H-3569.1 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 2433
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1992 Regular Session
By Representatives Prentice, Heavey, G. Cole, Franklin, R. King and Jones
Read first time 01/16/92. Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.
AN ACT Relating to payment of wages; amending RCW 49.48.010; adding new sections to chapter 49.48 RCW; and prescribing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 49.48.010 and 1971 ex.s. c 55 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)(a)
Unless otherwise provided in this subsection, when any employee ((shall))
ceases to work for an employer, whether by discharge or by voluntary
withdrawal, the wages due ((him)) the employee on account of his or
her employment shall be paid to him or her at the end of the
established pay period((: PROVIDED, HOWEVER)), except that ((this
paragraph shall)) for agricultural employees, as defined in RCW
19.30.010(5), the wages shall be paid within twenty-four hours after the
employment ceases.
(b)
This subsection does not apply when workers are engaged in an employment
that normally involves working for several employers in the same industry
interchangeably, and the several employers or some of them cooperate to
establish a plan for the weekly payment of wages at a central place or places
and in accordance with a unified schedule of paydays providing for at least one
payday each week; but this subsection shall not apply to any such plan until
ten days after notice of their intention to set up such a plan shall have been
given to the director of labor and industries by the employers who cooperate to
establish the plan; and having once been established, no such plan can be
abandoned except after notice of their intention to abandon such plan has been
given to the director of labor and industries by the employers intending to
abandon the plan((: PROVIDED FURTHER, That)).
(c)
The duty to pay an employee ((forthwith)) as provided in (a) of
this subsection shall not apply if the labor-management agreement under
which the employee has been employed provides otherwise.
(2) It shall be unlawful for any employer to withhold or divert any portion of an employee's wages unless the deduction is:
(((1)))
(a) Required by state or federal law; or
(((2)))
(b) Specifically agreed upon orally or in writing by the employee and
employer; or
(((3)))
(c) For medical, surgical or hospital care or service, pursuant to any
rule or regulation((: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That)), if the
deduction is openly, clearly, and in due course recorded in the
employer's books and records.
((Paragraph
*three of)) This ((section)) subsection shall not be
construed to affect the right of any employer or former employer to sue upon or
collect any debt owed to said employer or former employer by his or her
employees or former employees.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 49.48 RCW to read as follows:
(1) If an employer willfully fails to pay an employee's wages or compensation when the employee's employment ceases, as required under RCW 49.48.010, then, as a penalty for that nonpayment, the employee's wages or compensation shall continue from the due date specified under RCW 49.48.010 at the same rate until paid, for no more than thirty days. This remedy is in addition to any remedy provided under RCW 49.52.070.
(2) As used in this section, "willfully" means that the person knows what he or she is doing, intends to do what he or she is doing, and is a free agent.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 49.48 RCW to read as follows:
If an employer and an employee dispute the wages owed, the employer shall pay, without condition and within the time period specified under RCW 49.48.010, all wages conceded by the employer to be due, and acceptance of the payment of wages conceded to be due shall not affect any other remedies that the employee might have with respect to the balance of wages claimed by the employee.