(1) Employees accrue paid sick leave for all hours worked. An employee must accrue at least one hour of paid sick leave for every forty hours worked as an employee. Employers may provide employees with a more generous paid sick leave accrual rate.
(2) Paid sick leave for employees who are employed on or before January 1, 2018, will accrue for all hours worked beginning on January 1, 2018. Employees hired after January 1, 2018, begin accruing paid sick leave upon the commencement of his or her employment.
(3) Employers are not required to allow employees to accrue paid sick leave for hours paid when not working. For example, employers are not required to allow employees to accrue paid sick leave during vacation, paid time off, or while using paid sick leave.
(4) Employers must allow employees to carry over at least forty hours of accrued, unused paid sick leave to the following year. If an employee carries over forty hours of unused paid sick leave to the following year, accrual of paid sick leave in the subsequent year would be in addition to the forty hours accrued in the previous year and carried over.
(5) Employers may cap carryover of accrued, unused paid sick leave to the following year at forty hours. Employers may allow for a more generous carryover of accrued, unused paid sick leave to the following year.
(6) "Year," for purposes of this section, means calendar year, fiscal year, benefit year, employment year, or any other fixed consecutive twelve-month period established by an employer policy or a collective bargaining agreement, and used in the ordinary course of the employer's business for the purpose of calculating wages and benefits. Unless otherwise established by the employer, the default definition of "year" is calendar year.
[Statutory Authority: RCW
49.46.810. WSR 17-21-092, § 296-128-620, filed 10/17/17, effective 1/1/18.]