Shared leave

AN ACT Relating to modifying shared leave provisions to authorize 1
shared leave for victims of a hate crime and those whose absence is 2
due to immigration enforcement actions against the employee or the 3
employee's relative; and amending RCW 41.04.665 and 41.04.655.4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
Sec. 1. RCW 41.04.665 and 2020 c 6 s 2 are each amended to read 6
as follows: 7
(1) An agency head may permit an employee to receive leave under 8
this section if: 9
(a)(i) The employee suffers from, or has a relative or household 10
member suffering from, an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or 11
mental condition which is of an extraordinary or severe nature;12
(ii) The employee has been called to service in the uniformed 13
services; 14
(iii) The employee is a current member of the uniformed services 15
or is a veteran as defined under RCW 41.04.005, and is attending 16
medical appointments or treatments for a service connected injury or 17
disability; 18
(iv) The employee is a spouse of a current member of the 19
uniformed services or a veteran as defined under RCW 41.04.005, who 20
is attending medical appointments or treatments for a service 21
H-2841.1
HOUSE BILL 2411
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Salahuddin, Berry, Street, Parshley, Ryu, Callan,
Zahn, Scott, Obras, Simmons, Ramel, Thomas, Bergquist, Davis, Ormsby,
Pollet, Santos, Macri, Goodman, Reed, Hill, and Donaghy
Read first time 01/13/26. Referred to Committee on State Government
& Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 2411
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, or a hate crime; 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
(b) The illness, injury, impairment, condition, call to service, 8
emergency volunteer service, or consequence of domestic violence, 9
sexual assault, temporary layoff under section 3 (5), chapter 32, Laws 10
of 2010 1st sp. sess., ((or)) stalking, hate crime, or involvement in 11
an immigration enforcement action pursuant to (a)(ix) of this 12
subsection, has caused, or is likely to cause, the employee to:13
(i) Go on leave without pay status; or 14
(ii) Terminate state employment; 15
(c) The employee's absence and the use of shared leave are 16
justified; 17
(d) The employee has depleted or will shortly deplete his or her:18
(i) Annual leave and sick leave reserves if he or she qualifies 19
under (a)(i) of this subsection; 20
(ii) Annual leave and paid military leave allowed under RCW 21
38.40.060 if he or she qualifies under (a)(ii) of this subsection;22
(iii) Annual leave if he or she qualifies under (a) (v) or (vi) 23
of this subsection; or 24
(iv) Annual leave and sick leave reserves if the employee 25
qualifies under (a)(vii) ((or)), (viii), or (ix) of this subsection; 26
and27
(e) The employee has abided by agency rules regarding:28
(i) Sick leave use if he or she qualifies under (a)(i), (vi), 29
(vii), ((or)) (viii), or (ix) of this subsection; or30
(ii) Military leave if he or she qualifies under (a)(ii) of this 31
subsection((; and32
(f)(i) Until the expiration of proclamation 20-05, issued 33
February 29, 2020, by the governor and declaring a state of emergency 34
in the state of Washington, or any amendment thereto, whichever is 35
later, an agency head may permit an employee to receive shared leave 36
under this section if the employee, or a relative or household 37
member, is isolated or quarantined as recommended, requested, or 38
ordered by a public health official or health care provider as a 39
result of suspected or confirmed infection with or exposure to the 40
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2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). An agency head may permit use of 1
shared leave under this subsection (1)(f) without considering the 2
requirements of (a) through (e) of this subsection.3
(ii) The office of the governor must provide notice of the 4
expiration of proclamation 20-05, or any amendment thereto, whichever 5
is later, to the chief clerk of the house of representatives, the 6
secretary of the senate, the office of the code reviser, and others 7
as deemed appropriate by the office of the governor)).8
(2)(a) The agency head shall determine the amount of leave, if 9
any, which an employee may receive under this section. However, the 10
agency head may not prevent an employee from using shared leave 11
intermittently or on nonconsecutive days so long as the leave has not 12
been returned under subsection (10) of this section. In addition, an 13
employee shall not receive a total of more than five hundred twenty-14
two days of leave, except that, a supervisor may authorize leave in 15
excess of five hundred twenty-two days in extraordinary circumstances 16
for an employee qualifying for the shared leave program because he or 17
she is suffering from an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or 18
mental condition which is of an extraordinary or severe nature. 19
Shared leave received under the uniformed service shared leave pool 20
in RCW 41.04.685 is not included in this total. 21
(b) An employee receiving industrial insurance wage replacement 22
benefits may not receive greater than twenty-five percent of his or 23
her base salary from the receipt of shared leave under this section.24
(3) The agency head must allow employees who are veterans, as 25
defined under RCW 41.04.005, and their spouses, to access shared 26
leave from the veterans' in-state service shared leave pool upon 27
employment. 28
(4) An employee may transfer annual leave, sick leave, and his or 29
her personal holiday, as follows: 30
(a) An employee who has an accrued annual leave balance of more 31
than ten days may request that the head of the agency for which the 32
employee works transfer a specified amount of annual leave to another 33
employee authorized to receive leave under subsection (1) of this 34
section. In no event may the employee request a transfer of an amount 35
of leave that would result in his or her annual leave account going 36
below ten days. For purposes of this subsection (4)(a), annual leave 37
does not accrue if the employee receives compensation in lieu of 38
accumulating a balance of annual leave. 39
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(b) An employee may transfer a specified amount of sick leave to 1
an employee requesting shared leave only when the donating employee 2
retains a minimum of one hundred seventy-six hours of sick leave 3
after the transfer. 4
(c) An employee may transfer, under the provisions of this 5
section relating to the transfer of leave, all or part of his or her 6
personal holiday, as that term is defined under RCW 1.16.050, or as 7
such holidays are provided to employees by agreement with a school 8
district's board of directors if the leave transferred under this 9
subsection does not exceed the amount of time provided for personal 10
holidays under RCW 1.16.050. 11
(5) An employee of an institution of higher education under RCW 12
28B.10.016, school district, or educational service district who does 13
not accrue annual leave but does accrue sick leave and who has an 14
accrued sick leave balance of more than twenty-two days may request 15
that the head of the agency for which the employee works transfer a 16
specified amount of sick leave to another employee authorized to 17
receive leave under subsection (1) of this section. In no event may 18
such an employee request a transfer that would result in his or her 19
sick leave account going below twenty-two days. Transfers of sick 20
leave under this subsection are limited to transfers from employees 21
who do not accrue annual leave. Under this subsection, "sick leave" 22
also includes leave accrued pursuant to RCW 28A.400.300(1)(b) or 23
28A.310.240(1) with compensation for illness, injury, and 24
emergencies. 25
(6) Transfers of leave made by an agency head under subsections 26
(4) and (5) of this section shall not exceed the requested amount.27
(7) Leave transferred under this section may be transferred from 28
employees of one agency to an employee of the same agency or, with 29
the approval of the heads of both agencies, to an employee of another 30
state agency. 31
(8) While an employee is on leave transferred under this section, 32
he or she shall continue to be classified as a state employee and 33
shall receive the same treatment in respect to salary, wages, and 34
employee benefits as the employee would normally receive if using 35
accrued annual leave or sick leave. 36
(a) All salary and wage payments made to employees while on leave 37
transferred under this section shall be made by the agency employing 38
the person receiving the leave. The value of leave transferred shall 39
be based upon the leave value of the person receiving the leave.40
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(b) In the case of leave transferred by an employee of one agency 1
to an employee of another agency, the agencies involved shall arrange 2
for the transfer of funds and credit for the appropriate value of 3
leave. 4
(i) Pursuant to rules adopted by the office of financial 5
management, funds shall not be transferred under this section if the 6
transfer would violate any constitutional or statutory restrictions 7
on the funds being transferred. 8
(ii) The office of financial management may adjust the 9
appropriation authority of an agency receiving funds under this 10
section only if and to the extent that the agency's existing 11
appropriation authority would prevent it from expending the funds 12
received. 13
(iii) Where any questions arise in the transfer of funds or the 14
adjustment of appropriation authority, the director of financial 15
management shall determine the appropriate transfer or adjustment.16
(9) Leave transferred under this section shall not be used in any 17
calculation to determine an agency's allocation of full time 18
equivalent staff positions. 19
(10)(a) The value of any leave transferred under this section 20
which remains unused shall be returned at its original value to the 21
employee or employees who transferred the leave when the agency head 22
finds that the leave is no longer needed or will not be needed at a 23
future time in connection with the illness or injury for which the 24
leave was transferred or for any other qualifying condition. Unused 25
shared leave may not be returned until one of the following occurs:26
(i) The agency head receives from the affected employee a 27
statement from the employee's doctor verifying that the illness or 28
injury is resolved; or 29
(ii) The employee is released to full-time employment; has not 30
received additional medical treatment for his or her current 31
condition or any other qualifying condition for at least six months; 32
and the employee's doctor has declined, in writing, the employee's 33
request for a statement indicating the employee's condition has been 34
resolved. 35
(b) If a shared leave account is closed and an employee later has 36
a need to use shared leave due to the same condition listed in the 37
closed account, the agency head must approve a new shared leave 38
request for the employee. 39
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(c) To the extent administratively feasible, the value of unused 1
leave which was transferred by more than one employee shall be 2
returned on a pro rata basis. 3
(11) An employee who uses leave that is transferred to him or her 4
under this section may not be required to repay the value of the 5
leave that he or she used. 6
(12) The director of financial management may adopt rules as 7
necessary to implement subsection (2) of this section.8
(13) For the purposes of this section, "shortly deplete" means 9
that the employee will have forty hours or less of the applicable 10
leave types under subsection (1)(d) of this section. However, the 11
employee is not required to deplete all of the employee's leave and 12
can maintain up to forty hours of the applicable leave types in 13
reserve. 14
Sec. 2. RCW 41.04.655 and 2021 c 215 s 148 are each amended to 15
read as follows: 16
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in 17
this section apply throughout RCW 41.04.650 through 41.04.670, 18
28A.400.380, and section 7, chapter 93, Laws of 1989.19
(1) "Domestic violence" means any of the following acts committed 20
by one family or household member against another or by one intimate 21
partner against another, as those terms are defined in RCW 10.99.020:22
(a) Physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or the infliction of 23
fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, or assault;24
(b) Sexual assault; or 25
(c) Stalking as defined in RCW 9A.46.110. 26
(2) "Employee" means any employee of the state, including 27
employees of school districts and educational service districts, who 28
are entitled to accrue sick leave or annual leave and for whom 29
accurate leave records are maintained. 30
(3) "Hate crime" has the same meaning as in RCW 49.76.020.31
(4) "Parental leave" means leave to bond and care for a newborn 32
child after birth or to bond and care for a child after placement for 33
adoption or foster care. 34
(((4))) (5) "Pregnancy disability" means a pregnancy-related 35
medical condition or miscarriage. 36
(((5))) (6) "Program" means the leave sharing program established 37
in RCW 41.04.660. 38
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(((6))) (7) "Relative or household member" means a child, 1
grandchild, grandparent, parent, sibling, or spouse of an employee, 2
and also includes any individual who regularly resides in the 3
employee's home or where the relationship creates an expectation that 4
the employee care for the person, and that individual depends on the 5
employee for care. "Relative or household member" includes any 6
individual who regularly resides in the employee's home, except that 7
it does not include an individual who simply resides in the same home 8
with no expectation that the employee care for the individual.9
(8) "Service in the uniformed services" means the performance of 10
duty on a voluntary or involuntary basis in a uniformed service under 11
competent authority and includes active duty, active duty for 12
training, initial active duty for training, inactive duty training, 13
full-time national guard duty including state-ordered active duty, 14
and a period for which a person is absent from a position of 15
employment for the purpose of an examination to determine the fitness 16
of the person to perform any such duty. 17
(((7))) (9) "Sexual assault" has the same meaning as set forth in 18
RCW 70.125.030. 19
(((8))) (10) "Stalking" has the same meaning as set forth in RCW 20
9A.46.110. 21
(((9))) (11) "State agency" or "agency" means departments, 22
offices, agencies, or institutions of state government, the 23
legislature, institutions of higher education, school districts, and 24
educational service districts. 25
(((10))) (12) "Uniformed services" means the armed forces, the 26
army national guard, and the air national guard of any state, 27
territory, commonwealth, possession, or district when engaged in 28
active duty for training, inactive duty training, full-time national 29
guard duty, or state active duty, the commissioned corps of the 30
public health service, the coast guard, and any other category of 31
persons designated by the president of the United States in time of 32
war or national emergency. 33
(((11))) (13) "Victim" means a person against whom domestic 34
violence, sexual assault, ((or)) stalking, or a hate crime has been 35
committed as defined in this section. 36
--- END ---
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