Business

Uber is paying $3.4 million to resolve claims for back wages and unpaid sick leave from more than 15,000 drivers in Seattle. The company reached the settlement after the city’s Office of Labor Standards investigated allegations of inconsistencies with Seattle’s paid sick-leave ordinance.

Airlines have the go-ahead from federal regulators to start using the Boeing 737-MAX again. The plane, which is made in Renton, has been grounded nearly two years following a pair of deadly crashes.

The governor’s new ban on indoor dining in restaurants will mean a financial toll for many businesses, and it’s a particular blow for new restaurants. Gov. Jay Inslee announced the new restrictions on Sunday as coronavirus cases have hit a new peak in the state.

In 1890, Seattle was a city of about 42,000 people trying to recover from a destructive fire the year before. That’s when a 21-year-old man from Kansas named George H. Bartell, Sr., bought a pharmacy in Seattle’s Central District and launched his eponymous company, Bartell Drugs.

With so many people out of work and so many businesses closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, local governments and school districts are bracing for lower tax revenue.

Before the pandemic brought daily life to a standstill in Washington state, KNKX toured a massive construction project at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Lance Lyttle, the airport's director, said even if an economic slowdown were to arrive — which did not seem imminent in mid-February — it would still be important to continue growing. This week, the Port of Seattle said that's exactly what it will do, at least at the airport.

From shuttered businesses to record unemployment, the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic are all around us. Businesses themselves — whether small neighborhood stores or huge global corporations — face tough decisions. And that got us wondering about ethics: Will the way businesses behave now, even if they’re closed or doing limited business, affect the decisions consumers make later?

UPDATE, March 10: Adds information about Amazon's fund to help nearby small businesses and Gov. Jay Inslee's announcement about additional support for businesses and workers. For the Seattle region, the novel coronavirus presents a significant public health challenge — and also a threat to people’s livelihoods. The economic impact is already being felt. Hotels face cancellations, restaurants have empty tables, and a major economic driver for Seattle, the Emerald City Comic Con, which was set to start this week, has been postponed. Large employers including Microsoft and Amazon have asked employees to work from home, limiting commerce near their campuses.

Lance Lyttle’s office offers a view across most of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He’s the managing director for the aviation division for the Port of Seattle. In short, he manages the airport. And from his corner windows you can see planes taking off and landing, and taxiing around the airfield. But these jets are tiny in comparison to a new bridge that connects the airport’s South Satellite to a new International Arrivals Facility, where passengers will retrieve luggage and go through customs.

Boeing plans to temporarily halt production of the 737 MAX in Renton beginning in January, but the company said there will not be any layoffs or furloughs at this time.

Seattle-based Nordstrom is closing stores as it – and other brick-and-mortar retailers – face big challenges in a world that’s turning more to online shopping.

A few dozen drivers for Uber and Lyft gathered Wednesday morning at Sea-Tac Airport to talk about low pay in advance of Uber's highly anticipated initial public offering later this week.

Amazon's plans to relocate one of its critical teams to Bellevue have prompted questions about the company's relationship with Seattle.

New short-term rental regulations are in effect in Seattle. Property owners, including those using online platforms such as Airbnb, now face limits on how many units they can rent and require an extra license to operate.

Workers might see a little more coming out of their paychecks starting Jan. 1, as employers begin collecting premiums for Washington's new paid family and medical leave program .

Negotiations between the union representing emergency medical technicians in Seattle and their employer resumed Thursday afternoon, prompting the union to suspend an upcoming strike.

Services Employees International Union 775, a driving force for policy change throughout Washington state, has a new leader. Sterling Harders takes over as president of the local union Monday.

Longtime leader David Rolf is leaving his position as president of Service Employees International Union 775. First elected in 2003, he was the founding president of the local chapter.

There’s a photo in the hallway of the Port of Port Angeles offices, just down the hall from the office of executive director Karen Goschen. It was taken in the 1980s, from a high angle, looking down at four ships moored at the dock. They’re surrounded by big collections of floating logs. “It is dramatically different than the number of vessels we have today,” Goschen said.

The Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that information submitted by Uber and Lyft to the city of Seattle falls under the category of trade secrets, but the court said that information may still be subject to public disclosure under state law.