DOC WMS employee arbitration

AN ACT Relating to removing the exclusion from interest 1
arbitration of Washington management service employees at the 2
department of corrections; and amending RCW 41.80.200.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 41.80.200 and 2020 c 89 s 1 are each amended to read 5
as follows: 6
(1) In order to maintain dedicated and uninterrupted services to 7
the supervision of criminal offenders that are in state correctional 8
facilities and on community supervision, it is the legislature's 9
intent to grant certain employees of the department of corrections 10
interest arbitration rights as an alternative means of settling 11
disputes. 12
(2) This section applies only to employees covered by chapter 13
41.06 RCW working for the department of corrections, except 14
confidential employees as defined in RCW 41.80.005((, members of the 15
Washington management service,)) and internal auditors.16
(3) Negotiations between the employer and the exclusive 17
bargaining representative of a unit of employees shall be commenced 18
at least five months before submission of the budget to the 19
legislature. If no agreement has been reached sixty days after the 20
commencement of such negotiations then, at any time thereafter, 21
H-0126.1
HOUSE BILL 1068
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Doglio, Bronoske, Reeves, Tharinger, Street,
Scott, Nance, Goodman, Fosse, Ryu, Leavitt, Ramel, Berry, Reed,
Obras, Timmons, Davis, Ormsby, Lekanoff, Salahuddin, and Hill
Prefiled 12/13/24. Read first time 01/13/25. Referred to Committee
on Labor & Workplace Standards.
p. 1 HB 1068
either party may declare that an impasse exists and may submit the 1
dispute to the commission for mediation, with or without the 2
concurrence of the other party. The commission shall appoint a 3
mediator, who shall promptly meet with the representatives of the 4
parties, either jointly or separately, and shall take such other 5
steps as he or she may deem appropriate in order to persuade the 6
parties to resolve their differences and effect an agreement. A 7
mediator, however, does not have a power of compulsion. The mediator 8
may consider only matters that are subject to bargaining under this 9
chapter. 10
(4) If an agreement is not reached following a reasonable period 11
of negotiations and mediation, and the director, upon recommendation 12
of the assigned mediator, finds that the parties remain at impasse, 13
then an arbitrator must be appointed to resolve the dispute. The 14
issues for determination by the arbitrator must be limited to the 15
issues certified by the executive director. 16
(5) Within ten working days after the first Monday in September 17
of every odd-numbered year, the governor or the governor's designee 18
and the bargaining representatives for any bargaining units covered 19
by this section shall attempt to agree on an interest arbitrator to 20
be used if the parties are not successful in negotiating a 21
comprehensive collective bargaining agreement. The parties will 22
select an arbitrator by mutual agreement or by alternatively striking 23
names from a regional list of seven qualified arbitrators provided by 24
the federal mediation and conciliation service. 25
(a) The fees and expenses of the arbitrator, the court reporter, 26
if any, and the cost of the hearing room, if any, will be shared 27
equally between the parties. Each party is responsible for the costs 28
of its attorneys, representatives and witnesses, and all other costs 29
related to the development and presentation of their case.30
(b) Immediately upon selecting an interest arbitrator, the 31
parties shall cooperate to reserve dates with the arbitrator for a 32
potential hearing between August 1st and September 15th of the 33
following even-numbered year. The parties shall also prepare a 34
schedule of at least five negotiation dates, absent an agreement to 35
the contrary. 36
(c) The parties shall execute a written agreement before December 37
15th of the odd-numbered year setting forth the name of the 38
arbitrator and the dates reserved for bargaining and arbitration.39
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(d)(i) The arbitrator must hold a hearing and provide reasonable 1
notice of the hearing to the parties to the dispute. The hearing must 2
be informal and each party has the opportunity to present evidence 3
and make arguments. The arbitrator may not present the case for a 4
party to the proceedings. 5
(ii) The rules of evidence prevailing in judicial proceedings may 6
be considered, but are not binding, and any oral testimony or 7
documentary evidence or other data deemed relevant by the arbitrator 8
may be received in evidence. A recording of the proceedings must be 9
taken. 10
(iii) The arbitrator may administer oaths, require the attendance 11
of witnesses, and require the production of such books, papers, 12
contracts, agreements, and documents deemed by the arbitrator to be 13
material to a just determination of the issues in dispute. If a 14
person refuses to obey a subpoena issued by the arbitrator, or 15
refuses to be sworn or to make an affirmation to testify, or a 16
witness, party, or attorney for a party is guilty of contempt while 17
in attendance at a hearing, the arbitrator may invoke the 18
jurisdiction of the superior court in the county where the labor 19
dispute exists, and the court may issue an appropriate order. Any 20
failure to obey the order may be punished by the court as a contempt 21
thereof. 22
(6) The arbitrator may consider only matters that are subject to 23
bargaining under RCW 41.80.020(1), and may not consider those 24
subjects listed under RCW 41.80.020 (2) and (3) and 41.80.040.25
(a) In making its determination, the arbitrator shall take into 26
consideration the following factors: 27
(i) The financial ability of the department of corrections to pay 28
for the compensation and benefit provisions of a collective 29
bargaining agreement; 30
(ii) The constitutional and statutory authority of the employer;31
(iii) Stipulations of the parties; 32
(iv) Comparison of the wages, hours, and conditions of employment 33
of personnel involved in the proceedings with the wages, hours, and 34
conditions of employment of like personnel of like state government 35
employers of similar size in the western United States;36
(v) The ability of the department of corrections to retain 37
employees; 38
(vi) The overall compensation presently received by department of 39
corrections employees, including direct wage compensation, vacations, 40
p. 3 HB 1068
holidays, and other paid excused time, pensions, insurance benefits, 1
and all other direct or indirect monetary benefits received;2
(vii) Changes in any of the factors listed in this subsection 3
during the pendency of the proceedings; and 4
(viii) Such other factors which are normally or traditionally 5
taken into consideration in the determination of matters that are 6
subject to bargaining under RCW 41.80.020(1). 7
(b) The decision of an arbitrator under this section is subject 8
to RCW 41.80.010(3). 9
(7) During the pendency of the proceedings before the arbitrator, 10
existing wages, hours, and other conditions of employment shall not 11
be changed by action of either party without the consent of the other 12
but a party may so consent without prejudice to his or her rights or 13
position under chapter 41.56 RCW. 14
(8)(a) If the representative of either or both the employees and 15
the state refuses to submit to the procedures set forth in 16
subsections (3), (4), and (5) of this section, the parties, or the 17
commission on its own motion, may invoke the jurisdiction of the 18
superior court for the county in which the labor dispute exists and 19
the court may issue an appropriate order. A failure to obey the order 20
may be punished by the court as a contempt thereof.21
(b) A decision of the arbitrator is final and binding on the 22
parties, and may be enforced at the instance of either party, the 23
arbitrator, or the commission in the superior court for the county 24
where the dispute arose. However, the decision of the arbitrator is 25
not binding on the legislature and, if the legislature does not 26
approve the funds necessary to implement provisions pertaining to the 27
compensation and fringe benefit provision of an interest arbitration 28
award, the provisions are not binding on the state or department of 29
corrections. 30
(9) Subject to the provisions of this section, the parties shall 31
follow the commission's procedures for interest arbitration.32
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