Upon receipt of a written request for a hearing from a nursing assistant employed in a nursing facility or skilled nursing facility, the office of administrative hearings will schedule a hearing, taking into account the following requirements:

(1) The hearing decision must be issued within one hundred twenty days of the date the office of administrative hearings receives a hearing request, except as provided in subsection (6);

(2) Neither the department nor the nursing assistant can waive the one hundred twenty day requirement;

(3) The hearing will be conducted at a reasonable time and at a place that is convenient for the nursing assistant;

(4) The hearing, and any subsequent appeals, will be governed by this chapter, chapter 34.05 RCW, and chapter 388-02 WAC, or its successor regulations;

(5) A continuance may be granted for good cause upon the request of any party, as long as the hearing decision can still be issued within one hundred twenty days of the date of the receipt of the appeal, except under the circumstances described in subsection (6);

(6) If the ALJ finds that extenuating circumstances exist that will make it impossible to render a decision within one hundred twenty days, the ALJ may extend the one hundred twenty-day requirement by a maximum of sixty days; and

(7) To comply with the time limits described in this section, the nursing assistant must be available for the hearing and other preliminary matters. If the hearing decision cannot be issued within the time limits described in this subsection due to the unavailability of the nursing assistant, then, after the time limits have expired, the nursing assistant's name will be placed on the registry pending the outcome of the hearing.

(8) If a substantiated initial finding made against a nursing assistant employed in a nursing facility or skilled nursing facility is upheld in an ALJ's initial decision, the nursing assistant's name will be placed on the registry.