AN ACT Relating to employment in house-to-house sales; amending RCW 49.12.170; adding new sections to chapter 49.12 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) No person under sixteen years of age may be employed in house-to-house sales.

(2) No person sixteen or seventeen years of age may be employed in house-to-house sales unless the employer:

(a) Obtains and maintains a validated registration certificate issued by the department. Application for registration shall be made on a form prescribed by the director, which shall include but not be limited to:

(i) The employer's name, permanent address, and telephone number;

(ii) The employer's social security number and industrial insurance number or, in lieu of these numbers, the employer's unified business identifier account number; and

(iii) A description of the work to be performed by persons aged sixteen or seventeen and the working conditions under which the work will be performed;

(b) Provides each employee sixteen or seventeen years of age, before beginning work, an identification card in a form prescribed by the director. The card shall include, but not be limited to, a picture of the employee, the employee's name, the name and address of the employer, a statement that the employer is registered with the department of labor and industries, and the registration number. The person employed in house-to-house sales shall show the identification card to each customer or potential customer of the person;

(c) Ensures supervision by a person aged twenty-one years or over during all working hours, with each supervisor responsible for no more than five persons; and

(d) If transporting an employee sixteen or seventeen years of age to another state, obtains the express written consent of the employee's parent or legal guardian.

(3) An employer may not employ a person sixteen or seventeen years of age in house-to-house sales after the hour of nine p.m.

(4) The department shall adopt by rule procedures for the renewal, denial, or revocation of registrations required by this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) Any person advertising to recruit or employ a person under the age of twenty-one in house-to-house sales shall:

(a) Register with the department as provided in section 1(2)(a) of this act; and

(b) Include the following information in any advertisement:

(i) The registration number required by subsection (1)(a) of this section;

(ii) The specific nature of the employment and the product or services to be sold;

(iii) The average monthly compensation paid in the previous six months to new employees, taking into account any deductions made pursuant to the employment contract.

(2) Advertising to recruit or employ a person in house-to-house sales shall not be false, misleading, or deceptive.

(3) Any person who violates this section shall be subject to the penalties under RCW 49.12.170.

(4) No publisher, radio broadcast licensee, advertising agency, or agency or medium for the dissemination of an advertisement may be subject to penalties by reason of dissemination of any false, misleading, or deceptive advertisement, or for an advertisement that fails to meet the requirements of subsection (1) of this section, unless he or she has refused on the request of the director to furnish the name and address of the person purchasing the advertising.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. For the purposes of sections 1 and 2 of this act:

(1) "Employ" includes to engage, suffer, or permit to work, but does not include voluntary or donated services performed for no compensation, or without expectation or contemplation of compensation as the adequate consideration for the services performed, for an educational, charitable, religious, state, or local government body or agency, or nonprofit organization.

(2) "House-to-house sales" includes making sales or other transaction in consumer goods, demonstrating products or equipment, obtaining orders for consumer goods, or obtaining contracts for services.

Sec. 4. Section 17, chapter 174, Laws of 1913 as amended by section 16, chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess. and RCW 49.12.170 are each amended to read as follows:

Any employer employing any person for whom a minimum wage or standards, conditions, and hours of labor have been specified, at less than said minimum wage, or under standards, or conditions of labor or at hours of labor prohibited by this chapter or the rules ((~~and regulations of the committee; or violating any other of the provisions of this 1973 amendatory act,~~)) adopted under this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred twenty-five dollars nor more than ((~~one~~)) five thousand dollars for each violation.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The department shall administer sections 1 through 3 of this act and shall adopt rules to implement those provisions.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 1 through 3 and 5 of this act are each added to chapter 49.12 RCW.