Employment investigation/PRA

AN ACT Relating to the disclosure of information pertaining to 1
complainants, accusers, and witnesses in an employment investigation; 2
and reenacting and amending RCW 42.56.250. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 42.56.250 and 2023 c 458 s 1, 2023 c 361 s 15, and 5
2023 c 45 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:6
(1) The following employment and licensing information is exempt 7
from public inspection and copying under this chapter:8
(a) Test questions, scoring keys, and other examination data used 9
to administer a license, employment, or academic examination;10
(b) All applications for public employment other than for 11
vacancies in elective office, including the names of applicants, 12
resumes, and other related materials submitted with respect to an 13
applicant; 14
(c) Professional growth plans (PGPs) in educator license renewals 15
submitted through the eCert system in the office of the 16
superintendent of public instruction; 17
(d) The following information held by any public agency in 18
personnel records, public employment related records, volunteer 19
rosters, or included in any mailing list of employees or volunteers 20
of any public agency: Residential addresses, residential telephone 21
H-1225.2
HOUSE BILL 1934
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Chase, Doglio, and Schmidt
Read first time 02/11/25. Referred to Committee on State Government
& Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 1934
numbers, personal wireless telephone numbers, personal email 1
addresses, social security numbers, driver's license numbers, 2
identicard numbers, payroll deductions including the amount and 3
identification of the deduction, and emergency contact information of 4
employees or volunteers of a public agency, and the names, dates of 5
birth, residential addresses, residential telephone numbers, personal 6
wireless telephone numbers, personal email addresses, social security 7
numbers, and emergency contact information of dependents of employees 8
or volunteers of a public agency. For purposes of this subsection 9
(1)(d), "employees" includes independent provider home care workers 10
as defined in RCW 74.39A.240; 11
(e) Information that identifies a person who, while an agency 12
employee: (i) Seeks advice, under an informal process established by 13
the employing agency, in order to ascertain his or her rights in 14
connection with a possible unfair practice under chapter 49.60 RCW 15
against the person; and (ii) requests his or her identity or any 16
identifying information not be disclosed; 17
(f) Investigative records compiled by an employing agency in 18
connection with an investigation of a possible unfair practice under 19
chapter 49.60 RCW or of a possible violation of other federal, state, 20
or local laws or an employing agency's internal policies prohibiting 21
discrimination or harassment in employment. Records are exempt in 22
their entirety while the investigation is active and ongoing. After 23
the agency has notified the complaining employee of the outcome of 24
the investigation, the records may be disclosed only if the names , 25
images, employee agency job titles, email addresses, and phone 26
numbers of complainants, other accusers, and witnesses are redacted 27
and their voices on any audio recording taken during the course of 28
the investigation have been altered while retaining inflection and 29
tone, ((unless)) except to the extent that such a complainant, other 30
accuser, or witness has consented to the disclosure of ((his or her 31
name)) such information . The employing agency must inform a 32
complainant, other accuser, or witness that his or her name , image, 33
agency job title, email address, and phone number will be redacted 34
from the investigation records and their voice on any audio recording 35
taken during the course of the investigation will be altered in 36
accordance with this subsection unless he or she consents to 37
disclosure; 38
(g) Criminal history records checks for board staff finalist 39
candidates conducted pursuant to RCW 43.33A.025; 40
p. 2 HB 1934
(h) Photographs and month and year of birth in the personnel 1
files of employees or volunteers of a public agency, including 2
employees and workers of criminal justice agencies as defined in RCW 3
10.97.030. The news media, as defined in RCW 5.68.010(5), shall have 4
access to the photographs and full date of birth. For the purposes of 5
this subsection (1)(h), news media does not include any person or 6
organization of persons in the custody of a criminal justice agency 7
as defined in RCW 10.97.030; 8
(i)(i) Any employee's name or other personally identifying 9
information, including but not limited to birthdate, job title, 10
addresses of work stations and locations, work email address, work 11
phone number, bargaining unit, or other similar information, 12
maintained by an agency in personnel-related records or systems, or 13
responsive to a request for a list of individuals subject to the 14
commercial purpose prohibition under RCW 42.56.070(8), if the 15
employee ((has provided)): 16
(A) ((A)) Has provided a sworn statement, signed under penalty of 17
perjury and verified by the director of the employing agency or 18
director's designee, that the employee or a dependent of the employee 19
is a survivor of domestic violence as defined in RCW 10.99.020 or 20
7.105.010, sexual assault as defined in RCW 70.125.030 or sexual 21
abuse as defined in RCW 7.105.010, stalking as described in RCW 22
9A.46.110 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, or harassment as described in 23
RCW 9A.46.020 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, and notifying the agency 24
as to why the employee has a reasonable basis to believe that the 25
risk of domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse, stalking, or 26
harassment continues to exist. A sworn statement under this 27
subsection expires after two years, but may be subsequently renewed 28
by providing a new sworn statement to the employee's employing 29
agency; or 30
(B) Provides proof to the employing agency of the employee's 31
participation or the participation of a dependent in the address 32
confidentiality program under chapter 40.24 RCW. 33
(ii) Any documentation maintained by an agency to administer this 34
subsection (1)(i) is exempt from disclosure under this chapter and is 35
confidential and may not be disclosed without consent of the employee 36
who submitted the documentation. Agencies may provide information to 37
their employees on how to submit a request to anonymize their work 38
email address. 39
p. 3 HB 1934
(iii) For purposes of this subsection (1)(i), "verified" means 1
that the director of the employing agency or director's designee 2
confirmed that the sworn statement identifies the alleged perpetrator 3
or perpetrators by name and, if possible, image or likeness, or that 4
the director or designee obtained from the employee a police report, 5
protection order petition, or other documentation of allegations 6
related to the domestic violence, sexual assault or abuse, stalking, 7
or harassment. 8
(iv) The exemption in this subsection (1)(i) does not apply to 9
public records requests from the news media as defined in RCW 10
5.68.010(5); 11
(j) The global positioning system data that would indicate the 12
location of the residence of a public employee or volunteer using the 13
global positioning system recording device; 14
(k) Information relating to a future voter, as provided in RCW 15
29A.08.725; 16
(l) Voluntarily submitted information collected and maintained by 17
a state agency or higher education institution that identifies an 18
individual state employee's personal demographic details. "Personal 19
demographic details" means race or ethnicity, sexual orientation as 20
defined by RCW 49.60.040(((27))), immigration status, national 21
origin, or status as a person with a disability. This exemption does 22
not prevent the release of state employee demographic information in 23
a deidentified or aggregate format; and 24
(m) Benefit enrollment information collected and maintained by 25
the health care authority through its authority as director of the 26
public employees' benefits board and school employees' benefits board 27
programs as authorized by chapter 41.05 RCW. This subsection (1)(m) 28
does not prevent the release of benefit enrollment information in a 29
deidentified or aggregate format. "Benefit enrollment information" 30
means: 31
(i) Information listed in (d) of this subsection;32
(ii) Personal demographic details as defined in (l) of this 33
subsection; 34
(iii) Benefit elections; 35
(iv) Date of birth; 36
(v) Documents provided for verification of dependency, such as 37
tax returns or marriage or birth certificates; 38
(vi) Marital status; 39
(vii) Primary language spoken; 40
p. 4 HB 1934
(viii) Tobacco use status; and 1
(ix) Tribal affiliation. 2
(2) Upon receipt of a request for information located exclusively 3
in an employee's personnel, payroll, supervisor, or training file, 4
the agency must provide notice to the employee, to any union 5
representing the employee, and to the requestor. The notice must 6
state: 7
(a) The date of the request; 8
(b) The nature of the requested record relating to the employee;9
(c) That the agency will release any information in the record 10
which is not exempt from the disclosure requirements of this chapter 11
at least ten days from the date the notice is made; and12
(d) That the employee may seek to enjoin release of the records 13
under RCW 42.56.540. 14
--- END ---
p. 5 HB 1934