S-0014.1/91       _______________________________________________

                                 SENATE BILL 5080

                  _______________________________________________

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1991 Regular Session

By Senators L. Smith, Bauer, Snyder, Sutherland and Amondson.

Read first time January 18, 1991.  Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.Revising provisions on age discrimination.

     AN ACT Relating to age discrimination; and amending RCW 49.44.090 and 49.60.205.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

     Sec. 1.  RCW 49.44.090 and 1985 c 185 s 30 are each amended to read as follows:

     It shall be an unfair practice:

     (1) For an employer or licensing agency, because an individual is ((between the ages)) over the age of forty ((and seventy)), to refuse to hire or employ or license or to bar or to terminate from employment such individual, or to discriminate against such individual in promotion, compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment:  PROVIDED, That employers or licensing agencies may establish reasonable minimum and/or maximum age limits with respect to candidates for positions of employment, which positions are of such a nature as to require extraordinary physical effort, endurance, condition or training, subject to the approval of the executive secretary of the Washington state human rights commission or the director of labor and industries through the division of industrial relations.

     (2) For any employer, licensing agency or employment agency to print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement, or publication, or to use any form of application for employment or to make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment, which expresses any limitation, specification or discrimination respecting individuals ((between the ages)) over the age of forty ((and seventy)):  PROVIDED, That nothing herein shall forbid a requirement of disclosure of birth date upon any form of application for employment or by the production of a birth certificate or other sufficient evidence of the applicant's true age.

     Nothing contained in this section or in RCW 49.60.180 as to age shall be construed to prevent the termination of the employment of any person who is physically unable to perform his duties or to affect the retirement policy or system of any employer where such policy or system is not merely a subterfuge to evade the purposes of this section; nor shall anything in this section or in RCW 49.60.180 be deemed to preclude the varying of insurance coverages according to an employee's age; nor shall this section be construed as applying to any state, county, or city law enforcement agencies, or as superseding any law fixing or authorizing the establishment of reasonable minimum or maximum age limits with respect to candidates for certain positions in public employment which are of such a nature as to require extraordinary physical effort, or which for other reasons warrant consideration of age factors.

     Sec. 2.  RCW 49.60.205 and 1985 c 185 s 28 are each amended to read as follows:

     ((No person shall be considered to have committed an unfair practice on the basis of age discrimination unless the practice discriminates against a person between the age of forty and seventy years and violates RCW 49.44.090.))  It is a defense to any complaint of an unfair practice of age discrimination that the practice does not violate RCW 49.44.090.