(1) The department may issue a provisional certification to a long-term care worker who is limited-English proficient and submits:

(a) A request for a provisional certification; and

(b) Verification of his or her date of hire as a long-term care worker, as follows:

(i) For individual providers, verification of the applicant's date of hire submitted directly by the department of social and health services; or

(ii) For all other applicants, a form supplied by the department and completed by the employer who hired the applicant as a long-term care worker, verifying the applicant's date of hire.

(2) A provisional certification will be issued only once.

(3) A provisional certification will take effect two hundred days from the applicant's date of hire as a long-term care worker, as defined in WAC 246-980-010(2).

(4) A provisional certification will expire two hundred sixty days from the applicant's date of hire as a long-term care worker. The applicant must stop working on the two hundred sixtieth day of employment if the certification has not been granted for any reason.

(5) A request for provisional certification may be denied pursuant to chapter 18.130 RCW, the Uniform Disciplinary Act, or based on RCW 18.88B.080.

(6) For the purposes of this section, "limited-English proficient" means that an individual is limited in his or her ability to read, write, or speak English.