Eigen Labs Inc 1 million settlement over missing pay and benefits in WA job posts

Eigen Labs Inc. has agreed to a $1 million class action settlement over allegations that its Washington job postings failed to include legally required compensation and benefits information. The case covers people who applied for Eigen Labs roles in Washington between Jan. 1, 2023, and July 26, 2025, where the posting omitted a wage scale or salary range and/or a general description of benefits; about 406 applicants are included. If the court grants final approval and after fees and costs are deducted, the remaining funds are expected to be split evenly, with an estimated payout of about $1,526.40 per class member, generally sent automatically without needing to file a claim. The lawsuit was filed under Washington’s Equal Pay and Opportunities Act (EPOA), a pay-transparency law designed to curb wage discrimination and reduce information gaps that can disadvantage women and other protected groups during hiring and negotiation. By requiring employers to disclose pay ranges and benefits in postings, the law aims to make compensation practices more consistent and auditable; the suit claims Eigen Labs’ postings didn’t meet those standards, depriving applicants of material information and undermining the statute’s purpose. Eigen Labs denies wrongdoing but settled to avoid the expense and uncertainty of litigation, making the case significant as a reminder that job-ad compliance can create real financial exposure even without allegations of unpaid wages in the traditional sense. More broadly, this settlement fits into a growing wave of pay-transparency enforcement and litigation as states and cities adopt similar rules and applicants scrutinize job ads for missing ranges or benefits language. Washington’s EPOA is part of that national shift alongside comparable requirements in places like Colorado, California, and New York, and employers recruiting across jurisdictions have had to adjust templates, HR workflows, and third-party recruiting practices to avoid inconsistencies. Cases like this signal that “post-and-forget” job advertising can be risky in regulated markets, and that even technical omissions in postings can trigger classwide claims and incentivize companies to standardize pay-range and benefits disclosures across all hiring channels.