| Passed by the House February 11, 2005 Yeas 92 FRANK CHOPP ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 6, 2005 Yeas 48 BRAD OWEN ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Richard Nafziger, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 1625 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. RICHARD NAFZIGER ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
| Approved April 21, 2005. CHRISTINE GREGOIRE ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | April 21, 2005 - 3:09 p.m. Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2005 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/31/2005. Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
AN ACT Relating to employer disclosure of employee information; and adding a new section to chapter 4.24 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 A new section is added to chapter 4.24 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) An employer who discloses information about a former or current
employee to a prospective employer, or employment agency as defined by
RCW 49.60.040, at the specific request of that individual employer or
employment agency, is presumed to be acting in good faith and is immune
from civil and criminal liability for such disclosure or its
consequences if the disclosed information relates to: (a) The
employee's ability to perform his or her job; (b) the diligence, skill,
or reliability with which the employee carried out the duties of his or
her job; or (c) any illegal or wrongful act committed by the employee
when related to the duties of his or her job.
(2) The employer should retain a written record of the identity of
the person or entity to which information is disclosed under this
section for a minimum of two years from the date of disclosure. The
employee or former employee has a right to inspect any such written
record upon request and any such written record shall become part of
the employee's personnel file, subject to the provisions of chapter
49.12 RCW.
(3) For the purposes of this section, the presumption of good faith
may only be rebutted upon a showing by clear and convincing evidence
that the information disclosed by the employer was knowingly false,
deliberately misleading, or made with reckless disregard for the truth.