(1) A position is eligible if it meets the criteria of an eligible position under RCW 41.35.010.

(2) Your employer will evaluate your position's eligibility for a particular year at the beginning of the year unless you are working as an on-call substitute.

(3) Your employer may reclassify a position's eligibility based upon its work history.

(a) If your employer declares a position to be ineligible at the beginning of a year, and by the end of the year it has actually required five or more months of seventy or more hours of compensated service, your employer will review the position's eligibility. If at the end of the first year:

(i) Your employer believes the position meets the requirements for an eligible position and declares the position as eligible, your employer will report your hours and compensation to the department effective prospectively from the date your employer makes the determination that the position is eligible; or

(ii) Your employer believes that the position will not meet the criteria for an eligible position during the next year, your employer may continue to define it as ineligible. However, if during the next year, the position actually requires five or more months of seventy or more hours of compensated service, your employer will declare the position as eligible. Once the position is reclassified as eligible, your employer will report your hours and compensation to the department retroactively from the first month of the first year that the position required seventy or more hours of compensated service.

(b) If the position has been classified as eligible, but does not require five or more months of seventy or more hours of compensated service during at least one year in any two-year period, your employer will reclassify it as ineligible.

(4) The department may reclassify a position's eligibility if the history of the position shows it has required five or more months of seventy or more hours of compensated service for a period of two consecutive years. Once the position is reclassified as eligible, your employer will report your hours and compensation to the department retroactively from the first month of the first year that the position required seventy or more hours of compensated service.