FINAL BILL REPORT
SB 6197
This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent. |
C 57 L 18
Synopsis as Enacted
Brief Description: Regarding an employer's payment of indebtedness upon the death of an employee.
Sponsors: Senators Keiser, Baumgartner, Hasegawa and Conway.
Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce
House Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards
Background: Following an employee's death, a private employer is required to pay the decedent's survivors monies owing to the decedent if:
the amount is owed for the decedent's work, a limit of $2,500;
the surviving spouse requests payment of the amount due; and
no executor or administrator of the decedent's estate has been appointed.
If there is no surviving spouse, the monies are paid upon request of any child or children, or if none, upon the request of a parent. If the decedent's estate is subsequently probated, the amount exceeding $2,500 is released to the executor and distributed according to the order of distribution entered by the court.
The maximum amount that the state, as a decedent's employer, is authorized to pay the decedent's survivors for the decedent's work is currently $13,500. This amount is based on the increase in the consumer price index, as authorized in statute, and determined by the Director of the Office of Financial Management.
Municipal corporations are included in the definition of employer and as a result are limited to $2,500 in payments for monies owed to decedent employee's survivors.
Summary: Municipal corporations are added to the provision that allows the state to pay monies owing to a decedent employee's survivors.
Municipal corporation is defined to mean any city, town, county, water-sewer district, school district, port district, public utility district, metropolitan municipal corporation, public transportation benefit area, park and recreation district, irrigation district, fire protection district or any other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation described as such by statute, or regional transit authority.
The statutory limit on the payments made by the public employers is removed, allowing the state and municipal corporations to pay all indebtedness owing to a decedent employee's survivors.
Votes on Final Passage:
Senate | 47 | 0 | |
House | 98 | 0 |
Effective: | June 7, 2018 |