The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is responsible for licensing child care providers and centers.  A "family child care provider" is a person who:  (1) provides regularly scheduled care for a child or children in the provider's home or in the child's home for periods of less than 24 hours or, if due to the nature of the parent's work, for periods of 24 hours or more; (2) receives child care subsidies; and (3) is either licensed by the state or is exempt from licensing.

Family child care providers have collective bargaining rights under the Public Employees' Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA).  Solely for the purposes of bargaining, the Governor is considered the public employer and family child care providers are considered public employees.

The scope of bargaining for family child care providers is limited solely to:

• economic compensation, such as manner and rate of subsidy and reimbursement;
• health and welfare benefits;
• professional development and training;
• labor-management committees;
• grievance procedures; and
• other economic matters.

Retirement benefits are not subject to collective bargaining for family child care providers.  "Defined contribution retirement plans" are those in which contributions are made to an individual account for each employee, similar to a private-sector 401(k)-type plan.  Defined contribution retirement plans are distinct from "defined benefit plans," which provide a definite benefit formula for calculating benefit amounts.  Many plans provided to Washington state employees, such as the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) Plan 2, are defined benefit plans.

The scope of collective bargaining for family child care providers includes defined contribution retirement benefits.  Retirement benefits other than contributions to a defined contribution retirement plan, are not subject to collective bargaining.