H-1331.1
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1548
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2023 Regular Session
By House Labor & Workplace Standards (originally sponsored by
Representatives Ormsby, Walsh, Berry, Robertson, Ryu, Chambers,
Chandler, Waters, Bronoske, Cheney, Chopp, Low, Stonier, Eslick,
Gregerson, Griffey, Fosse, Volz, Peterson, Couture, Leavitt, Rude,
Ramel, Christian, Mena, Harris, Street, Graham, Goodman, Fey, Cortes,
Pollet, Taylor, Berg, Lekanoff, Riccelli, Ortiz-Self, Simmons, Paul,
Shavers, Rule, Bergquist, Davis, Kloba, Doglio, Schmidt, Macri,
Santos, Timmons, and Duerr)
READ FIRST TIME 02/17/23.
1 AN ACT Relating to safeguarding the public safety by protecting
2 railroad workers; adding a new chapter to Title 49 RCW; prescribing
3 penalties; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
5 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that railroad
6 employees are susceptible to illness from working in confined spaces
7 as well as the illnesses and injuries that affect the general
8 population, yet have no paid sick leave and may be subject to
9 discipline for absence due to illness and injury.
10 The legislature further finds that railroad operating craft
11 employees may report to work while ill to avoid disciplinary action
12 by railroad carrier companies, which creates a dangerous and
13 unnecessary public health and safety issues. In addition, the
14 legislature finds that the unique operational practices utilized to
15 summon railroad crew employees to duty necessitate modifications to
16 existing family and medical leave laws to provide railroad carrier
17 employees with comparable sick leave and family leave rights to those
18 previously granted to all other workers in this state.
19 Therefore, in the interest of public safety and railroad worker
20 safety, the legislature enacts this chapter to assure that railroad
21 crew employees are healthy and to assure that railroad crew employees
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1 receive fair and equitable family and medical leave. The provisions
2 of this chapter are enacted in the exercise of the police power of
3 the state for the purpose of protecting the immediate and future
4 health, safety, and welfare of the people of this state.
5 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The definitions in this section apply
6 throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires
7 otherwise.
8 (1) "Child" means a biological, adopted, or foster child, a
9 stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco
10 parentis, who is: (a) Under eighteen years of age; or (b) eighteen
11 years of age or older and incapable of self-care because of a mental
12 or physical disability.
13 (2) "Department" means the department of labor and industries.
14 (3) "Director" means the director of the department of labor and
15 industries, or the director's authorized representative.
16 (4) "Employee" means a person who has been employed by a railroad
17 carrier.
18 (5) "Employer" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership,
19 business trust, legal representative, or other business entity,
20 including any unit of local government including, but not limited to,
21 a county, city, town, municipal corporation, quasi-municipal
22 corporation, or political subdivision, which engages in business as a
23 railroad carrier.
24 (6) "Employment benefits" means all benefits provided or made
25 available to employees by an employer, including group life
26 insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, sick leave, annual
27 leave, educational benefits, and pensions except benefits that are
28 provided by a practice or written policy of an employer or through an
29 employee benefit plan as defined in 29 U.S.C. Sec. 1002(3).
30 (7) "Family member" means any of the following:
31 (a) A child, including a biological, adopted, or foster child,
32 stepchild, or a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis,
33 is a legal guardian, or is a de facto parent, regardless of age or
34 dependency status;
35 (b) A biological, adoptive, de facto, or foster parent,
36 stepparent, or legal guardian of an employee or the employee's spouse
37 or registered domestic partner, or a person who stood in loco
38 parentis when the employee was a minor child;
39 (c) A spouse;
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 1 (d) A registered domestic partner;
2 (e) A grandparent;
3 (f) A grandchild; or
4 (g) A sibling.
5 (8) "Health care provider" means: (a) A person licensed as a
6 physician under chapter 18.71 RCW or an osteopathic physician and
7 surgeon under chapter 18.57 RCW; (b) a person licensed as an advanced
8 registered nurse practitioner under chapter 18.79 RCW; or (c) any
9 other person determined by the director to be capable of providing
10 health care services.
11 (9) "Intermittent leave" is leave taken in separate blocks of
12 time due to a single qualifying reason.
13 (10) "Leave for a family member's serious health condition" means
14 leave as described in section 4(1)(c) of this act.
15 (11) "Leave for the birth or placement of a child" means leave as
16 described in section 4(1) (a) or (b) of this act.
17 (12) "Leave for the employee's serious health condition" means
18 leave as described in section 4(1)(d) of this act.
19 (13) "Operating craft employee" means any employee of a railroad
20 carrier who performs service in an operating craft on a railroad or
21 directs the work of an operating craft employee as a scheduled
22 employee, and includes any other employee of a railroad carrier who
23 performs safety sensitive tasks associated with railroad operations.
24 (14) "Parent" means a biological, adoptive, de facto, or foster
25 parent, stepparent, or legal guardian of an employee or the
26 employee's spouse or registered domestic partner, or a person who
27 stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor child.
28 (15) "Period of incapacity" means an inability to work, attend
29 school, or perform other regular daily activities because of the
30 serious health condition, treatment of that condition or recovery
31 from it, or subsequent treatment in connection with such inpatient
32 care.
33 (16) "Railroad carrier" means any employer subject to the
34 jurisdiction of the surface transportation board under 49 U.S.C. Sec.
35 1301 through 1326, as it exists on the effective date of this
36 section. "Railroad carrier" includes the officers and agents of the
37 railroad operations regardless of physical location.
38 (17) "Reduced leave schedule" means a leave schedule that reduces
39 the usual number of hours per workweek, or hours per workday, of an
40 employee.
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1 (18) "Serious health condition" has the same meaning as in RCW
2 50A.05.010.
3 (19) "Spouse" means a husband or wife, as the case may be, or
4 state registered domestic partner.
5 NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The department shall administer the
6 provisions of this chapter.
7 NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) Subject to section 10 of this act, an
8 employee is entitled to a total of 12 workweeks of leave during any
9 12-month period for one or more of the following:
10 (a) Because of the birth of a child of the employee and in order
11 to care for the child;
12 (b) Because of the placement of a child with the employee for
13 adoption or foster care;
14 (c) In order to care for a family member of the employee, if the
15 family member has a serious health condition; or
16 (d) Because of a serious health condition that makes the employee
17 unable to perform the functions of the position of the employee.
18 (2) The entitlement to leave for the birth or placement of a
19 child expires at the end of the 12-month period beginning on the date
20 of such birth or placement.
21 (3) In determining the duration of leave time remaining in 52
22 consecutive calendar weeks, a railroad carrier may deduct only the
23 actual amount of leave taken by an employee in increments no greater
24 than 24 hours, and may not deduct more than one calendar day for each
25 24-hour period the employee specifically applied for leave.
26 (4) An employee is not entitled to leave under this section
27 unless:
28 (a)(i) The employee worked for at least six months for the
29 employer with respect to whom leave is requested under this section;
30 and
31 (ii) The employee worked for at least 504 hours of service with
32 the employer during the previous 12-month period; or
33 (b)(i) The employee has been assigned to and worked on a
34 guaranteed extra call board for at least the 12 months immediately
35 preceding the date on which leave will commence and has worked or
36 been paid for:
37 (A) Not less than 60 percent of the applicable total monthly
38 guarantee, or the equivalent, during the 12-month period; and
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 1 (B) Not less than 504 hours, not counting personal commute time
2 or time spent on vacation leave, sick leave, personal leave, leave of
3 absence, or medical leave, during the 12-month period, for or by that
4 employer; or
5 (ii) The employee has not been assigned to and worked on a
6 guaranteed extra call board for at least 12 consecutive months
7 preceding, but the employee has worked not less than 504 hours, not
8 counting personal commute time or time spent on vacation leave, sick
9 leave, personal leave, or medical leave, during the preceding twelve
10 months of time that the employee was actively working for or by that
11 employer.
12 NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) Employers must allow their employees
13 to take unpaid time off if:
14 (a) The employee has completed three consecutive months of
15 continuous employment by the railroad carrier prior to the absence;
16 (b) No consecutive period of authorized absence pursuant to the
17 provisions of this section exceeds 15 days;
18 (c) The total number of authorized absences the employee has
19 taken pursuant to the provisions of this section, including any
20 railroad employer paid sick leave, is less than 91 days in the
21 current calendar year; and
22 (d) The absence is authorized pursuant to subsection (2) of this
23 section.
24 (2) An employee's absence under this section is authorized due to
25 any of the following reasons:
26 (a) An absence resulting from an employee's mental or physical
27 illness, injury, or health condition; to accommodate the employee's
28 need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or
29 physical illness, injury, or health condition; or an employee's need
30 for preventive medical care;
31 (b) To allow the employee to provide care for a family member
32 with a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; care
33 of a family member who needs medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of
34 a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or care
35 for a family member who needs preventive medical care; and
36 (c) When the employee or their spouse or registered domestic
37 partner's place of business has been closed by order of a public
38 official for any health-related reason, or when an employee's child's
39 school or place of care has been closed for such a reason.
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 1 (3) An employer may permit employees to use any accrued leave,
2 including vacation time or personal leave, while absent pursuant to
3 the provisions of this section. An employer may not require an
4 employee to use paid leave while absent pursuant to the provisions of
5 this section.
6 (4) For employee absences under this section exceeding five
7 consecutive days, the employer may, within 10 days of the employee's
8 return to work, request verification that the employee's unpaid
9 absence was for an authorized purpose pursuant to this section.
10 (a) If verification is requested by an employer, the employer
11 must provide the employee no fewer than 30 days to obtain and provide
12 any requested verification. An employer's requirements for
13 verification may not result in an unreasonable burden or expense on
14 the employee and may not exceed privacy or verification requirements
15 otherwise established by law.
16 (b) If an employer requires an employee to provide verification
17 from a health care provider identifying the need for use of their
18 unpaid leave for an authorized purpose pursuant to this section, the
19 employer must not require that the information provided explain the
20 nature of the condition. If the employer obtains any health
21 information about an employee or an employee's family member, the
22 employer must treat such information in a confidential manner
23 consistent with applicable privacy laws.
24 (5) Any employee absences pursuant to this section are not
25 subject to any type of carrier availability or attendance policy and
26 are separate from any protected leave under Title 50A RCW and
27 sections 4 and 6 through 10 of this act.
28 (6) No railroad carrier may dismiss, suspend, lay off, demote,
29 engage in any adverse action against or otherwise discipline an
30 employee because of absences authorized pursuant to the provisions of
31 this section.
32 NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) Employee absences of up to seven days
33 are authorized for bereavement purposes including arranging or
34 attending funeral services, as well as handling matters related to
35 the estate of a deceased family member as defined in section 2 of
36 this act, as well as the following relatives: Aunts, uncles, nieces,
37 nephews, and cousins; of either the employee, of their spouse, or of
38 their registered domestic partner.
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 1 (2) Employee absences for bereavement purposes under this section
2 may be unpaid.
3 (3) In addition to any paid bereavement leave offered by an
4 employer, an employer may approve an employee's request to use any
5 accrued vacation or personal leave time for bereavement purposes.
6 (4) Absences for bereavement purposes are not required to be
7 taken over consecutive calendar days and may be split up over time.
8 However, only seven days of unpaid protected leave for bereavement
9 leave is authorized per decedent pursuant to this section.
10 (a) Employees may absent themselves for fewer than seven days if
11 they so choose.
12 (b) Employers may provide additional compensated or unpaid time
13 off to their employees for bereavement purposes.
14 (5) For absences related to bereavement purposes under this
15 section, employers may require verification for the death of the
16 family member or relative.
17 NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. (1)(a) When leave is taken after the birth
18 or placement of a child for adoption or foster care, an employee may
19 take leave intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule with the
20 employer's agreement. The employer's agreement is not required;
21 however, for leave during which the employee has a serious health
22 condition in connection with the birth of a child or if the newborn
23 child has a serious health condition.
24 (b) Leave may be taken intermittently or on a reduced leave
25 schedule when medically necessary for treatment of a serious health
26 condition by or under the supervision of a health care provider, or
27 for recovery from treatment or recovery from a serious health
28 condition. It may also be taken to provide care or psychological
29 comfort for an immediate family member with a serious health
30 condition.
31 (i) Intermittent leave may be taken for a serious health
32 condition that requires treatment by a health care provider
33 periodically, rather than for one continuous period of time, and may
34 include leave of periods from an hour or more to several weeks.
35 (ii) Intermittent or reduced schedule leave may be taken for
36 absences where the employee or family member is incapacitated or
37 unable to perform the essential functions of the position because of
38 a chronic serious health condition even if he or she is not receiving
39 current or ongoing treatment by a health care provider.
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 1 (c) There is no limit on the size of an increment of leave when
2 an employee takes intermittent leave or leave on a reduced leave
3 schedule. However, an employer may limit leave increments to the
4 shortest period of time that the employer's payroll system uses to
5 account for absences or use of leave.
6 (d) The taking of leave intermittently or on a reduced leave
7 schedule under this section may not result in a reduction in the
8 total amount of leave to which the employee is entitled under section
9 8 of this act beyond the amount of leave actually taken.
10 (2) If an employee requests intermittent leave, or leave on a
11 reduced leave schedule, for a family member's serious health
12 condition or the employee's serious health condition when the
13 condition is foreseeable based on planned medical treatment, the
14 employer may require such employee to transfer temporarily to an
15 availa