BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to extending family leave to cover medically necessary services for children, parents, and grandparents and children's school activities; amending RCW 49.78.010, 49.78.020, 49.78.030, and 49.78.040; and adding a new section to chapter 49.78 RCW.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 49.78.010 and 1989 1st ex.s. c 11 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

The legislature finds that the demands of the workplace and of families need to be balanced to promote family stability and economic security. Changes in workplace leave policies are desirable to accommodate changes in the work force such as rising numbers of dual-career couples ((~~and~~)), parents who are caring for both their children and their ailing parents or grandparents, working single parents, and people working overtime or second jobs. In addition, given the mobility of American society, many people no longer have available community or family support networks and therefore need additional flexibility in the workplace. The legislature declares it to be in the public interest to provide reasonable family leave upon the birth or adoption of a child ((~~and~~)), to care for a child under eighteen years old who is ill, especially a child, with a terminal health condition, to participate in a child's school activities, for routine family medical purposes, and to care for parents or grandparents who are ill.

Sec. 2. RCW 49.78.020 and 1996 c 178 s 14 are each amended to read as follows:

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Child" means a biological or adopted child, or a stepchild, living with the employee.

(2) "Department" means the department of labor and industries.

(3) "Employee" means a person other than an independent contractor employed by an employer on a continuous basis for the previous fifty-two weeks for at least thirty-five hours per week.

(4) "Employer" means: (a) Any person, firm, corporation, partnership, business trust, legal representative, or other business entity which engages in any business, industry, profession, or activity in this state and includes any unit of local government including, but not limited to, a county, city, town, municipal corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, or political subdivision, which (i) employed a daily average of one hundred or more employees during the last calendar quarter at the place where the employee requesting leave reports for work, or (ii) employed a daily average of one hundred or more employees during the last calendar quarter within a twenty mile radius of the place where the employee requesting leave reports for work, where the employer maintains a central hiring location and customarily transfers employees among workplaces; and (b) the state, state institutions, and state agencies.

(5) "Family leave" means leave from employment ((~~to care for a newborn or newly adopted child under the age of six or a child under eighteen years old with a terminal health condition, as provided~~)) for any of the purposes stated in RCW 49.78.030(1).

(6) "Health care provider" means a person licensed as a physician under chapter 18.71 RCW or an osteopathic physician and surgeon under chapter 18.57 RCW.

(7) "Medically necessary services" means services that are reasonably calculated to prevent, diagnose, correct, cure, alleviate, or prevent the worsening of conditions that endanger life, or cause suffering or pain, or result in illness or infirmity, or threaten to cause or aggravate a handicap, or cause physical deformity or malfunction, and there is no other equally effective more conservative or substantially less costly course of treatment available or suitable for the client requesting the services. For the purpose of this subsection, "course of treatment" may include mere observation, or where appropriate, no treatment at all.

(8) "Parent" means a biological or adoptive parent, or a stepparent.

((~~(8)~~)) (9) "Reduced leave schedule" means leave scheduled for fewer than an employee's usual number of hours or days per workweek.

((~~(9)~~)) (10) "Terminal health condition" means a condition caused by injury, disease, or illness, that, within reasonable medical judgment, is incurable and will produce death within the period of leave to which the employee is entitled.

Sec. 3. RCW 49.78.030 and 1989 1st ex.s. c 11 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

(1)(a) An employee is entitled to twelve workweeks of family leave during any twenty-four month period to:

((~~(a)~~)) (i) Care for a newborn child or adopted child of the employee who is under the age of six at the time of placement for adoption((~~, or, (b)~~)); or

(ii) Care for a child under eighteen years old of the employee who has a terminal health condition.

(b) An employee is entitled to twenty-four hours of family leave during any twelve-month period to:

(i) Participate in kindergarten through twelfth grade school activities directly related to the educational advancement of the employee's child, such as parent-teacher conferences or interviewing for a new school;

(ii) Accompany a child under age eighteen years old of the employee to receive medically necessary services from a provider licensed under chapter 18.130 RCW or care for a child under age eighteen years old of the employee with a health condition that requires treatment or supervision; or

(iii) Accompany a parent or grandparent to receive medically necessary services from a provider licensed under chapter 18.130 RCW or examine a long-term care facility in order that a parent or grandparent receives medically necessary services.

(c) Leave under ((~~subsection (1)~~))(a)(i) of this ((~~section~~)) subsection shall be completed within twelve months after the birth or placement for adoption, as applicable. An employee is entitled to leave under ((~~subsection (1)(b)~~)) (a)(ii) of this ((~~section~~)) subsection only once for any given child.

(d) Subsection (1)(b) of this section does not apply to an employee who is, year-round, in a flexible or compressed work schedule or a job-sharing program.

(2) Family leave may be taken on a reduced leave schedule subject to the approval of the employer.

(3) The leave required by this section may be unpaid. If an employer provides paid family leave for fewer than twelve workweeks, the additional workweeks of leave added to attain the twelve-workweek total may be unpaid. An employer may require an employee to first use up the employee's total accumulation of leave to which the employee is otherwise entitled before going on family leave; however, except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, nothing in this section requires more than twelve total workweeks of leave during any twenty-four month period. An employer is not required to allow an employee to use the employee's other leave in place of the leave provided under this chapter.

(4) The leave required by this section is in addition to any leave for sickness or temporary disability because of pregnancy or childbirth.

(5) An employer may limit or deny family leave under subsection (1)(a) of this section to either: (a) Up to ten percent of the employer's workforce in the state designated as key personnel by the employer. Any designation made under this section shall take effect thirty days after it is issued and may be changed no more than once in any twelve-month period. An employer shall not designate key personnel on the basis of age or gender or for the purpose of evading the requirements of this chapter. No employee may be designated as key personnel after giving notice of intent to take leave pursuant to RCW 49.78.040. The designation shall be in writing and shall be displayed in a conspicuous place; or (b) if the employer does not designate key personnel, the highest paid ten percent of the employer's employees in the state.

Sec. 4. RCW 49.78.040 and 1989 1st ex.s. c 11 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) An employee planning to take family leave under RCW 49.78.030(1)(a)(i) shall provide the employer with written notice at least thirty days in advance of the anticipated date of delivery or placement for adoption, stating the dates during which the employee intends to take family leave. The employee shall adhere to the dates stated in the notice unless:

(a) The birth is premature;

(b) The mother is incapacitated due to birth such that she is unable to care for the child;

(c) The employee takes physical custody of the newly adopted child at an unanticipated time and is unable to give notice thirty days in advance; or

(d) The employer and employee agree to alter the dates of family leave stated in the notice.

(2) In cases of premature birth, incapacity, or unanticipated placement for adoption referred to in subsection (1) of this section, the employee must give notice of revised dates of family leave as soon as possible but at least within one working day of the birth or placement for adoption or incapacitation of the mother.

(3) If family leave under RCW 49.78.030(1) (a)(ii) or (b) is foreseeable, the employee shall provide the employer with written notice at least fourteen days in advance of the expected leave and shall make a reasonable effort to schedule the leave so as not to unduly disrupt the operations of the employer. If family leave under RCW 49.78.030(1) (a)(ii) or (b) is not foreseeable fourteen or more days before the leave is to take place, the employee shall notify the employer of the expected leave as soon as possible, but at least within one working day of the beginning of the leave.

(4) If the employee fails to give the notice required by this section, the employer may reduce or increase the family leave required by this chapter by three weeks.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 49.78 RCW to read as follows:

Nothing in chapter . . ., Laws of 1997 (this act) shall be construed to reduce any provision in a collective bargaining agreement.