AN
ACT Relating to employee wearing apparel; amending RCW 49.12.005; adding a new
section to chapter 49.12 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
49.12.005 and 1994 c 164 s 13 are each amended to read as follows:
For
the purposes of this chapter:
(1)
The term "department" means the department of labor and industries.
(2)
The term "director" means the director of the department of labor and
industries, or the director's designated representative.
(3)
The term "employer" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership,
business trust, legal representative, or other business entity which engages in
any business, industry, profession, or activity in this state and employs one
or more employees and for the purposes of RCW 49.12.270 through 49.12.295 and
section 2 of this act also includes the state, any state institution, any
state agency, political subdivisions of the state, and any municipal
corporation or quasi-municipal corporation.
(4)
The term "employee" means an employee who is employed in the business
of the employee's employer whether by way of manual labor or otherwise.
(5)
The term "conditions of labor" shall mean and include the conditions
of rest and meal periods for employees including provisions for personal
privacy, practices, methods and means by or through which labor or services are
performed by employees and includes bona fide physical qualifications in
employment, but shall not include conditions of labor otherwise governed by
statutes and rules and regulations relating to industrial safety and health
administered by the department.
(6)
For the purpose of chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess. a minor is defined to
be a person of either sex under the age of eighteen years.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. A
new section is added to chapter 49.12 RCW to read as follows:
(1)
Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 49.46 RCW or other provisions of this
chapter, the obligation of an employer to furnish or compensate an employee for
apparel required during work hours shall be determined only under this section.
(2)
Employers are not required to furnish or compensate employees for apparel that
an employer requires an employee to wear during working hours unless the
required apparel is a uniform.
(3)
As used in this section, "uniform" means:
(a)
Apparel of a distinctive style and quality that, when worn outside of the
workplace, clearly identifies the person as an employee of a specific employer;
(b)
Apparel that is specially marked with an employer's logo;
(c)
Unique apparel representing an historical time period or an ethnic tradition;
or
(d)
Formal apparel.
(4)
Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section, if an employer requires
an employee to wear apparel of a common color that conforms to a general dress
code or style, the employer is not required to furnish or compensate an
employee for that apparel. For the purposes of this subsection, "common
color" is limited to the following colors or light or dark variations of
such colors: White, tan, or blue, for tops; and tan, black, blue, or gray, for
bottoms. An employer is permitted to require an employee to obtain two sets of
wearing apparel to accommodate for the seasonal changes in weather which
necessitate a change in wearing apparel.
(5)
If an employer changes the color or colors of apparel required to be worn by
any of his or her employees during a two-year period of time, the employer
shall furnish or compensate the employees for the apparel. The employer shall
be required to furnish or compensate only those employees who are affected by
the change. The two-year time period begins on the date the change in wearing
apparel goes into effect and ends two years from this date. The beginning and
end of the two-year time period applies to all employees regardless of when the
employee is hired.
(6)
The department shall utilize negotiated rule making as defined by RCW
34.05.310(2)(a) in the development and adoption of rules defining apparel that
conforms to a general dress code or style. This subsection expires January 1,
2000.
(7)
For the purposes of this section, personal protective equipment required for
employee protection under chapter 49.17 RCW is not deemed to be employee
wearing apparel.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.
Nothing in this act shall be construed to alter the terms, conditions, or
practices contained in any collective bargaining agreement in effect at the
time of the effective date of this act until the expiration date of such
agreement.
