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The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
"Affected employee" means an employee who may reasonably expect to experience an employment loss because of a proposed business closing or mass layoff by an employer.
"Aggrieved employee" means an employee who has worked for the employer ordering the business closing or mass layoff and who, because of the employer's failure to comply with the requirements of chapter 277, Laws of 2025, did not receive timely notice either directly or through the employee's representative.
"Bargaining representative" means an exclusive representative of employees under the national labor relations act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq., or the railway labor act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq.
"Business closing" means the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment of one or more facilities or operating units that will result in an employment loss for 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.
"Commissioner" means the commissioner of the employment security department.
"Department" means the employment security department.
"Employee" means a person employed in this state by an employer. "Employee" includes part-time employees.
"Employer" means a person who employs 50 or more employees in this state, excluding part-time employees. "Employer" does not include the state or any political subdivision thereof, including any unit of local government.
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"Employment loss" means:
An employment termination, other than a discharge for cause, voluntary separation, or retirement;
A layoff exceeding six months; or
A reduction in hours of more than 50 percent of work of individual employees during each month of a six-month period.
"Employment loss" does not include instances when a business closing or mass layoff is the result of the relocation or consolidation of part or all of the employer's business and, before the business closing or mass layoff, the employer offers to transfer the employee to a different site of employment within a reasonable commuting distance, as defined by the department, with no more than a six-month break in employment.
"Mass layoff" means a reduction in employment force that is not the result of a business closing and results in an employment loss during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.
"Part-time employee" means an employee who is employed for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week, or an employee who has been employed for fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the date on which notice is required. However, if an applicable collective bargaining agreement defines a part-time employee, such definition shall supersede the definition in this subsection.
"Single site of employment" means a single location or a group of contiguous locations, such as a group of structures that form a campus or business park or separate facilities across the street from each other.
"Agricultural labor" means: (a) Services performed on a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with the cultivation of the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and management of livestock, bees, poultry, and furbearing animals and wildlife, or in the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement, or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment; or
An employer is not required to comply with the notice requirements under RCW 49.45.020 if:
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At the time the notice would have been required, the employer was actively seeking capital or business;
The capital or business sought, if obtained, would have enabled the employer to avoid or postpone the business closing or mass layoff; and
The employer reasonably and in good faith believed that giving the notice required by RCW 49.45.020 would have precluded the employer from obtaining the needed capital or business;
The mass layoff or business closing is caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time the notice would have been required. The unforeseeable business circumstances must be caused by a sudden, dramatic, and unexpected action or condition outside of the employer's control;
The mass layoff or business closing is due to a natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, drought, storm, tornado, or similar effects of nature;
The mass layoff occurs at:
A construction project and the affected employees were hired with the understanding that their employment was limited to the duration of a particular portion of that construction project; or
A multiemployer construction project and the only affected employees are subject to a full union referral or dispatch system; or
The affected employees are employed in agricultural labor and were hired with the understanding, confirmed in writing at the time of hire, that their employment was limited to the duration of a specific agricultural season or harvest period, and the estimated end date of employment was disclosed in advance based on the anticipated completion of harvest or related seasonal activities.
If an exception under this section applies for only part of the 60-day notice window, notice is required at the time the exception no longer applies. If notice is not provided, the employer is liable for each day notice is not provided pursuant to RCW 49.45.040 and 49.45.050.
The department may not determine an exception under this section applies unless the employer meets the documentation and other requirements established by the department pursuant to RCW 49.45.070.