BILL REQ. #:  Z-0780.3 

Read first time 01/18/08.   Referred to Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs.

     AN ACT Relating to leave sharing for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking; amending RCW 41.04.655 and 41.04.660; and reenacting and amending RCW 41.04.665.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 41.04.655 and 2003 1st sp.s. c 12 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout RCW 41.04.650 through 41.04.670, 28A.400.380, and section 7, chapter 93, Laws of 1989.
     (1) "Domestic violence" means: (a) Physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or the infliction of fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, or assault, between family or household members as defined in RCW 26.50.010; (b) sexual assault of one family or household member by another family or household member; or (c) stalking as defined in RCW 9A.46.110 of one family or household member by another family or household member.
     (2) "Employee" means any employee of the state, including employees of school districts and educational service districts, who are entitled to accrue sick leave or annual leave and for whom accurate leave records are maintained.
     (((2))) (3) "Program" means the leave sharing program established in RCW 41.04.660.
     (((3))) (4) "Service in the uniformed services" means the performance of duty on a voluntary or involuntary basis in a uniformed service under competent authority and includes active duty, active duty for training, initial active duty for training, inactive duty training, full-time national guard duty including state-ordered active duty, and a period for which a person is absent from a position of employment for the purpose of an examination to determine the fitness of the person to perform any such duty.
     (((4))) (5) "Sexual assault" has the same meaning as set forth in RCW 70.125.030.
     (6) "Stalking" has the same meaning as set forth in RCW 9A.46.110.
     (7) "State agency" or "agency" means departments, offices, agencies, or institutions of state government, the legislature, institutions of higher education, school districts, and educational service districts.
     (((5))) (8) "Uniformed services" means the armed forces, the army national guard, and the air national guard of any state, territory, commonwealth, possession, or district when engaged in active duty for training, inactive duty training, full-time national guard duty, or state active duty, the commissioned corps of the public health service, the coast guard, and any other category of persons designated by the president of the United States in time of war or national emergency.
     (9) "Victim" means a person against whom domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking has been committed as defined in this section.

Sec. 2   RCW 41.04.660 and 2003 1st sp.s. c 12 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     The Washington state leave sharing program is hereby created. The purpose of the program is to permit state employees, at no significantly increased cost to the state of providing annual leave, sick leave, or personal holidays, to come to the aid of a fellow state employee who is suffering from or has a relative or household member suffering from an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition((,)); a fellow state employee who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; or a fellow state employee who has been called to service in the uniformed services, which has caused or is likely to cause the employee to take leave without pay or terminate his or her employment.

Sec. 3   RCW 41.04.665 and 2007 c 454 s 1 and 2007 c 25 s 2 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     (1) An agency head may permit an employee to receive leave under this section if:
     (a)(i) The employee suffers from, or has a relative or household member suffering from, an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition which is of an extraordinary or severe nature;
     (ii) The employee has been called to service in the uniformed services; ((or))
     (iii) A state of emergency has been declared anywhere within the United States by the federal or any state government and the employee has needed skills to assist in responding to the emergency or its aftermath and volunteers his or her services to either a governmental agency or to a nonprofit organization engaged in humanitarian relief in the devastated area, and the governmental agency or nonprofit organization accepts the employee's offer of volunteer services; or
     (iv) The employee is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking;
     (b) The illness, injury, impairment, condition, call to service, ((or)) emergency volunteer service, or consequence of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking has caused, or is likely to cause, the employee to:
     (i) Go on leave without pay status; or
     (ii) Terminate state employment;
     (c) The employee's absence and the use of shared leave are justified;
     (d) The employee has depleted or will shortly deplete his or her:
     (i) Annual leave and sick leave reserves if he or she qualifies under (a)(i) of this subsection;
     (ii) Annual leave and paid military leave allowed under RCW 38.40.060 if he or she qualifies under (a)(ii) of this subsection; or
     (iii) Annual leave if he or she qualifies under (a)(iii) or (iv) of this subsection;
     (e) The employee has abided by agency rules regarding:
     (i) Sick leave use if he or she qualifies under (a)(i) or (iv) of this subsection; or
     (ii) Military leave if he or she qualifies under (a)(ii) of this subsection; and
     (f) The employee has diligently pursued and been found to be ineligible for benefits under chapter 51.32 RCW if he or she qualifies under (a)(i) of this subsection.
     (2) The agency head shall determine the amount of leave, if any, which an employee may receive under this section. However, an employee shall not receive a total of more than two hundred sixty-one days of leave, except that shared leave received under the uniformed service shared leave pool in RCW 41.04.685 is not included in this total.
     (3) An employee may transfer annual leave, sick leave, and his or her personal holiday, as follows:
     (a) An employee who has an accrued annual leave balance of more than ten days may request that the head of the agency for which the employee works transfer a specified amount of annual leave to another employee authorized to receive leave under subsection (1) of this section. In no event may the employee request a transfer of an amount of leave that would result in his or her annual leave account going below ten days. For purposes of this subsection (3)(a), annual leave does not accrue if the employee receives compensation in lieu of accumulating a balance of annual leave.
     (b) An employee may transfer a specified amount of sick leave to an employee requesting shared leave only when the donating employee retains a minimum of one hundred seventy-six hours of sick leave after the transfer.
     (c) An employee may transfer, under the provisions of this section relating to the transfer of leave, all or part of his or her personal holiday, as that term is defined under RCW 1.16.050, or as such holidays are provided to employees by agreement with a school district's board of directors if the leave transferred under this subsection does not exceed the amount of time provided for personal holidays under RCW 1.16.050.
     (4) An employee of an institution of higher education under RCW 28B.10.016, school district, or educational service district who does not accrue annual leave but does accrue sick leave and who has an accrued sick leave balance of more than twenty-two days may request that the head of the agency for which the employee works transfer a specified amount of sick leave to another employee authorized to receive leave under subsection (1) of this section. In no event may such an employee request a transfer that would result in his or her sick leave account going below twenty-two days. Transfers of sick leave under this subsection are limited to transfers from employees who do not accrue annual leave. Under this subsection, "sick leave" also includes leave accrued pursuant to RCW 28A.400.300(2) or 28A.310.240(1) with compensation for illness, injury, and emergencies.
     (5) Transfers of leave made by an agency head under subsections (3) and (4) of this section shall not exceed the requested amount.
     (6) Leave transferred under this section may be transferred from employees of one agency to an employee of the same agency or, with the approval of the heads of both agencies, to an employee of another state agency. However, leave transferred to or from employees of school districts or educational service districts is limited to transfers to or from employees within the same employing district.
     (7) While an employee is on leave transferred under this section, he or she shall continue to be classified as a state employee and shall receive the same treatment in respect to salary, wages, and employee benefits as the employee would normally receive if using accrued annual leave or sick leave.
     (a) All salary and wage payments made to employees while on leave transferred under this section shall be made by the agency employing the person receiving the leave. The value of leave transferred shall be based upon the leave value of the person receiving the leave.
     (b) In the case of leave transferred by an employee of one agency to an employee of another agency, the agencies involved shall arrange for the transfer of funds and credit for the appropriate value of leave.
     (i) Pursuant to rules adopted by the office of financial management, funds shall not be transferred under this section if the transfer would violate any constitutional or statutory restrictions on the funds being transferred.
     (ii) The office of financial management may adjust the appropriation authority of an agency receiving funds under this section only if and to the extent that the agency's existing appropriation authority would prevent it from expending the funds received.
     (iii) Where any questions arise in the transfer of funds or the adjustment of appropriation authority, the director of financial management shall determine the appropriate transfer or adjustment.
     (8) Leave transferred under this section shall not be used in any calculation to determine an agency's allocation of full time equivalent staff positions.
     (9) The value of any leave transferred under this section which remains unused shall be returned at its original value to the employee or employees who transferred the leave when the agency head finds that the leave is no longer needed or will not be needed at a future time in connection with the illness or injury for which the leave was transferred or for any other qualifying condition. Before the agency head makes a determination to return unused leave in connection with an illness or injury, or any other qualifying condition, he or she must receive from the affected employee a statement from the employee's doctor verifying that the illness or injury is resolved. To the extent administratively feasible, the value of unused leave which was transferred by more than one employee shall be returned on a pro rata basis.
     (10) An employee who uses leave that is transferred to him or her under this section may not be required to repay the value of the leave that he or she used.