(1) "Absences exceeding three days" means absences exceeding three consecutive days an employee is required to work. For example, assume an employee is required to work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and then the employee uses paid sick leave for any portion of those three work days in a row. If the employee uses paid sick leave again on the following Monday, the employee would have absences exceeding three days.

(2) "Commencement of his or her employment" means no later than the beginning of the first day on which the employee is authorized or required by the employer to be on duty on the employer's premises or at a prescribed workplace.

(3) "Department" means the department of labor and industries.

(4) "Director" means the director of the department of labor and industries, or the director's authorized representative.

(5) "Employee" has the same meaning as RCW 49.46.010(3).

(6) "Employer" has the same meaning as RCW 49.46.010(4).

(7) "Frontloading" means providing an employee with paid sick leave before it has accrued at the rate required by RCW 49.46.210 (1)(a).

(8) "Health-related reason" means a serious public health concern that could result in bodily injury or exposure to an infectious agent, biological toxin, or hazardous material. Health-related reason does not include closures for inclement weather.

(9) "Hours worked" shall be interpreted in the same manner as WAC 296-126-002(8).

(10) "Normal hourly compensation" means the hourly rate that an employee would have earned for the time during which the employee used paid sick leave. For employees who use paid sick leave for hours that would have been overtime hours if worked, employers are not required to apply overtime standards to an employee's normal hourly compensation. Normal hourly compensation does not include tips, gratuities, service charges, holiday pay, or other premium rates, unless the employer or a collective bargaining agreement allow for such considerations. However, where an employee's normal hourly compensation is a differential rate, meaning a different rate paid for the same work performed under differing conditions (e.g., a night shift), the differential rate is not a premium rate.

(11) "Regular and normal wage" has the same meaning as normal hourly compensation.

(12) "Separation" and "separates from employment" mean the end of the last day an employee is authorized or required by the employer to be on duty on the employer's premises or at a prescribed workplace.

(13) "Verification" means evidence that establishes or confirms that an employee's use of paid sick leave is for an authorized purpose under RCW 49.46.210 (1)(b) and (c).

(14) "Workweek" means a fixed and regularly recurring period of one hundred sixty-eight hours, or seven consecutive twenty-four hour periods. It may begin on any day of the week and any hour of the day, and need not coincide with a calendar week.