Subject of Possible Rule Making: Labor standards for domestic workers. New chapter under Title 296 WAC, Labor and industries, department of.

Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: Title 49 RCW, Labor regulations; and SHB 2355, section 12 (chapter 15, Laws of 2026).

Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: The purpose of this rule making is to implement SHB 2355, which creates new protections for domestic workers and new compliance requirements for entities that hire domestic workers.

A domestic worker is any person who receives payment from a hiring entity for four or more hours in any month providing services as a nanny, child care provider, home care worker, personal care provider, housekeeper or cleaner, cook, gardener, or household manager.

A hiring entity is any person, group of persons, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, employer as defined in RCW 49.46.010, or any combination thereof, that provides payment to a domestic worker for the domestic worker's work or services.

SHB 2355 adds a new chapter to Title 49 RCW and new section to chapter 49.60 RCW. SHB 2355 also amends RCW 49.46.010 and 49.60.230. These additions and amendments create labor protections for domestic workers and provide for department of labor and industries (L&I) enforcement of the requirements. L&I must adopt rules to implement and enforce these requirements related to domestic workers.

Other Federal and State Agencies that Regulate this Subject and the Process Coordinating the Rule with These Agencies: SHB 2355 exempts state agencies or home care agencies, as defined in RCW 70.127.010, if the home care agency receives funds through chapter 74.39A RCW, from the definition of "hiring entity." Additionally, because SHB 2355 creates a new section in chapter 49.60 RCW, L&I will invite the Washington state human rights commission to participate in the rule-making process. The federal Department of Labor applies Fair Labor Standards Act to some domestic workers in certain situations.

Process for Developing New Rule: L&I will engage with affected parties in the development of these rules. Parties interested in the formulation of these rules for proposal may contact the individual listed below. The public may also participate by commenting after the rules are proposed by providing written comments or giving oral testimony during the public hearing and comment process.

Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Bridget Osborne, Administrative Regulations Analyst, L&I, Division of Labor Standards, Employment Standards, P.O. Box 44510, Olympia, WA 98504-4510, phone 360-902-5552, fax 360-902-5300, email DomesticWorkers@Lni.wa.gov.

Additional comments: For more information on L&I rule making, visit L&I's rule-making activity web page at https://www.Lni.wa.gov/rulemaking-activity/.