S-0178.3  _______________________________________________

 

                         SENATE BILL 5738

          _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

 

By Senators Horn, Haugen, Schow, Wood, McDonald and Winsley

 

Read first time 02/10/97.  Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

Requiring that terminated employees be paid within five days of the last date of employment and prohibiting employers from requiring employees to turn over tips.


    AN ACT Relating to compensation for employment; amending RCW 49.48.010; and adding a new section to chapter 49.46 RCW.

 

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:

    When any employee shall cease to work for an employer, whether by discharge or by voluntary withdrawal, the wages due him on account of his employment shall be paid to him ((at the end of the established pay period)) in full no later than five days from the last date of employment:  PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That this paragraph shall 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 the duty to pay an employee forthwith shall not apply if the labor-management agreement under which the employee has been employed provides otherwise.

    It shall be unlawful for any employer to withhold or divert any portion of an employee's wages unless the deduction is:

    (1) Required by state or federal law; or

    (2) Specifically agreed upon orally or in writing by the employee and employer; or

    (3) For medical, surgical or hospital care or service, pursuant to any rule or regulation:  PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That the deduction is openly, clearly and in due course recorded in the employer's books and records.

    Paragraph ((three)) two of this section 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 employees or former employees.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 49.46 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) All tips given to a tipped employee by a customer are the property of that employee, and the employer may not require that the tip be given to the employer.  However, the employer may consider the tips as wages to be used toward satisfying the requirements of RCW 49.46.020 with respect to the amount that the minimum wage rate in effect under RCW 49.46.020 exceeds four dollars and ninety cents per hour.  The amount of tips considered as wages by an employer shall not exceed the value of tips actually received by the employee.

    (2) This section does not prohibit the pooling of tips among employees who customarily and regularly receive tips.

    (3) For the purposes of this section, "tipped employee" means any employee engaged in an occupation in which he or she customarily and regularly receives more than thirty dollars a month in tips.

 


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