BILL REQ. #:  S-0784.1 

Read first time 01/28/11.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     AN ACT Relating to direct deposit of salaries; and amending RCW 41.04.240 and 42.16.010.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 41.04.240 and 1977 ex.s. c 269 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     Any official of the state or of any political subdivision, municipal corporation, or quasi municipal corporation authorized to disburse funds in payment of salaries and wages of employees ((is authorized upon written request of at least twenty-five employees to)) shall pay all ((or part of)) such salaries or wages to any financial institution for either: (1) Credit to the employees' accounts in such financial institution; or (2) immediate transfer therefrom to the employees' accounts in any other financial institutions((: PROVIDED, That nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing any employer to require the employees to have an account in any particular financial institution or type of financial institution)). All employees shall designate a financial institution to receive the payment of salaries and wages. A single warrant may be drawn in favor of such financial institution, for the total amount due the employees involved, and written directions provided to such financial institution of the amount to be credited to the account of an employee or to be transferred to an account in another financial institution for such employee. The issuance and delivery by the disbursing officer of a warrant in accordance with the procedure set forth herein and proper indorsement thereof by the financial institution shall have the same legal effect as payment directly to the employee.
     For the purposes of this section "financial institution" means any bank or trust company established in this state pursuant to chapter 2, Title 12, United States Code, or Title 30 RCW, and any credit union established in this state pursuant to chapter 14, Title 12, United States Code, or chapter 31.12 RCW, and any mutual savings bank established in this state pursuant to Title 32 RCW, and any savings and loan association established in this state pursuant to chapter 12, Title 12, United States Code, or Title 33 RCW.

Sec. 2   RCW 42.16.010 and 2008 c 186 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Except as provided otherwise in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, all state officers and employees shall be paid for services rendered from the first day of the month through the fifteenth day of the month and for services rendered from the sixteenth day of the month through the last calendar day of the month. Paydates for these two pay periods shall be established by the director of financial management through the administrative hearing process and the official paydates shall be established six months prior to the beginning of each subsequent calendar year. Under no circumstance shall the paydate be established more than ten days after the pay period in which the wages are earned except when the designated paydate falls on Sunday, in which case the paydate shall not be later than the following Monday. Payment shall be deemed to have been made by the established paydates if((: (a) The salary warrant is available at the geographic work location at which the warrant is normally available to the employee; or (b))) the salary has been electronically transferred into the employee's account at the employee's designated financial institution((; or (c) the salary warrants are mailed at least two days before the established paydate for those employees engaged in work in remote or varying locations from the geographic location at which the payroll is prepared, provided that the employee has requested payment by mail)) as provided in RCW 41.04.240.
     The office of financial management shall develop the necessary policies and operating procedures to assure that all remuneration for services rendered including basic salary, shift differential, standby pay, overtime, penalty pay, salary due based on contractual agreements, and special pay provisions, as provided for by law, Washington personnel resources board rules, agency policy or rule, or contract, shall be available to the employee on the designated paydate. Overtime, penalty pay, and special pay provisions may be paid by the next following paydate if the postponement of payment is attributable to: The employee's not making a timely or accurate report of the facts which are the basis for the payment, or the employer's lack of reasonable opportunity to verify the claim.
     Compensable benefits payable because of separation from state service shall be paid with the earnings for the final period worked unless the employee separating has not provided the agency with the proper notification of intent to terminate.
     One-half of the employee's basic monthly salary shall be paid in each pay period. Employees paid on an hourly basis or employees who work less than a full pay period shall be paid for actual salary earned.
     (2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply in instances where it would conflict with contractual rights or, with the approval of the office of financial management, to short-term, intermittent, noncareer state employees, to student employees of institutions of higher education, to national or state guard members participating in state active duty, and to liquor control agency managers who are paid a percentage of monthly liquor sales.
     (3) When a national or state guard member is called to participate in state active duty, the paydate shall be no more than seven days following completion of duty or the end of the pay period, whichever is first. When the seventh day falls on Sunday, the paydate shall not be later than the following Monday. This subsection shall apply only to the pay a national or state guard member receives from the military department for state active duty.
     (4) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2) of this section, a bargained contract at an institution of higher education may include a provision for paying part-time academic employees on a pay schedule that coincides with all the paydays used for full-time academic employees.