BILL REQ. #:  H-0686.1 

Read first time 01/21/2003.   Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

     AN ACT Relating to requiring minimum paid time off from employment; amending RCW 49.12.005, 49.12.280, 49.12.285, 49.12.287, and 49.12.290; adding new sections to chapter 49.12 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   FINDINGS AND INTENT. The legislature finds that paid time off from employment is critical to the economic well-being of the state and its workers. The majority of parents, even of the youngest children, are now in the work force. The average work week continues to lengthen. The population is aging, which puts more pressure on workers to care for ailing family members. Paid time off helps workers maintain their own health, care for their families, and maintain financial stability. It also helps employers retain trained workers and operate competitively, and ensures that workers remain productive members of the work force, and not face poverty or dependence on public programs.
     The legislature intends to require employers to provide workers with a minimum amount of paid time off, to allow employers to adopt reasonable policies concerning the administration of paid time off, and to encourage employers to adopt or retain leave policies more generous than the minimum requirements of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   MINIMUM PAID TIME OFF. (1) An employee shall accrue at least forty hours of paid time off for each six months of full-time work for an employer, or a proportionate amount of paid time off for each six months of less than full-time work.
     (2) An employee is entitled to take paid time off only after completing the first six consecutive months of work for an employer. An employee taking paid time off shall comply with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement or employer policy applicable to the purpose for which the leave is taken.

Sec. 3   RCW 49.12.005 and 1998 c 334 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     DEFINITIONS. For the purposes of this chapter:
     (1) The term "department" means the department of labor and industries.
     (2) The term "director" means the director of the department of labor and industries, or the director's designated representative.
     (3) The term "employer" means 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 employs one or more employees and for the purposes of RCW 49.12.270 through 49.12.295 ((and)), 49.12.450, and section 2 of this act also includes the state, any state institution, any state agency, political subdivisions of the state, and any municipal corporation or quasi-municipal corporation.
     (4) The term "employee" means an employee who is employed in the business of the employee's employer whether by way of manual labor or otherwise.
     (5) The term "conditions of labor" shall mean and include the conditions of rest and meal periods for employees including provisions for personal privacy, practices, methods and means by or through which labor or services are performed by employees and includes bona fide physical qualifications in employment, but shall not include conditions of labor otherwise governed by statutes and rules and regulations relating to industrial safety and health administered by the department.
     (6) For the purpose of chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess. a minor is defined to be a person of either sex under the age of eighteen years.
     (7) For the purpose of section 2 of this act, the term "full-time work" means the same as in the applicable collective bargaining agreement, or in the absence of an agreement, a work week of forty hours.
     (8) For the purpose of section 2 of this act, the term "paid time off" means leave from employment with full pay for illness, family care, bereavement, vacation, or personal holiday.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   POSTER. The department of labor and industries shall include notice of the provisions of this act in each reprinting of the poster required under RCW 49.12.275.

Sec. 5   RCW 49.12.280 and 1988 c 236 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT. The department shall administer and investigate violations of RCW 49.12.270 ((and)), 49.12.275, and section 2 of this act.

Sec. 6   RCW 49.12.285 and 1988 c 236 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     INFRACTIONS AND PENALTIES. The department may issue a notice of infraction if the department reasonably believes that an employer has failed to comply with RCW 49.12.270 ((or)), 49.12.275, or section 2 of this act. The form of the notice of infraction shall be adopted by rule pursuant to chapter 34.05 RCW. An employer who is found to have committed an infraction under RCW 49.12.270 ((or)), 49.12.275, or section 2 of this act may be assessed a monetary penalty not to exceed two hundred dollars for each violation. An employer who repeatedly violates RCW 49.12.270 ((or)), 49.12.275, or section 2 of this act may be assessed a monetary penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars for each violation. For purposes of this section, the failure to comply with RCW 49.12.275 as to an employee ((or)), the failure to comply with RCW 49.12.270 as to a period of leave sought by an employee, or the failure to comply with any requirement of section 2 of this act shall each constitute separate violations. An employer has twenty days to appeal the notice of infraction. Any appeal of a violation determined to be an infraction shall be heard and determined by an administrative law judge. Monetary penalties collected under this section shall be deposited into the general fund.

Sec. 7   RCW 49.12.287 and 2002 c 243 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     NONDISCRIMINATION. An employer shall not discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend, discipline, or otherwise discriminate against an employee because the employee: (1) Has exercised, or attempted to exercise, any right provided under RCW 49.12.270 through 49.12.295 or section 2 of this act; or (2) has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any proceeding under RCW 49.12.270 through 49.12.295 or section 2 of this act.

Sec. 8   RCW 49.12.290 and 1988 c 236 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. Nothing in RCW 49.12.270 through 49.12.295 or section 2 of this act shall be construed to reduce any provision in a collective bargaining agreement.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9   OTHER LAWS. (1) The rights under section 2 of this act are not in addition to any other rights provided by law.
     (2) Nothing in section 2 of this act shall be construed to discourage employers from adopting policies which provide greater leave rights to employees than those required by section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   CODIFICATION. Sections 1, 2, 4, and 9 of this act are each added to chapter 49.12 RCW.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 11   CAPTIONS NOT LAW. Captions used in this act are not any part of the law.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 12   SEVERABILITY. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.