AN ACT Relating to reimbursement of correctional employees for offender assaults; and amending RCW 72.09.240.

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

Sec. 1.  RCW 72.09.240 and 2002 c 77 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) In recognition of prison overcrowding and the hazardous nature of employment in state correctional institutions and offices, the legislature hereby provides a supplementary program to reimburse employees of the department of corrections and the department of natural resources for some of their costs attributable to their being the victims of offender assaults. This program shall be limited to the reimbursement provided in this section.

(2) An employee is only entitled to receive the reimbursement provided in this section if the secretary of corrections or the commissioner of public lands, or the secretary's or commissioner's designee, finds that each of the following has occurred:

(a) An offender has assaulted the employee while the employee is performing the employee's official duties and as a result thereof the employee has sustained injuries which have required the employee to miss days of work; and

(b) The assault cannot be attributable to any extent to the employee's negligence, misconduct, or failure to comply with any rules or conditions of employment.

(3) The reimbursement authorized under this section shall be as follows:

(a) The employee's accumulated sick leave days shall not be reduced for the workdays missed;

(b) For each workday missed for which the employee is not eligible to receive compensation under chapter 51.32 RCW, the employee shall receive full pay; and

(c) In respect to workdays missed for which the employee will receive or has received compensation under chapter 51.32 RCW, the employee shall be reimbursed in an amount which, when added to that compensation, will result in the employee receiving full pay for the workdays missed.

(4) Reimbursement under this section may not ((last)) continue longer than three hundred sixty-five consecutive days after the date of the injury or the date of termination of time loss benefits related to the assault by the department of labor and industries, whichever is later.

(5) The employee shall not be entitled to the reimbursement provided in subsection (3) of this section for any workday for which the secretary or the commissioner of public lands, or the secretary's or commissioner's designee, finds that the employee has not diligently pursued his or her compensation remedies under chapter 51.32 RCW.

(6) The reimbursement shall only be made for absences which the secretary or the commissioner of public lands, or the secretary's or commissioner's designee, believes are justified.

(7) While the employee is receiving reimbursement under this section, he or she shall continue to be classified as a state employee and the reimbursement amount shall be considered as salary or wages.

(8) All reimbursement payments required to be made to employees under this section shall be made by the department of corrections or the department of natural resources. The payments shall be considered as a salary or wage expense and shall be paid by the department of corrections or the department of natural resources in the same manner and from the same appropriations as other salary and wage expenses of the department of corrections or the department of natural resources.

(9) Should the legislature revoke the reimbursement authorized under this section or repeal this section, no affected employee is entitled thereafter to receive the reimbursement as a matter of contractual right.

(10) For the purposes of this section, "offender" means: (a) Offender as defined in RCW 9.94A.030; and (b) any other person in the custody of or subject to the jurisdiction of the department of corrections.

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