Shared leave/immigration

AN ACT Relating to authorizing shared leave for absences 1
resulting from immigration enforcement actions; and amending RCW 2
41.04.665. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 41.04.665 and 2020 c 6 s 2 are each amended to read 5
as follows: 6
(1) An agency head may permit an employee to receive leave under 7
this section if: 8
(a)(i) The employee suffers from, or has a relative or household 9
member suffering from, an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or 10
mental condition which is of an extraordinary or severe nature;11
(ii) The employee has been called to service in the uniformed 12
services; 13
(iii) The employee is a current member of the uniformed services 14
or is a veteran as defined under RCW 41.04.005, and is attending 15
medical appointments or treatments for a service connected injury or 16
disability; 17
(iv) The employee is a spouse of a current member of the 18
uniformed services or a veteran as defined under RCW 41.04.005, who 19
is attending medical appointments or treatments for a service 20
H-2723.1
HOUSE BILL 2312
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Salahuddin, Berry, Reed, Ramel, Santos, Obras,
Parshley, Zahn, Thomas, Doglio, Gregerson, Ormsby, Scott, Reeves,
Macri, Fosse, Bergquist, Hill, Davis, Pollet, and Street
Prefiled 01/07/26. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on State Government & Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 2312
connected injury or disability and requires assistance while 1
attending appointment or treatment; 2
(v) A state of emergency has been declared anywhere within the 3
United States by the federal or any state government and the employee 4
has needed skills to assist in responding to the emergency or its 5
aftermath and volunteers his or her services to either a governmental 6
agency or to a nonprofit organization engaged in humanitarian relief 7
in the devastated area, and the governmental agency or nonprofit 8
organization accepts the employee's offer of volunteer services;9
(vi) The employee is a victim of domestic violence, sexual 10
assault, or stalking; 11
(vii) The employee needs the time for parental leave; ((or))12
(viii) The employee is sick or temporarily disabled because of 13
pregnancy disability; or14
(ix)(A) The employee's absence from work is due to the 15
involvement of the employee or employee's family member in an 16
immigration enforcement action. For purposes of this subsection, 17
"immigration enforcement action" includes, but is not limited to, 18
detainment, the preparation for or participation in any judicial or 19
administrative immigration proceeding, deportation, or any other 20
hardship due to family separation caused by these actions.21
(B) An employer may, but is not required to, request that the 22
employee submit verification for leave taken under this subsection 23
(1)(a)(ix). An employer that requests verification shall direct the 24
employee not to disclose within it personally identifiable 25
information about a person's immigration status or underlying 26
immigration protection. If an employee submits verification that 27
discloses such information, that information is confidential and not 28
subject to disclosure under chapter 42.56 RCW, and the employer shall 29
redact the information upon receipt. If an employer requests 30
verification, an employee may submit, and the employee must accept, 31
one of the following:32
(I) Documentation that the employee or the employee's family 33
member is involved in an immigration enforcement action from any of 34
the following persons from whom the employee or employee's family 35
member sought assistance in addressing the immigration enforcement 36
action: An advocate for immigrants or refugees, an attorney, a member 37
of the clergy, or any other professional. An employee who provides 38
documentation under this subsection does not waive or diminish the 39
confidential or privileged nature of communications between an 40
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employee or an employee's family member and one or more of the 1
individuals described in this subsection pursuant to RCW 5.60.060 or 2
other applicable law; or 3
(II) An employee's written statement that the employee or the 4
employee's family member is involved in an immigration enforcement 5
action and that the leave taken is because of an immigration 6
enforcement action.7
(C) For purposes of this subsection (1)(a)(ix), "family member" 8
means a parent, sibling, parent-in-law, spouse, registered domestic 9
partner, grandparent, grandchild, minor or dependent child, child, 10
and any individual who regularly resides in the employee's home or 11
where the relationship creates an expectation that the employee care 12
for the person, and that individual depends on the employee for care. 13
"Family member" does not include an individual who simply resides in 14
the same home with no expectation that the employee cares for the 15
individual; 16
(b) The illness, injury, impairment, condition, call to service, 17
emergency volunteer service, or consequence of domestic violence, 18
sexual assault, temporary layoff under section 3 (5), chapter 32, Laws 19
of 2010 1st sp. sess., ((or)) stalking, or involvement in an 20
immigration enforcement action pursuant to (a)(ix) of this 21
subsection, has caused, or is likely to cause, the employee to:22
(i) Go on leave without pay status; or 23
(ii) Terminate state employment; 24
(c) The employee's absence and the use of shared leave are 25
justified; 26
(d) The employee has depleted or will shortly deplete his or her:27
(i) Annual leave and sick leave reserves if he or she qualifies 28
under (a)(i) of this subsection; 29
(ii) Annual leave and paid military leave allowed under RCW 30
38.40.060 if he or she qualifies under (a)(ii) of this subsection;31
(iii) Annual leave if he or she qualifies under (a) (v) or (vi) 32
of this subsection; or 33
(iv) Annual leave and sick leave reserves if the employee 34
qualifies under (a)(vii) ((or)), (viii), or (ix) of this subsection;35
(e) The employee has abided by agency rules regarding:36
(i) Sick leave use if he or she qualifies under (a)(i), (vi), 37
(vii), ((or)) (viii), or (ix) of this subsection; or38
(ii) Military leave if he or she qualifies under (a)(ii) of this 39
subsection; and 40
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(f)(i) Until the expiration of proclamation 20-05, issued 1
February 29, 2020, by the governor and declaring a state of emergency 2
in the state of Washington, or any amendment thereto, whichever is 3
later, an agency head may permit an employee to receive shared leave 4
under this section if the employee, or a relative or household 5
member, is isolated or quarantined as recommended, requested, or 6
ordered by a public health official or health care provider as a 7
result of suspected or confirmed infection with or exposure to the 8
2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). An agency head may permit use of 9
shared leave under this subsection (1)(f) without considering the 10
requirements of (a) through (e) of this subsection.11
(ii) The office of the governor must provide notice of the 12
expiration of proclamation 20-05, or any amendment thereto, whichever 13
is later, to the chief clerk of the house of representatives, the 14
secretary of the senate, the office of the code reviser, and others 15
as deemed appropriate by the office of the governor.16
(2)(a) The agency head shall determine the amount of leave, if 17
any, which an employee may receive under this section. However, the 18
agency head may not prevent an employee from using shared leave 19
intermittently or on nonconsecutive days so long as the leave has not 20
been returned under subsection (10) of this section. In addition, an 21
employee shall not receive a total of more than five hundred twenty-22
two days of leave, except that, a supervisor may authorize leave in 23
excess of five hundred twenty-two days in extraordinary circumstances 24
for an employee qualifying for the shared leave program because he or 25
she is suffering from an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or 26
mental condition which is of an extraordinary or severe nature. 27
Shared leave received under the uniformed service shared leave pool 28
in RCW 41.04.685 is not included in this total. 29
(b) An employee receiving industrial insurance wage replacement 30
benefits may not receive greater than twenty-five percent of his or 31
her base salary from the receipt of shared leave under this section.32
(3) The agency head must allow employees who are veterans, as 33
defined under RCW 41.04.005, and their spouses, to access shared 34
leave from the veterans' in-state service shared leave pool upon 35
employment. 36
(4) An employee may transfer annual leave, sick leave, and his or 37
her personal holiday, as follows: 38
(a) An employee who has an accrued annual leave balance of more 39
than ten days may request that the head of the agency for which the 40
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employee works transfer a specified amount of annual leave to another 1
employee authorized to receive leave under subsection (1) of this 2
section. In no event may the employee request a transfer of an amount 3
of leave that would result in his or her annual leave account going 4
below ten days. For purposes of this subsection (4)(a), annual leave 5
does not accrue if the employee receives compensation in lieu of 6
accumulating a balance of annual leave. 7
(b) An employee may transfer a specified amount of sick leave to 8
an employee requesting shared leave only when the donating employee 9
retains a minimum of one hundred seventy-six hours of sick leave 10
after the transfer. 11
(c) An employee may transfer, under the provisions of this 12
section relating to the transfer of leave, all or part of his or her 13
personal holiday, as that term is defined under RCW 1.16.050, or as 14
such holidays are provided to employees by agreement with a school 15
district's board of directors if the leave transferred under this 16
subsection does not exceed the amount of time provided for personal 17
holidays under RCW 1.16.050. 18
(5) An employee of an institution of higher education under RCW 19
28B.10.016, school district, or educational service district who does 20
not accrue annual leave but does accrue sick leave and who has an 21
accrued sick leave balance of more than twenty-two days may request 22
that the head of the agency for which the employee works transfer a 23
specified amount of sick leave to another employee authorized to 24
receive leave under subsection (1) of this section. In no event may 25
such an employee request a transfer that would result in his or her 26
sick leave account going below twenty-two days. Transfers of sick 27
leave under this subsection are limited to transfers from employees 28
who do not accrue annual leave. Under this subsection, "sick leave" 29
also includes leave accrued pursuant to RCW 28A.400.300(1)(b) or 30
28A.310.240(1) with compensation for illness, injury, and 31
emergencies. 32
(6) Transfers of leave made by an agency head under subsections 33
(4) and (5) of this section shall not exceed the requested amount.34
(7) Leave transferred under this section may be transferred from 35
employees of one agency to an employee of the same agency or, with 36
the approval of the heads of both agencies, to an employee of another 37
state agency. 38
(8) While an employee is on leave transferred under this section, 39
he or she shall continue to be classified as a state employee and 40
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shall receive the same treatment in respect to salary, wages, and 1
employee benefits as the employee would normally receive if using 2
accrued annual leave or sick leave. 3
(a) All salary and wage payments made to employees while on leave 4
transferred under this section shall be made by the agency employing 5
the person receiving the leave. The value of leave transferred shall 6
be based upon the leave value of the person receiving the leave.7
(b) In the case of leave transferred by an employee of one agency 8
to an employee of another agency, the agencies involved shall arrange 9
for the transfer of funds and credit for the appropriate value of 10
leave. 11
(i) Pursuant to rules adopted by the office of financial 12
management, funds shall not be transferred under this section if the 13
transfer would violate any constitutional or statutory restrictions 14
on the funds being transferred. 15
(ii) The office of financial management may adjust the 16
appropriation authority of an agency receiving funds under this 17
section only if and to the extent that the agency's existing 18
appropriation authority would prevent it from expending the funds 19
received. 20
(iii) Where any questions arise in the transfer of funds or the 21
adjustment of appropriation authority, the director of financial 22
management shall determine the appropriate transfer or adjustment.23
(9) Leave transferred under this section shall not be used in any 24
calculation to determine an agency's allocation of full time 25
equivalent staff positions. 26
(10)(a) The value of any leave transferred under this section 27
which remains unused shall be returned at its original value to the 28
employee or employees who transferred the leave when the agency head 29
finds that the leave is no longer needed or will not be needed at a 30
future time in connection with the illness or injury for which the 31
leave was transferred or for any other qualifying condition. Unused 32
shared leave may not be returned until one of the following occurs:33
(i) The agency head receives from the affected employee a 34
statement from the employee's doctor verifying that the illness or 35
injury is resolved; or 36
(ii) The employee is released to full-time employment; has not 37
received additional medical treatment for his or her current 38
condition or any other qualifying condition for at least six months; 39
and the employee's doctor has declined, in writing, the employee's 40
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request for a statement indicating the employee's condition has been 1
resolved. 2
(b) If a shared leave account is closed and an employee later has 3
a need to use shared leave due to the same condition listed in the 4
closed account, the agency head must approve a new shared leave 5
request for the employee. 6
(c) To the extent administratively feasible, the value of unused 7
leave which was transferred by more than one employee shall be 8
returned on a pro rata basis. 9
(11) An employee who uses leave that is transferred to him or her 10
under this section may not be required to repay the value of the 11
leave that he or she used. 12
(12) The director of financial management may adopt rules as 13
necessary to implement subsection (2) of this section.14
(13) For the purposes of this section, "shortly deplete" means 15
that the employee will have forty hours or less of the applicable 16
leave types under subsection (1)(d) of this section. However, the 17
employee is not required to deplete all of the employee's leave and 18
can maintain up to forty hours of the applicable leave types in 19
reserve. 20
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