Passed by the House February 9, 2012 Yeas 97   ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate February 29, 2012 Yeas 49   ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Barbara Baker, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 2393 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2012 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/13/12. Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
AN ACT Relating to federal new hire reporting requirements; and amending RCW 26.23.040.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 26.23.040 and 1998 c 160 s 5 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) All employers doing business in the state of Washington shall
report to the Washington state support registry:
(a) The hiring of any person who resides or works in this state to
whom the employer anticipates paying earnings and who:
(i) Has not previously been employed by the employer; or
(ii) Was previously employed by the employer but has been separated
from such employment for at least sixty consecutive days; and
(b) ((The rehiring or return to work of any employee who was laid
off, furloughed, separated, granted a leave without pay, or terminated
from employment)) The date on which the employee first performed
services for pay for the employer, or, in the case of an employee
described in (a)(ii) of this subsection the date on which the employee
returned to perform services for pay after a layoff, furlough,
separation, or leave without pay.
The secretary of the department of social and health services may
adopt rules to establish additional exemptions if needed to reduce
unnecessary or burdensome reporting.
(2) Employers ((may)) shall report ((by mailing the employee's copy
of the)) to the extent practicable by W-4 form, or, at the option of
the employer, an equivalent form, and may mail the form by first-class
mail, or may transmit it electronically, or by other means authorized
by the registry which will result in timely reporting.
(3) Employers shall submit reports within twenty days of the
hiring, rehiring, or return to work of the employee, except as provided
in subsection (4) of this section. The report shall contain:
(a) The employee's name, address, social security number, and date
of birth; and
(b) The employer's name, address, and identifying number assigned
under section 6109 of the internal revenue code of 1986.
(4) In the case of an employer transmitting reports magnetically or
electronically, the employer shall report ((newly hired)) those
employees ((by)) described in subsection (1) of this section, in two
monthly transmissions, if necessary, not less than twelve days nor more
than sixteen days apart.
(5) An employer who fails to report as required under this section
shall be subject to a civil penalty of:
(a) Twenty-five dollars per month per employee; or
(b) Five hundred dollars, if the failure to report is the result of
a conspiracy between the employer and the employee not to supply the
required report, or to supply a false report. All violations within a
single month shall be considered a single violation for purposes of
assessing the penalty. The penalty may be imposed and collected by the
division of child support under RCW 74.20A.350.
(6) The registry shall retain the information for a particular
employee only if the registry is responsible for establishing,
enforcing, or collecting a support debt of the employee. The registry
may, however, retain information for a particular employee for as long
as may be necessary to:
(a) Transmit the information to the national directory of new hires
as required under federal law; or
(b) Provide the information to other state agencies for comparison
with records or information possessed by those agencies as required by
law.
Information that is not permitted to be retained shall be promptly
destroyed. Agencies that obtain information from the department of
social and health services under this section shall maintain the
confidentiality of the information received, except as necessary to
implement the agencies' responsibilities.