wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2303 > Original Bill

HB 2303 - Employee microchipping

Source

Section 1

  1. An employer may not request, require, or coerce any employee to have a microchip implanted in the employee for any reason.

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    1. An employee alleging a violation of this section may file a complaint with the department. The department shall investigate the complaint. The department may issue either a citation and notice of assessment or a closure letter.

    2. If the department finds that an employee's allegation cannot be substantiated, the department shall issue a closure letter to the employee and the employer detailing the department's finding.

    3. If the department finds that the employer violated this section, the department shall issue a citation and notice of assessment. For a first-time violation, the department shall order the employer to pay the department a civil penalty of no less than $10,000. For repeat violations, the department shall order the employer to pay the department a civil penalty of no less than $20,000 for each repeated violation.

    4. The department may collect unpaid citations pursuant to RCW 49.48.086.

    5. The department shall deposit civil penalties paid under this section in the supplemental pension fund established under RCW 51.44.033.

    6. The department may issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses or parties and the production of documents, administer oaths and examine witnesses under oath, take depositions, and seek affidavits or other verifications. The department may request an employer to perform a self-audit of any records, which must be provided within a reasonable time as specified in the self-audit request. The records the employer examines for the self-audit must be made available to the department upon request.

    7. An employer or employee aggrieved by a citation, assessment, or determination issued by the department under this section may appeal the citation, assessment, or determination to the director by filing a notice of appeal with the director within 30 days of the department's issuance of the citation, assessment, or determination. A citation, assessment, or determination not appealed within 30 days is final and binding and not subject to further appeal.

    8. A notice of appeal filed with the director under this section stays the effectiveness of the citation, assessment, or determination pending final review of the appeal by the director as provided for in chapter 34.05 RCW.

      1. Upon receipt of a notice of appeal, the director shall assign the hearing to an administrative law judge of the office of administrative hearings to conduct the hearing and issue an initial order. The hearing and review procedures must be conducted in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW, and the standard of review is de novo. A party who seeks to challenge an initial order must file a petition for administrative review with the director within 30 days after service of the initial order. The director shall conduct an administrative review in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW.

    9. The director shall issue all final orders after appeal of the initial order. The final order of the director is subject to judicial review in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW.

    10. Orders that are not appealed within the time period specified in this section and chapter 34.05 RCW are final and binding and not subject to further appeal.

    11. An employer who fails to allow adequate inspection of records in an investigation by the department under this section within a reasonable time period may not use such records in any appeal under this section to challenge the correctness of any determination by the department of penalties assessed.

    12. The department may adopt rules to implement this section.

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    1. In addition to filing a complaint with the department, an employee aggrieved by a violation of this section may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction.

    2. The employee must commence the civil action within three years of the date of the alleged violation regardless of whether the employee filed a complaint with the department.

    3. The court may award a prevailing employee injunctive relief, actual damages, punitive damages, and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

  4. For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

    1. "Department" means the department of labor and industries.

    2. "Director" means the director of the department of labor and industries or the director's designee.

    3. "Employer" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership, business trust, legal representative, or other business entity which engages in any business, industry, profession, or activity in this state and employs one or more employees, and includes the state, any state institution, state agency, political subdivisions of the state, and any municipal corporation or quasi-municipal corporation.

    4. "Employee" means an individual who is employed by the employer or who is an applicant for employment with the employer.

    5. "Microchip" means a product, device, or technology that is subcutaneously implanted in the body of an individual and contains a unique identification number and personal information that can be noninvasively retrieved or transmitted with an external scanning device. "Microchip" does not include a device that is implanted in an individual if the device is used in the diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, or prevention of a health condition, and only transmits such information as is necessary to carry out the diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, or prevention of the health condition.

    6. "Subcutaneously" means beneath the skin. "Subcutaneously" does not include information temporarily attached to the skin by an adhesive strip or bracelet upon which or within which personal information is maintained or stored.

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