Hospital worker breaks

AN ACT Relating to meal and rest breaks for hospital workers; 1
amending RCW 49.12.480; creating a new section; and providing an 2
effective date. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that rest breaks 5
and meal breaks are important for health care workers to provide a 6
safe workplace and safe patient care. The department of labor and 7
industries' rules governing rest breaks and meal breaks were 8
promulgated at a time when work shifts of 10 hours or more were 9
unusual, but these work shifts are now routine in Washington's 10
hospitals and commonly requested by health care workers.11
(2) The legislature therefore intends to clarify certain aspects 12
of scheduling and taking rest breaks and meal breaks for covered 13
health care workers while fully protecting health care employees' 14
rights to receive all rest breaks and meal breaks to which they are 15
entitled. 16
Sec. 2. RCW 49.12.480 and 2023 c 114 s 8 are each amended to 17
read as follows: 18
(1) An employer shall provide employees with meal and rest 19
periods as required by law, subject to the following:20
H-1192.1
HOUSE BILL 1879
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Thomas, Berry, Doglio, Parshley, Simmons, Cortes,
Santos, Fitzgibbon, Ormsby, Scott, Ramel, Hill, Fosse, and Pollet
Read first time 02/07/25. Referred to Committee on Labor & Workplace
Standards.
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(a) Rest periods must be scheduled at any point during each work 1
period during which the employee is required to receive a rest 2
period; 3
(b) Employers must provide employees with uninterrupted meal and 4
rest breaks. This subsection (1)(b) does not apply in the case of:5
(i) An unforeseeable emergent circumstance, as defined in RCW 6
49.28.130; or 7
(ii) An unforeseeable clinical circumstance, as determined by the 8
employee that may lead to a significant adverse effect on the 9
patient's condition, unless the employer or employer's designee 10
determines that the patient may suffer life-threatening adverse 11
effects; 12
(c) For any work period for which an employee is entitled to one 13
or more meal periods and more than one rest period, the employee and 14
the employer may agree that ((a meal period )) one or more meal or 15
rest periods may be combined with ((a rest period )) one or more rest 16
periods. This agreement may be revoked at any time by the employee. 17
If the employee is required to remain on duty during the combined 18
meal and rest period, the time shall be paid. If the employee is 19
released from duty for an uninterrupted combined meal and rest 20
period, the time corresponding to the meal period shall be unpaid, 21
but the time corresponding to the rest period shall be paid.22
(d)(i) An employer and employee may agree to waive: (A) The meal 23
period, if any, in a work shift of less than eight hours; or (B) the 24
second and/or third meal period in a work shift of eight hours or 25
longer. An employer and employee may also agree to waive otherwise 26
applicable timing requirements for meal and rest periods, so long as 27
the meal period starts no earlier than the third hour worked and no 28
later than the second to last hour worked.29
(ii) Any waiver must be in writing or electronic recordkeeping 30
format. The employer must record the signed waiver in the applicable 31
electronic information management system, and ensure the record is 32
retrievable upon request. The waiver must include a summary of the 33
applicable department rule governing meal and rest periods and advise 34
the employee that the employee may have other rights under the 35
applicable provisions of a collective bargaining agreement if one 36
exists. Any waiver under this subsection (1)(d) must be voluntary, 37
and the employer must expressly advise the employee that it is 38
voluntary. The waiver must be agreed to by the employer and employee 39
in advance of the first shift in which it is relied upon. Any waiver 40
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may be revoked at any time by the employer or employee. Where 1
applicable, the written waiver must be submitted on a form agreed to 2
between the employer and the collective bargaining organization for 3
employees it represents. 4
(iii) Employers may inform employees of the meal and rest period 5
waivers typically relied upon by employees on the shifts they are 6
working and may make waivers available to employees, so long as those 7
waivers comply with this subsection (1)(d).8
(iv) A waived meal or rest period does not constitute a missed 9
meal or rest period for purposes of RCW 49.12.483, so long as those 10
waivers comply with this subsection (1)(d).11
(2)(a) The employer shall provide a mechanism to record when an 12
employee misses a meal or rest period and maintain these records.13
(b)(i) The employer must provide a quarterly report to the 14
department ((of the )), including the following for the quarter 15
covered by the report:16
(A) The total meals and rest periods missed in violation of this 17
section ((during the quarter covered by the report, and the));18
(B) The total number of meal and rest periods waived by an 19
agreement under subsection (1)(d) of this section; and20
(C) The total number of meals and rest periods required during 21
the quarter. ((The reports are))22
(ii) Each quarterly report is due to the department 30 calendar 23
days after the conclusion of the calendar quarter.24
(c) The provisions of (b) in this subsection (2) do not apply to 25
hospitals defined in RCW 70.41.420(7)(b)(iv) until July 1, 2026.26
(3) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the 27
following meanings: 28
(a) "Employee" means a person who: 29
(i) Is employed by an employer; 30
(ii) Is involved in direct patient care activities or clinical 31
services; and 32
(iii) Receives an hourly wage or is covered by a collective 33
bargaining agreement. 34
(b) "Employer" means hospitals licensed under chapter 70.41 RCW.35
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. This act takes effect January 1, 2026.36
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