BILL REQ. #:  H-3079.1 

Read first time 01/22/14.   Referred to Committee on Labor & Workforce Development.

     AN ACT Relating to allowing employers to pay training wages to new employees; amending RCW 49.12.110 and 49.46.060; and adding a new section to chapter 49.46 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 49.46 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The director shall establish procedures for the issuance of special training certificates to employers authorizing employers to pay training wages to new employees. The training wage shall be seventy-five percent of the minimum wage required under RCW 49.46.020 or the minimum wage rate required under federal law, whichever is greater. The training period may last for a maximum of six hundred eighty hours. Employers may only use the special training certificate under this section once per employee.
     (2) If an employer discharges an employee working under the special training certificate prior to the completion of six hundred eighty hours, the employer must notify the director and provide an explanation for the discharge.
     (3) Nothing in this section precludes an employer from also applying for a special certificate under RCW 49.12.110 or 49.46.060 for a particular employee.

Sec. 2   RCW 49.12.110 and 1994 c 164 s 19 are each amended to read as follows:
     For any occupation in which a minimum wage has been established, the director may issue to an employer, a special certificate or permit for an employee who is physically or mentally handicapped to such a degree that he or she is unable to obtain employment in the competitive labor market, or to a trainee or learner not otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the apprenticeship council, a special certificate or permit authorizing the employment of such employee for a wage less than the legal minimum wage; and the director shall fix the minimum wage for said person, such special certificate or permit to be issued only in such cases as the director may decide the same is applied for in good faith and that such certificate or permit shall be in force for such length of time as the director shall decide and determine is proper. Nothing in this section precludes an employer from also applying for a special certificate under section 1 of this act for a particular employee.

Sec. 3   RCW 49.46.060 and 1959 c 294 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     The director, to the extent necessary in order to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment, shall by regulations provide for (1) the employment of learners, of apprentices, and of messengers employed primarily in delivering letters and messages, under special certificates issued pursuant to regulations of the director, at such wages lower than the minimum wage applicable under RCW 49.46.020 and subject to such limitations as to time, number, proportion, and length of service as the director shall prescribe, and (2) the employment of individuals whose earning capacity is impaired by age or physical or mental deficiency or injury, under special certificates issued by the director, at such wages lower than the minimum wage applicable under RCW 49.46.020 and for such period as shall be fixed in such certificates. Nothing in this section precludes an employer from also applying for a special certificate under section 1 of this act for a particular employee.