifting and robberies get a lot of attention, with theft often a hot topic in local news. But the biggest source of theft is this country — wage theft — often flies under the radar. More than $50 billion is stolen from working people every year by employers violating labor laws, estimates the Economic Policy Institute, with more than $15 billion taken from workers through minimum wage violations alone. Across industries, bad bosses are denying working people the full wage they’ve earned.

Enter the Worker Rights Unit, a new, dedicated team in the office of Washington Attorney General Nick Brown to combat wage theft and enforce Washington’s laws protecting workers rights, directly targeting violations of state law that take millions from workers’ pockets every year.

“This unit will fight to even the playing field for Washington workers and hold corporations accountable that exploit their workers,” said AG Brown in a statement announcing the unit’s formation.

Attorney General Nick Brown speaks at the 2025 WSLC Convention in Vancouver in July.

Organized labor welcomed the announcement of this new unit expanding the AG’s role defending Washington’s workers.

“Washington’s labor movement has fought hard to ensure our state’s laws protect all working people. But laws are only as good as their enforcement. Too often, bad bosses use their power to deny workers their rights,” said Washington State Labor Council President April Sims. “We’re heartened to see Attorney General Nick Brown stand up a unit dedicated to ensuring workers are paid the wage they’ve earned, are able to exercise their rights, and are respected on the job. The hardworking people of Washington deserve nothing less.”

The new unit will work closely with Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) and Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards (OLS), with a focus on cases concerning low- and middle-income workers, particularly those who may be reluctant to use the established L&I system to report wage theft out of fears of retaliation.

While wage theft is disturbingly common across industries, it is particularly prevalent in industries where many workers are immigrants, like agriculture, domestic work, and construction. Recently, Seattle-area workers stood up to their employer’s wage theft, organizing with IUPAT. The employer summarily fired the workers, many of whom are immigrants. But a subsequent investigation by the Seattle OLS uncovered multiple violations of labor law, with the employer ultimately paying out a six-figure settlement to the workers.

“Wage theft is rampant in the construction industry. A recent study estimated that the underground economy costs Washington construction workers $142.6 million in unpaid wages each year,” said Executive Secretary of the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council Heather Kurtenbach in a statement. “The Attorney General’s Office has been a great partner working to hold scofflaw employers accountable. We are incredibly excited to work collaboratively with the new Worker Rights Unit to further combat wage theft and protect workers.”

For every identified and remedied instance of wage theft, there are countless more that never get reported. In partnership with L&I and Seattle’s OLS, the AG’s Workers Rights Unit aims to fix that injustice.

To support the work of the unit, the AG’s office will also “be partnering with legislators on proposals for the 2026 session to provide tools to make investigations by the AG’s office more efficient and to add new protections for immigrant workers,” per a press release from his office.