Retaliation prohibited

Seattle Mun. Code § 8.40.120

in effect

8.40.120 - Retaliation prohibited A. No network company or any other person acting on behalf of the network company shall interfere with, restrain, deny, or attempt to deny the exercise of any right protected under this Chapter 8.40. B. No network company or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights protected under this Chapter 8.40. Such rights include, but are not limited to, the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this Chapter 8.40; the right to inform others about their rights under this Chapter 8.40; the right to inform the person's network company, the person's legal counsel, a union or similar organization, or any other person about an alleged violation of this Chapter 8.40; the right to file an oral or written complaint with the Agency or bring a civil action for an alleged violation of this Chapter 8.40; the right to cooperate with the Agency in its investigations of this Chapter 8.40; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this Chapter 8.40; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state, or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this Chapter 8.40. C. No network company or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected in this Section 8.40.120, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government worker that the person is not lawfully in the United States, or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of an app-based worker or family member of an app-based worker to a federal, state, or local agency because the app-based worker has exercised a right under this Chapter 8.40. D. It shall be a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if a network company or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of rights protected in this Section 8.40.120. The network company may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose. E. Proof of retaliation under this Section 8.40.120 shall be sufficient upon a showing that a network company or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this Section 8.40.120 was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the network company can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity. F. The protections afforded under this Section 8.40.120 shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this Chapter 8.40. G. A complaint or other communication by any person triggers the protections of this Section 8.40.120 regardless of whether the complaint or communication is in writing or makes explicit reference to this Chapter 8.40. (Ord. 126878, § 2, 2023.)

Source: City of Seattle, Seattle Municipal Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT8LAST_CH8.40ASEWODERI_8.40.120REPRFetched: 11/1/2026