AN ACT Relating to the workplace clean air act; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature recognizes the surgeon general's determination that the inhalation of passive tobacco smoke in the workplace causes lung cancer and other diseases in healthy nonsmokers. The legislature also recognizes that an employee's right to a safe workplace includes a workplace free of tobacco smoke. To protect the public health and welfare, the legislature declares that it is the public policy of the state of Washington to provide all employees with a workplace free of tobacco smoke.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The following definitions apply throughout this chapter:

(1) "Employer" means any individual person, group, firm, partnership, association, public or private corporation, company, organization, governmental entity, or other entity that employs the services of an individual person.

(2) "Employee" means any person who is employed by an employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages, salary, or profit.

(3) "Enclosed" means closed in by a roof and walls with appropriate openings for ingress and egress.

(4) "Smoking" includes inhaling, exhaling, burning, smoking, or carrying any lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, or any other lighted smoking equipment for tobacco or any other plant.

(5) "Workplace" means any enclosed area of a structure, or portion thereof, intended for use by employees for any purpose, including, but not limited to, work areas, offices, conference rooms, meeting rooms, hallways, employee lounges, restrooms, stairways, elevators, lunchrooms, and cafeterias.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) Each employer that operates a workplace in this state shall, within three months of the effective date of this act, adopt, implement, enforce, and maintain a written smoking policy that prohibits smoking in the workplace.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, an employer may at its discretion designate a smoking area which is physically separate from areas used by nonsmokers, provided that the designated smoking area:

(a) Is totally enclosed by floor to ceiling walls and a door;

(b) Is not an area in which nonsmoking employees ever need to be physically present for any purpose; and

(c) Contains an independent ventilation system with adequate capacity to prevent the infiltration of tobacco smoke into other areas of the workplace.

(3) No employer is required to designate such a smoking area, and nothing in this chapter shall prevent an employer from totally prohibiting smoking in all workplace areas.

(4) Each employer shall, within two weeks of adoption of the smoking policy, announce the policy to all employers and post it conspicuously in all of the employer's workplaces.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. An employer that violates section 3 or 6 of this act is liable for a civil penalty of five hundred dollars which shall be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought by the city or town attorney or county prosecuting attorney in the name of the state in any court of competent jurisdiction. Each day the violation is committed or permitted to continue constitutes and is punishable as a separate offense. Any penalty assessed and recovered in an action brought pursuant to this section shall be paid to the city, town, or county bringing the action. The city or town attorney or county prosecuting attorney may also bring a civil action for an injunction to enjoin further violations of this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Any employee aggrieved by a violation of this chapter may bring a civil action against the employer for damages caused by such violation or for an injunction to enjoin further violations of this chapter. An employee who prevails in such a civil action shall be awarded, in addition to any other relief, his or her reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. It shall be unlawful for any employer to retaliate against or in any manner discriminate against any employee because such employee exercises any rights under or seeks compliance with any provisions of this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. This chapter shall be known and cited as the Washington workplace clean air act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. 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.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. Sections 1 through 8 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.