AN ACT Relating to grandfathering the accrual of vacation leave above the statutory maximum for certain employees of the Washington state ferries; amending RCW 43.01.040; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

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

Sec. 1.  RCW 43.01.040 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 43 s 449 are each amended to read as follows:

Each subordinate officer and employee of the several offices, departments, and institutions of the state government shall be entitled under their contract of employment with the state government to not less than one working day of vacation leave with full pay for each month of employment if said employment is continuous for six months.

Each such subordinate officer and employee shall be entitled under such contract of employment to not less than one additional working day of vacation with full pay each year for satisfactorily completing the first two, three and five continuous years of employment respectively.

Such part time officers or employees of the state government who are employed on a regular schedule of duration of not less than one year shall be entitled under their contract of employment to that fractional part of the vacation leave that the total number of hours of such employment bears to the total number of hours of full time employment.

Each subordinate officer and employee of the several offices, departments and institutions of the state government shall be entitled under his or her contract of employment with the state government to accrue unused vacation leave not to exceed thirty working days. However, employees of the Washington state ferries covered by collective bargaining agreements containing provisions in effect on June 30, 2017, allowing accrual of unused vacation leave not to exceed three hundred twenty hours shall be allowed to continue the higher accrual limit until such time as those provisions are modified through collective bargaining, or the bargaining unit changes its exclusive representative or is decertified. Officers and employees transferring within the several offices, departments and institutions of the state government shall be entitled to transfer such accrued vacation leave to each succeeding state office, department or institution. All vacation leave shall be taken at the time convenient to the employing office, department or institution: PROVIDED, That if a subordinate officer's or employee's request for vacation leave is deferred by reason of the convenience of the employing office, department or institution, and a statement of the necessity therefor is retained by the agency, then the aforesaid maximum thirty working days of accrued unused vacation leave shall be extended for each month said leave is so deferred.

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