This section modifies existing section 50.04.294. Here is the modified chapter for context.
With respect to claims that have an effective date on or after January 4, 2004:
"Misconduct" includes, but is not limited to, the following conduct by a claimant:
Willful or wanton disregard of the rights, title, and interests of the employer or a fellow employee;
Deliberate violations or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of an employee;
Carelessness or negligence that causes or would likely cause serious bodily harm to the employer or a fellow employee; or
Carelessness or negligence of such degree or recurrence to show an intentional or substantial disregard of the employer's interest.
The following acts are considered misconduct because the acts signify a willful or wanton disregard of the rights, title, and interests of the employer or a fellow employee. These acts include, but are not limited to:
Insubordination showing a deliberate, willful, or purposeful refusal to follow the reasonable directions or instructions of the employer;
Repeated inexcusable tardiness following warnings by the employer;
Dishonesty related to employment, including but not limited to deliberate falsification of company records, theft, deliberate deception, or lying;
Repeated and inexcusable absences, including absences for which the employee was able to give advance notice and failed to do so;
Deliberate acts that are illegal, provoke violence or violation of laws, or violate the collective bargaining agreement. However, an employee who engages in lawful union activity may not be disqualified due to misconduct;
Violation of a company rule if the rule is reasonable and if the claimant knew or should have known of the existence of the rule; or
Violations of law by the claimant while acting within the scope of employment that substantially affect the claimant's job performance or that substantially harm the employer's ability to do business.
"Misconduct" does not include:
Inefficiency, unsatisfactory conduct, or failure to perform well as the result of inability or incapacity;
Inadvertence or ordinary negligence in isolated instances;
Good faith errors in judgment or discretion**; or**
Entering quarantine because of exposure to or contracting the disease that is the subject of the declaration of the public health emergency.
"Gross misconduct" means a criminal act in connection with an individual's work for which the individual has been convicted in a criminal court, or has admitted committing, or conduct connected with the individual's work that demonstrates a flagrant and wanton disregard of and for the rights, title, or interest of the employer or a fellow employee.
This section modifies existing section 50.20.010. Here is the modified chapter for context.
An unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive waiting period credits or benefits with respect to any week in his or her eligibility period only if the commissioner finds that:
He or she has registered for work at, and thereafter has continued to report at, an employment office in accordance with such regulation as the commissioner may prescribe, except that the commissioner may by regulation waive or alter either or both of the requirements of this subdivision as to individuals attached to regular jobs and as to such other types of cases or situations with respect to which the commissioner finds that the compliance with such requirements would be oppressive, or would be inconsistent with the purposes of this title;
He or she has filed an application for an initial determination and made a claim for waiting period credit or for benefits in accordance with the provisions of this title;
He or she is able to work, and is available for work in any trade, occupation, profession, or business for which he or she is reasonably fitted.
To be available for work, an individual must be ready, able, and willing, immediately to accept any suitable work which may be offered to him or her and must be actively seeking work pursuant to customary trade practices and through other methods when so directed by the commissioner or the commissioner's agents. If a labor agreement or dispatch rules apply, customary trade practices must be in accordance with the applicable agreement or rules.
Until June 30, 2021, an individual under quarantine or isolation, as defined by the department of health, as directed by a public health official during the novel coronavirus outbreak pursuant to the gubernatorial declaration of emergency of February 29, 2020, will meet the requirements of this subsection (1)(c) if the individual is able to perform, available to perform, and actively seeking work which can be performed while under quarantine or isolation.
For the purposes of this subsection, "customary trade practices" includes compliance with an electrical apprenticeship training program that includes a recognized referral system under apprenticeship program standards approved by the Washington state apprenticeship and training council;
He or she has been unemployed for a waiting period of one week;
He or she participates in reemployment services if the individual has been referred to reemployment services pursuant to the profiling system established by the commissioner under RCW 50.20.011, unless the commissioner determines that:
The individual has completed such services; or
There is justifiable cause for the claimant's failure to participate in such services; and
As to weeks beginning after March 31, 1981, which fall within an extended benefit period as defined in RCW 50.22.010, the individual meets the terms and conditions of RCW 50.22.020 with respect to benefits claimed in excess of twenty-six times the individual's weekly benefit amount.
An individual's eligibility period for regular benefits shall be coincident to his or her established benefit year. An individual's eligibility period for additional or extended benefits shall be the periods prescribed elsewhere in this title for such benefits.
During the weeks of a public health emergency, an unemployed individual may also meet the requirements of subsection (1)(c) of this section if the unemployed individual described in RCW 50.20.050(2)(b)(xii) and 50.29.021(1)(c)(iii) is able to perform, available to perform, and actively seeking suitable work which will commence after quarantine or which can be performed for an employer from the individual's home.
This section adds a new section to an existing chapter 50.04. Here is the modified chapter for context.
"Public health emergency" means a declaration or order that covers the jurisdiction where the unemployed individual was working on the date the individual became unemployed concerning any dangerous, contagious, or infectious diseases, including a pandemic, and is issued as follows:
The president of the United States has declared a national or regional emergency;
The governor of Washington declared a state of emergency under RCW 43.06.010(12); or
The governor or state executive of another state where the unemployed individual was working at the time of the declaration declared a state of emergency.
This section modifies existing section 50.29.021. Here is the modified chapter for context.
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An experience rating account shall be established and maintained for each employer, except employers as described in RCW 50.44.010, 50.44.030, and 50.50.030 who have properly elected to make payments in lieu of contributions, taxable local government employers as described in RCW 50.44.035, and those employers who are required to make payments in lieu of contributions, based on existing records of the employment security department.
Benefits paid to an eligible individual shall be charged to the experience rating accounts of each of such individual's employers during the individual's base year in the same ratio that the wages paid by each employer to the individual during the base year bear to the wages paid by all employers to that individual during that base year, except as otherwise provided in this section.
When the eligible individual's separating employer is a covered contribution paying base year employer, benefits paid to the eligible individual shall be charged to the experience rating account of only the individual's separating employer if the individual qualifies for benefits under:
RCW 50.20.050 (1)(b)(i) or (2)(b)(i), as applicable, and became unemployed after having worked and earned wages in the bona fide work; or
RCW 50.20.050 (1)(b) (v) through (x) or (2)(b) (v) through (x); or
During a public health emergency, the claimant worked at a health care facility as defined in RCW 9A.50.010, was directly involved in the delivery of health services, and was terminated from work due to entering quarantine because of exposure to or contracting the disease that is the subject of the declaration of the public health emergency.
The legislature finds that certain benefit payments, in whole or in part, should not be charged to the experience rating accounts of employers except those employers described in RCW 50.44.010, 50.44.030, and 50.50.030 who have properly elected to make payments in lieu of contributions, taxable local government employers described in RCW 50.44.035, and those employers who are required to make payments in lieu of contributions, as follows:
Benefits paid to any individual later determined to be ineligible shall not be charged to the experience rating account of any contribution paying employer, except as provided in subsection (4) of this section.
Benefits paid to an individual filing under the provisions of chapter 50.06 RCW shall not be charged to the experience rating account of any contribution paying employer only if:
The individual files under RCW 50.06.020(1) after receiving crime victims' compensation for a disability resulting from a nonwork-related occurrence; or
The individual files under RCW 50.06.020(2).
Benefits paid which represent the state's share of benefits payable as extended benefits defined under RCW 50.22.010(6) shall not be charged to the experience rating account of any contribution paying employer.
In the case of individuals who requalify for benefits under RCW 50.20.050 or 50.20.060, benefits based on wage credits earned prior to the disqualifying separation shall not be charged to the experience rating account of the contribution paying employer from whom that separation took place.
Benefits paid to an individual who qualifies for benefits under RCW 50.20.050 (1)(b) (iv) or (xi) or (2)(b) (iv) , (xi), or (xii), as applicable, shall not be charged to the experience rating account of any contribution paying employer.
Benefits paid that exceed the benefits that would have been paid if the weekly benefit amount for the claim had been determined as one percent of the total wages paid in the individual's base year shall not be charged to the experience rating account of any contribution paying employer. This subsection (2)(f) does not apply to the calculation of contribution rates under RCW 50.29.025 for rate year 2010 and thereafter.
g.
Upon approval of an individual's training benefits plan submitted in accordance with RCW 50.22.155(2), an individual is considered enrolled in training, and regular benefits beginning with the week of approval shall not be charged to the experience rating account of any contribution paying employer.
h. Training benefits paid to an individual under RCW 50.22.155 shall not be charged to the experience rating account of any contribution paying employer.
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A contribution paying base year employer, except employers as provided in subsection (5) of this section, not otherwise eligible for relief of charges for benefits under this section, may receive such relief if the benefit charges result from payment to an individual who:
Last left the employ of such employer voluntarily for reasons not attributable to the employer;
Was discharged for misconduct or gross misconduct connected with his or her work not a result of inability to meet the minimum job requirements;
Is unemployed as a result of closure or severe curtailment of operation at the employer's plant, building, worksite, or other facility. This closure must be for reasons directly attributable to a catastrophic occurrence such as fire, flood, or other natural disaster;
Continues to be employed on a regularly scheduled permanent part-time basis by a base year employer and who at some time during the base year was concurrently employed and subsequently separated from at least one other base year employer. Benefit charge relief ceases when the employment relationship between the employer requesting relief and the claimant is terminated. This subsection does not apply to shared work employers under chapter 50.60 RCW;
Continues to be employed on a regularly scheduled permanent part-time basis by a base year employer and who qualified for two consecutive unemployment claims where wages were attributable to at least one employer who employed the individual in both base years. Benefit charge relief ceases when the employment relationship between the employer requesting relief and the claimant is terminated. This subsection does not apply to shared work employers under chapter 50.60 RCW;
Was hired to replace an employee who is a member of the military reserves or National Guard and was called to federal active military service by the president of the United States and is subsequently laid off when that employee is reemployed by their employer upon release from active duty within the time provided for reemployment in RCW 73.16.035;
Worked for an employer for twenty weeks or less, and was laid off at the end of temporary employment when that employee temporarily replaced a permanent employee receiving family or medical leave benefits under Title 50A RCW, and the layoff is due to the return of that permanent employee. This subsection (3)(a)(vii) applies to claims with an effective date on or after January 1, 2020; or
Was discharged because the individual was unable to satisfy a job prerequisite required by law or administrative rule.
When a benefit claim becomes invalid due to an amendment or adjustment of a report where the employer failed to report or inaccurately reported hours worked or remuneration paid, or both, all benefits paid will be charged to the experience rating account of the contribution paying employer or employers that originally filed the incomplete or inaccurate report or reports. An employer who reimburses the trust fund for benefits paid to workers and who fails to report or inaccurately reported hours worked or remuneration paid, or both, shall reimburse the trust fund for all benefits paid that are based on the originally filed incomplete or inaccurate report or reports.
An employer's experience rating account may not be relieved of charges for a benefit payment and an employer who reimburses the trust fund for benefit payments may not be credited for a benefit payment if a benefit payment was made because the employer or employer's agent failed to respond timely or adequately to a written request of the department for information relating to the claim or claims without establishing good cause for the failure and the employer or employer's agent has a pattern of such failures. The commissioner has the authority to determine whether the employer has good cause under this subsection.
For the purposes of this subsection, "adequately" means providing accurate information of sufficient quantity and quality that would allow a reasonable person to determine eligibility for benefits.
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(A) At least three times in the previous two years; or
(B) Twenty percent of the total current claims against the employer.
ii. If an employer's agent is utilized, a pattern is established based on each individual client employer that the employer's agent represents.
If any part of sections 1 through 5 of this act is found to be in conflict with federal requirements that are a prescribed condition to the allocation of federal funds to the state or the eligibility of employers in this state for federal unemployment tax credits, the conflicting part of sections 1 through 5 of this act is inoperative solely to the extent of the conflict, and the finding or determination does not affect the operation of the remainder of sections 1 through 5 of this act. Rules adopted under sections 1 through 5 of this act must meet federal requirements that are a necessary condition to the receipt of federal funds by the state or the granting of federal unemployment tax credits to employers in this state.
This section adds a new section to an existing chapter 51.32. Here is the modified chapter for context.
For health care employees who are covered under this title, there exists a prima facie presumption that any infectious or contagious diseases which are the subject of a public health emergency are occupational diseases under RCW 51.08.140 during a public health emergency. There is a presumption that the health care employee contracted or was exposed to the disease at the health care facility.
The health care employee must provide verification, as required by the department by rule, to the department or the self-insurer that the employee is in quarantine or has contracted the disease after exposure to the infectious or contagious disease that is the subject of the public health emergency.
This presumption of occupational disease may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence that:
The exposure to the infectious or contagious disease which is the subject of the public health emergency occurred from other employment or nonemployment activities; or
The employee was working from the employee's home or other location not under the employer's control, on leave from the employee's employment, or some combination thereof, for the period of quarantine outlined for the disease immediately prior to the employee's date of disease contraction or period of incapacity resulting from exposure to the disease which is the subject of the public health emergency.
For health care employees whose claims are allowed under this section, temporary total disability benefits as provided in RCW 51.32.090 shall be payable beginning the first day the worker is directed to quarantine or is unable to work due to the exposure or contraction of the disease, whichever comes first. If leave or similar benefits are paid to the worker as part of a federal or state program for these employees during the public health emergency, total temporary disability benefits are not payable for the same period of time covered by this federal or state program.
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When a determination involving the presumption established under this section is appealed to the board of industrial insurance appeals and the final decision allows the claim of benefits, the board of industrial insurance appeals shall order that all reasonable costs of the appeal, including attorneys' fees and witness fees, be paid to the worker or the worker's beneficiary by the opposing party. If the opposing party is a state fund employer or retrospective rating group, the costs and fees are paid by the employer or retrospective rating group.
When a determination involving the presumption established in this section is appealed to any court and the final decision allows the claim for benefits, the court shall order that all reasonable costs of appeal, including attorneys' fees and witness fees, be paid to the worker or the worker's beneficiary by the opposing party. If the opposing party is a state fund employer or retrospective rating group, the costs and fees are paid by the employer or retrospective rating group.
When reasonable costs of the appeal must be paid by the department as the opposing party in a state fund case, the costs shall be paid from the accident fund and charged to the costs of the claim.
Costs of claims allowed under this section shall not affect the experience rating of employers insured by the state fund.
For purposes of this section:
"Health care employee" means an employee of any health care facility or other organization that provides emergency or medical services who may have direct contact with any person who has been exposed to or tested positive for any infectious or contagious diseases which are the subject of a public health emergency.
"Health care facility" has the same meaning as in RCW 9A.50.010.
"Public health emergency" means a declaration or order that covers the jurisdiction where the employee was working on the date of exposure concerning any dangerous, contagious, or infectious diseases, including a pandemic, and is issued as follows:
The president of the United States has declared a national or regional emergency; or
The governor of Washington declared a state of emergency under RCW 43.06.010(12).
The presumption in subsection (1) of this section takes effect on the day the national, regional, or state emergency is declared and continues until this declaration is revoked.
The provisions of RCW 51.28.055 concerning time limits for filing claims for occupational disease apply to claims covered under this section.
This section modifies existing section 51.52.130. Here is the modified chapter for context.
If, on appeal to the superior or appellate court from the decision and order of the board, said decision and order is reversed or modified and additional relief is granted to a worker or beneficiary, or in cases where a party other than the worker or beneficiary is the appealing party and the worker's or beneficiary's right to relief is sustained, a reasonable fee for the services of the worker's or beneficiary's attorney shall be fixed by the court.
In fixing the fee the court shall take into consideration the fee or fees, if any, fixed by the director and the board for such attorney's services before the department and the board. If the court finds that the fee fixed by the director or by the board is inadequate for services performed before the department or board, or if the director or the board has fixed no fee for such services, then the court shall fix a fee for the attorney's services before the department, or the board, as the case may be, in addition to the fee fixed for the services in the court.
If in a worker or beneficiary appeal the decision and order of the board is reversed or modified and if the accident fund or medical aid fund is affected by the litigation, or if in an appeal by the department or employer the worker or beneficiary's right to relief is sustained, or in an appeal by a worker involving a state fund employer with twenty-five employees or less, in which the department does not appear and defend, and the board order in favor of the employer is sustained, the attorney's fee fixed by the court, for services before the court only, and the fees of medical and other witnesses and the costs shall be payable out of the administrative fund of the department.
In the case where the employer or other person or persons aggrieved by the decision of the board appeal and the worker or beneficiary's right to relief is sustained, the attorneys' fees fixed by the court, for services before the court only, and the fees of medical and other witnesses and the costs shall be payable directly by the person or persons filing the appeal.
In the case of self-insured employers, the attorney fees fixed by the court, for services before the court only, and the fees of medical and other witnesses and the costs shall be payable directly by the self-insured employer.
In an appeal to the superior or appellate court involving the presumption established under RCW 51.32.185, the attorney's fee and costs shall be payable as set forth under RCW 51.32.185.
In an appeal to the superior or appellate court involving the presumption established under section 7 of this act, the attorneys' fees and costs shall be payable as set forth under section 7 of this act.
This section adds a new section to an existing chapter 51.32. Here is the modified chapter for context.
Where an appealing party, other than the department or a self-insured employer, is ordered to pay attorneys' fees and costs and that party fails, refuses, or neglects to comply with the award, which has become final and is not subject to review or appeal, the director or any person entitled to compensation under the order may institute proceedings for injunctive or other appropriate relief for enforcement of the order. These proceedings may be instituted in the superior court for the county in which the claimant resides, or, if the claimant is not then a resident of this state, in the superior court for the county in which that party may be served with process.
The court shall ensure compliance to the order by proper means, enjoining compliance upon the person obligated to comply with the compensation order. The court may issue such writs and processes as are necessary to carry out its orders.
A proceeding under this section does not preclude other methods of enforcement provided for in this title.