Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

S-0186.1
                               SENATE BILL 5023
     State of Washington       69th Legislature       2025 Regular Session
     By Senators Saldaña and Trudeau
     Prefiled 12/10/24.
      AN ACT Relating to providing labor market protections for
  domestic workers; amending RCW 49.46.010, 49.60.040, and 51.12.020;
  adding a new section to chapter 49.60 RCW; adding a new chapter to
  Title 49 RCW; prescribing penalties; and providing an effective date.
  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
     NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. Whereas domestic workers were historically
 excluded from many basic labor protections and whereas these
 protections have been identified as a priority to the people of the
 state of Washington, this act declares that health, safety, wage
 protections, and general welfare are guaranteed for domestic workers.
 This includes meal and rest breaks, clarity on what constitutes
 working time, sick time to care for themselves and their families,
 and the freedom from discrimination and sexual harassment.
     NEW SECTION.    Sec. 2.    The definitions in this section apply
 throughout   this  chapter   unless  the   context  clearly   requires
 otherwise.
     (1) "Casual labor" means work that is irregular, uncertain, and
 incidental in nature and duration and is different in nature from the
 type of paid work in which the worker is customarily engaged in.
     (2) "Department" means the department of labor and industries.
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     (3) "Director" means the director of labor and industries.
     (4) "Domestic service" means services related to the care of
 persons in private homes or the maintenance of private homes or their
 premises.
     (5)(a) "Domestic worker" includes hourly and salaried employees
 and includes any worker who:
     (i) Works for one or more hiring entity; and
     (ii) Is an individual who works in residences as a nanny, house
 cleaner, home care worker, cook, gardener, or household manager, or
 for any domestic service purpose including but not limited to: Caring
 for a child; providing support services for a person who is sick,
 convalescing, elderly, or a person with a disability; providing
 housekeeping or house cleaning services; cooking; providing food or
 butler services; parking cars; cleaning laundry; gardening; or
 working as a household manager.
     (b) "Domestic worker" does not include:
     (i) Persons who provide babysitting on a casual labor basis;
     (ii) Any individual employed in casual labor in or about a
 private home, unless performed in the course of the hiring entity's
 trade, business, or profession;
     (iii) Individual providers, as defined in RCW 74.39A.240;
     (iv) Persons who perform house sitting, pet sitting, and dog
 walking duties that do not involve domestic service; or
     (v) Any individual in a family relationship with the hiring
 entity.
     (6) "Employ" includes to permit to work.
     (7) "Family member" shall be liberally construed to include, but
 not be limited to, a parent, child, sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin,
 grandparent,   grandchild,  grandniece,   or   grandnephew,   or such
 relatives when related by marriage.
     (8) "Hiring entity" means any employer, as defined in RCW
 49.46.010, and in RCW 49.60.040, who employs a domestic worker, as
 well as any individual, partnership, association, corporation,
 business trust, or any combination thereof, which pays a wage or pays
 wages for the services of a domestic worker. It includes any such
 entity, person, or group of persons that provides compensation
 directly or indirectly to a domestic worker for the performance of
 domestic services and any such entity, person, or persons acting
 directly or indirectly in the interest of the hiring entity in
 relation to the worker. "Hiring entity" does not include state
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  agencies or in-home services agencies as defined in RCW 70.127.010 to
  the extent that the home care services are funded through RCW
  74.39A.310.
      (9) "Standard rate of pay" means the agreed-upon rate of pay
  between the hiring entity and domestic worker, as reflected in the
  written agreement.
     NEW SECTION.    Sec. 3.    A hiring entity employing a domestic
 worker must follow these requirements:
     (1) A hiring entity employing a domestic worker shall pay the
 domestic worker at least the minimum hourly rate as provided by RCW
 49.46.020. This constitutes a wage payment requirement as defined in
 RCW 49.48.082.
     (2) A hiring entity employing a domestic worker shall pay the
 domestic worker an overtime wage at a rate of one and one-half times
 the worker's regular rate for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a
 workweek as provided by RCW 49.46.130. This constitutes a wage
 payment requirement as defined in RCW 49.48.082.
     (3) Domestic workers are entitled to an uninterrupted meal period
 of at least 30 minutes which commences no less than two hours nor
 more than five hours from the beginning of the shift. Meal periods
 shall be on the hiring entity's time when the domestic worker is
 required by the hiring entity to remain on duty on the premises or at
 a prescribed worksite in the interest of the hiring entity.
     (a) No domestic worker shall be required to work more than five
 consecutive hours without a meal period.
     (b) Domestic workers working three or more hours longer than a
 normal workday shall be allowed at least one 30-minute meal period
 prior to or during the overtime period.
     (c) Domestic workers shall be allowed an uninterrupted rest
 period of not less than 10 minutes, on the hiring entity's time, for
 each four hours of working time. Rest periods shall be scheduled as
 near as possible to the midpoint of the work period. No domestic
 worker shall be required to work more than three hours without a rest
 period.
     (d) A hiring entity may not discourage meal and rest breaks and
 cannot request that a domestic worker voluntarily waive meal and rest
 break requirements.
     (e) If the nature of the work does not allow a domestic worker to
 be relieved of all duties and an uninterrupted meal break or rest
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 breaks may be impractical or impossible, a hiring entity must
 compensate the domestic worker for that time at the standard rate of
 pay for that worker.
     (4) Subsections (1), (2), and (3) of this section do not apply
 where a domestic worker voluntarily provides additional homecare in
 excess of a written agreement between only the domestic worker and a
 family member to whom the domestic worker is providing services.
     (5) For domestic workers living in the home of their hiring
 entities, the hiring entity must permit the domestic worker to cook
 and consume the worker's own food, subject to reasonable restrictions
 based on the religious or health needs of the home's residents.
     (6) The domestic worker must have the right to retain personal
 effects,   including  any   legal   documents,  including   forms  of
 identification, passports, or other immigration documents.
     (7) All terms and expectations of employment must be in a written
 agreement as specified in RCW 49.46.010. This includes but is not
 limited to: Location where the work will be done; rate of pay,
 including overtime expectations and compensation for additional
 duties, if any; the work schedule at the time of hire including meal
 and rest breaks; if applicable, deduction agreements, information
 about days of rest, sick days, vacation days, personal days, and
 holidays; transportation, severance, and health insurance costs; and
 any fees or other costs for the domestic worker associated with
 expectations of employment.
     (a) All written agreements under this subsection (7) shall be:
     (i) Provided in a language or languages understood by both the
 worker and hiring entity; and
     (ii) Signed and dated by both the hiring entity and the domestic
 worker, after any time requested for review by either party has
 passed.
     (b) No provisions in the written agreement may waive a domestic
 worker's rights under federal, state, or local law.
     (c)   The   agreements  may  not   contain  mandatory   predispute
 arbitration clauses for employee claims of their legal rights,
 noncompete agreements, nondisclosure agreements, or nondisparagement
 agreements that inhibit a domestic worker's claims of their legal
 rights under this chapter, or noncompete agreements that limit the
 ability of domestic workers to seek any other form of domestic work
 postemployment.
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     (8) Any time a hiring entity initiates a written agreement of
 employment, a disclosure of rights specified in section 16 of this
 act must accompany that agreement.
     (9) The hiring entity shall provide a minimum two-week
 notification period before termination of the employment. For live-in
 domestic workers, a minimum four-week notification period before
 termination of the employment relationship shall be provided.
     (a) No notification period is required if:
     (i) It is in connection with termination of work performed on a
 casual labor basis for a hiring entity;
     (ii) It occurs during an agreed-upon probationary period.
     (b) Notice of termination requirements do not apply if:
     (i) The hiring entity terminates employment based on a good faith
 belief that the domestic worker has engaged in misconduct as defined
 in RCW 50.04.294 or if circumstances outside of the hiring entity or
 the hiring entity's control apply. This includes death, or if both
 the hiring entity and domestic worker agree that the care needs have
 significantly changed and cannot be addressed by the current
 employment relationship. If an investigation into termination
 commences, the hiring entity must be able to articulate and support
 the allegations of misconduct or change of circumstances;
     (ii) If the domestic worker becomes unable to meet the stated
 requirements for compensation as outlined in the written agreement.
     (c) Failure to provide notification as required under this
 subsection shall entitle the domestic worker to severance pay in the
 amount of the worker's standard rate of pay multiplied by the regular
 number of hours worked over the period of time during which the
 required notification was not provided.
     (10) A hiring entity shall create and maintain records
 documenting hours worked, pay rate, the existence of a written
 contract, and, where applicable, the leave time earned and used. If a
 complaint is filed and an investigation commences, the hiring entity
 must make these records accessible.
     (11) The enforcement entity shall maintain the confidentiality of
 all records it obtains in connection with enforcement activities to
 the full extent permitted by law.
     (12) Any wages due to domestic workers under this chapter are
 subject to the provisions of RCW 49.52.050 and RCW 49.52.070, where
 hiring entities are subject to the same obligations and remedies as
 "employers" under those sections.
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     NEW SECTION.   Sec. 4.   A hiring entity that employs a domestic
 worker may not:
     (1) Request that the domestic worker allow the hiring entity, on
 either a mandatory or voluntary basis, to have possession of any
 personal effects, including any legal documents, including forms of
 identification, passports, or other immigration documents;
     (2) Engage in any form of discrimination and harassment as
 defined by chapter 49.60 RCW. A domestic worker who files a complaint
 or brings suit alleging discrimination in violation of RCW 49.60.180
 shall be entitled to all the procedural and substantive rights
 available under chapter 49.60 RCW;
     (3) Subject a domestic worker to conduct with the purpose or
 effect of unreasonable interfering with the domestic worker's work
 performance by creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work
 environment;
     (4) Monitor or record, through any means, the activities of the
 domestic worker using a bathroom or similar facility, in the domestic
 worker's private living quarters, or while the domestic worker is
 engaged in personal activities associated with dressing or changing
 clothes;
     (5) Monitor, record, or interfere with the private communications
 of a domestic worker;
     (6) Communicate to a person exercising rights protected under
 this chapter, directly or indirectly, the willingness or intent to
 inform a government employee or contracted organization suspected
 citizenship or immigration status of a domestic worker or a family
 member to a federal, state, or local agency because the domestic
 worker has exercised any right under this chapter;
     (7) Take any adverse action against a domestic worker because the
 domestic worker has exercised their rights provided under this
 chapter. Such rights include, but are not limited to: Filing an
 action, organizing or communicating amongst themselves, participating
 in political speech, disclosing their immigration status, or
 instituting or causing to be instituted any proceeding under or
 related to this chapter.
     NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Where more than one hiring entity has an
 employment relationship with a domestic worker in connection with the
 same work or where more than one hiring entity has an overlapping
 employment relationship with a domestic worker, the hiring entities
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  are subject to liability as well as concurrent fines and penalties
  for violations of this chapter. Any state agency that does not
  contract with or employ domestic workers in the ordinary course of
  business shall not be subject to liability unless that state agency
  directly interferes with the rights established for domestic workers
  under this act.
     NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) If a domestic worker files a complaint
 with the department alleging a violation of the domestic worker's
 rights under section 3 of this act, the department may investigate
 the complaint under this section.
     (a) The department may not investigate any such alleged violation
 of rights that occurred more than three years before the date that
 the domestic worker filed the complaint.
     (b) If a domestic worker files a timely complaint with the
 department, the department may investigate the complaint and issue
 either a citation assessing a civil penalty or a closure letter
 within 60 days after the date on which the department received the
 complaint, unless the complaint is otherwise resolved. The department
 may extend the period by providing advance written notice to the
 domestic worker and the hiring entity setting forth good cause for an
 extension of the period and specifying the duration of the extension.
     (c) If the department investigates a violation under this
 section, the department may send notice of a citation assessing a
 civil penalty or the closure letter to both the hiring entity and the
 domestic worker by service of process or using a method by which the
 mailing can be tracked or the delivery can be confirmed to their last
 known addresses.
     (2) Unless otherwise resolved, if the department's investigation
 finds that the domestic worker's allegation cannot be substantiated,
 the department will issue a closure letter to the domestic worker and
 the hiring entity detailing such finding.
     (3) If the department determines that the violation of rights
 under this chapter was a willful violation, the department may order
 the hiring entity to pay the department a civil penalty as specified
 in (a) of this subsection.
     (a) A citation assessing a civil penalty for a willful violation
 of such rights will be $1,000 for each willful violation. For a
 repeat willful violator, the citation assessing a civil penalty will
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 not be less than $2,000 for each repeat willful violation, but no
 greater than $20,000 for each repeat willful violation.
     (b) The department may not issue a citation assessing a civil
 penalty if the hiring entity reasonably relied on:
     (i)   A  written   order,   ruling,  approval,   opinion,   advice,
 determination, or interpretation of the director; or
     (ii) An interpretive or administrative policy issued by the
 department and filed with the office of the code reviser. In
 accordance with the department's retention schedule obligations under
 chapter 40.14 RCW, the department will maintain a complete and
 accurate record of all written orders, rulings, approvals, opinions,
 advice,   determinations,   and   interpretations  for    purposes   of
 determining whether a hiring entity is immune from civil penalties
 under this subsection (3)(b).
     (c) The department may, at any time, waive or reduce a civil
 penalty assessed under this