Dispute over ‘unpaid work’ divides state-employee union, labor department
Washington’s largest state-employees union says that it’s fighting back against “unpaid work” being performed on behalf of the state agency that enforces labor standards.
In a news release this week, the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) claims that unionized interpreters have yet to be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for services rendered to injured workers.
It’s an issue that the union asserts the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) hasn’t yet made right — but the state agency contends that it’s working to do just that.
Many interpreters are now hesitant to accept further jobs at the Department of Labor & Industries, WFSE says.
“According to L&I, ‘Our state has long strived to make sure workers are paid fairly regardless of who they are,’” WFSE wrote in the Aug. 11 release. “Yet interpreters contracting with the agency responsible for preventing wage theft have waited months to be compensated for their work.”
In May 2024, WFSE brought a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court seeking money allegedly owed to union language access providers. The union has argued that the department’s “failure to ensure timely payment for contracted interpreters undercuts their mission” to assist the state’s injured workers.
The lawsuit demands payment for services rendered to workers of self-insured companies. Such employers have decided to independently pay for services that are legally required for hurt-on-the-job workers, but are neglecting to do so, the news release says.
Interpreters argue that the Department of Labor & Industries “could put pressure” on those employers; still, the problem continues.
Barbara Robertson, a member of WFSE Local 1671 and Swahili interpreter, is among those pushing back.
“I find it utterly ironic that the agency that investigates and litigates wage theft does not guarantee that interpreters will be paid,” Robertson said in the news release. “Frankly, I’m not inclined to interpret again for a client whose insurer hasn’t paid me.”
Reached for comment, Matt Ross, public affairs manager with L&I, said interpreters play a key role in ensuring workers can access the care they need. The department and interpreters share the same goal, he said: to “see them get paid what they are owed.”
Since L&I changed the vendor that manages billing and scheduling for interpreters, Ross said, interpreters are getting paid in a timely manner, and within the contract terms. From last June to today, the number of interpreters providing workers with services has boomed by more than double: from 254 to 520, he added.
Ross said that when an interpreter provides services on an injury claim made by an employee of a self-insured business, the business is on the hook for covering that expense.
“The cases where that didn’t happen were related to billing issues between the previous vendor who managed this system and the self-insured companies who are directly responsible for covering the cost of these services,” he continued. “We’re working hard to find a resolution for those cases.”
In a follow-up email on Friday, Ross noted that under the new contract, 97% of bills have been paid according to the contract and on time. The remaining 3%, he said, are outstanding as the vendor is still waiting to be paid by the responsible party.
WFSE argues that the lack of timely pay for interpreters is interrupting important services and carries consequences for medical outcomes and workplace safety. Language access can be crucial in health-care settings, for instance, where interpretation quality can affect health outcomes.
Quân Tran, WFSE Local 1671 president and Vietnamese interpreter, said he stopped interpreting for injured workers for L&I because of “non-payment and clawback issues” that he says were created by the department.
“The administrators of this state agency must have respect for the injured workers and their interpreters by paying us all of the money that is owed to us,” Tran said in the release.
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 10:03 AM.
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