WSR 14-13-052
PREPROPOSAL STATEMENT OF INQUIRY
OFFICE OF
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
[Filed June 12, 2014, 8:18 a.m.]
Subject of Possible Rule Making: Implementation of SSB 5173 – Respecting holidays of faith and conscience.
Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: Chapter 168, Laws of 2014 (SSB 5173).
Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: SSB 5173 allows employees of the state and its political subdivisions two unpaid holidays per calendar year for [a] reason of faith or conscience or an organized activity conducted under the auspices of a religious denomination, church, or religious organization. The employer must allow the employee to take this leave unless the employee's absence would impose an "undue hardship" on the employer. The office of financial management was provided authority to establish by rule the meaning of "undue hardship."
Other Federal and State Agencies that Regulate this Subject and the Process Coordinating the Rule with These Agencies: United States Department of Labor, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Washington state human rights commission all regulate in this area. Each agency will be added to the stakeholder list and sent correspondence of all rule-making activities.
Process for Developing New Rule: Early solicitation of comments and recommendations will be sought, and draft rules will be sent to a list of stakeholders as well as presented for discussion at stakeholder meetings to solicit comments and recommendations prior to publication of the rules for the rule-making hearing.
Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Kristie Wilson, State HR Rules and Policy Coordinator, Office of Financial Management, P.O. Box 47500, Olympia, WA 98504-7500, phone (360) 902-0483 or e-mail kristie.wilson@ofm.wa.gov.
Roselyn Marcus
Assistant Director
Legal and Legislative Affairs
Rule[s] Coordinator
[NEW SECTION]
WAC 82-56-010 Purpose
(1) Chapter 168, laws of 2014 provides that state and political subdivision employees are entitled to two unpaid holidays per calendar year for a reason of faith or conscience or an organized activity conducted under the auspices of a religious denomination, church, or religious organization. The employer must allow the employee to take unpaid leave for up to two such holidays unless the employee's absence would impose an undue hardship on the employer or the employee is necessary to maintain public safety. Chapter 168, Laws of 2014 directs the director of the office of financial management to establish the definition of "undue hardship" by rule.
(2) The purpose of this chapter is to establish the definition of "undue hardship" for purposes of chapter 168, laws of 2014.
(3) This chapter applies to employees of the state and its political subdivisions, including:
(a) Employees of school districts;
(b) Nonclassified employees of institutions of higher education who hold appointments or are employed under contracts to perform services for periods of less than twelve consecutive months;
(c) Employees of public institutions of higher education; and
(d) Employees of community colleges, technical colleges, and workforce training programs.
Reviser's note: The bracketed material preceding the section above was supplied by the code reviser's office.
[NEW SECTION]
WAC 82-56-020 Definition of undue hardship
For purposes of chapter 168, laws of 2014, "undue hardship" means an action requiring significant difficulty or expense to the employer. The following factors should be considered in determining whether approving unpaid leave results in an undue hardship to the employer:
(1) The number, composition, and structure of staff employed by the employing entity or in the requesting employee's program.
(2) The financial resources of the employing entity or the requesting employee's program.
(3) The number of employees requesting leave for each day subject to such a request.
(4) The financial impact on the employing entity or requesting employee's program resulting from the employee's absence and whether that impact is greater than a de minimus cost to the employer in relation to the size of the employing entity or requesting employee's program.
(5) Impact on the employing entity, the requesting employee's program or public safety.
(6) Type of operations of the employing entity or requesting employee's program.
(7) Geographic location of the employee or geographic separation of the particular program to the operations of the employing entity.
(8) Nature of the employee's work.
(9) Deprivation of another employee's job preference or other benefit guaranteed by a bona fide seniority system or collective bargaining agreement.
(10) Any other impact on the employing entity's operation or requesting employee's program due to the employee's absence.
Reviser's note: The bracketed material preceding the section above was supplied by the code reviser's office.
[NEW SECTION]
WAC 82-56-030 Application of definition of undue hardship to request
(1) In determining whether the employee's absence would result in an undue hardship to the employing entity, the employer must make a case by case determination based on the specific objective facts and circumstances, not assumed information, present at the time of each request.
(2)(a) The existence of a collective bargaining agreement or bona fide seniority system does not in and of itself relieve the employing entity from determining whether there would be an undue hardship if the request was granted.
(b) When an employee is represented by a union, in determining whether the employee's absence would result in an undue hardship, the request must be reconciled, when feasible, with the provisions of the applicable collective bargaining agreement.
(c) If the employee is covered under a collective bargaining agreement, the employing agency must determine whether the request can be granted without violating that agreement.
Reviser's note: The bracketed material preceding the section above was supplied by the code reviser's office.