(1) Employers must notify each employee of their entitlement to paid sick leave, the rate at which the employee will accrue paid sick leave, the authorized purposes under which paid sick leave may be used, and that retaliation by the employer for the employee's lawful use of paid sick leave and other rights provided under chapter 49.46 RCW, and all applicable rules, is prohibited.

(a) Employers must provide such notification in written or electronic form, and must make this information readily available to all employees.

(b) For employees hired on or after January 1, 2018, employers must notify each employee of such rights no later than the commencement of his or her employment. For existing employees as of January 1, 2018, the employer must notify each employee no later than March 1, 2018.

(c) The department shall, in consultation with employee and employer representatives, develop sample notification policies which meet the department's standard for compliance with these rules. The department shall make such sample notification policies available on the department's website.

(2) Not less than monthly, employers must provide each employee with written or electronic notification detailing the amount of paid sick leave accrued and the paid sick leave reductions since the last notification, and any unused paid sick leave available for use by the employee. Employers may satisfy the notification requirements by providing this information in regular payroll statements.

(a) Employers are not required to provide monthly notification to an employee if the employee has no hours worked since the last notification.

(b) If an employer chooses to frontload paid sick leave to an employee in advance of accrual:

(i) The employer must make written or electronic notification to an employee no later than the end of the period for which the frontloaded paid sick leave was intended to cover, establishing that the amount of paid sick leave frontloaded to the employee was at least equal to the accrual rate under RCW 49.46.210 (1)(a); and

(ii) The employer is not relieved of their obligation to provide notification, not less than monthly, of the paid sick leave available for use by the employee.