HB 1345 — Limiting overtime for correctional officers.

H-1403.1SUBSTITUTEH-0709.1HOUSE HOUSE BILL 1345State of Washington66th Legislature2019 Regular SessionByHouseSessionByRepresentatives LaborFrame, &Irwin, WorkplaceSells, Standardsand (originallyGoodmanRead sponsoredfirst bytime Representatives01/18/19.Referred Frame,to Irwin,Committee Sells,on andLabor Goodman)READ& FIRSTWorkplace TIMEStandards.AN 02/22/19.AN ACT Relating to limiting overtime for correctional officers;

creatingadding new sections;sections to chapter 49.28 RCW;

and providingprescribing anpenalties.BE expiration date.BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:NEW SECTION.  Sec.

The(1) legislatureAn findsemployer thatmay correctionalnot officersrequire ina thecorrectional countyofficer jails are often required to work significantovertime. overtime hours.

TheseAttempts longto compel or force correctional officers to work overtime are contrary to public policy, and unpredictableany hourssuch impactrequirement thecontained officers'in healtha contract, agreement, or understanding is void.(2) The acceptance by any correctional officer of overtime is strictly voluntary, and causethe strainrefusal onto families.accept such overtime work is not grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge, or any other penalty, threat of reports for discipline, or employment decision adverse to the correctional officer.(3) This section does not apply to overtime work that occurs:(a) Because of any unforeseeable emergent circumstance;

Theor(b) legislatureWhen alsothe recognizesemployer documents that countiesit facehas budgetaryused andreasonable otherefforts challengesto inobtain operatingstaffing. jails.

Further,An theemployer legislaturehas findsnot thatused thereasonable problemefforts appearsif toovertime resultwork fromis aused combinationto offill manyvacancies factorsresulting andfrom thatchronic therestaff areshortages.NEW aSECTION.  Sec. range of possible solutions.

Therefore, the legislature intends to gather data to better understand the scope of and reasons for the problem.NEW SECTION.  Sec.

(1) The departmentdefinitions shallin collectthis datasection fromapply eachthroughout this section and sections 1 and 3 of this act unless the countiescontext clearly requires otherwise.(1) "Correctional officer" means a person employed by an employer who is responsible for the custody, safety, security, and supervision of inmates in a jail.(2) "Employer" means a city or county or any combination of cities and counties responsible for the stateoperation, regardingsupervision, useand maintenance of mandatorya overtimejail.(3) in"Jail" jailsmeans a facility operated by an employer primarily designed, staffed, and used for the housing of adult persons charged with a criminal offense either prior to trial or sentencing or following conviction, or both.(4) "Overtime" means hours in excess of the mostagreed recentupon, fivepredetermined, yearsregularly forscheduled whichshift datawithin a twenty-four hour period.(5) "Reasonable efforts" means that the employer, to the extent reasonably possible, does all of the following but is available.unable to obtain staffing coverage:(a) Seeks individuals to volunteer to work overtime from all available qualified staff who are working;

Theand(b) departmentContacts shallqualified collectstaff atwho leasthave themade followingthemselves data:(a)available Theto numberwork ofovertime.(6) correctional"Unforeseeable officersemergent employedcircumstance" means:(a) A riot or other organized body acting together by theforce county;(b)or Thesimilar numberemergency ofin hourswhich a need arises to detain a significant number of mandatorypersons;(b) overtime;(c)An Theunforeseen shiftemergency onrequiring whichadditional thestaffing mandatoryoccurs overtimein wasthe worked;jail;

and(d)or(c) WhetherAny another unforeseeableunforeseen emergentdisaster circumstanceor wasother thecatastrophic reasonevent forthat theaffects overtime.(2)staffing A county shall cooperate with and provide the data requested by the department.(3) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the contextjail.NEW clearlySECTION.  Sec. requires otherwise.(a) "Correctional officer" means a person employed by an employer who is responsible for the custody, safety, security, and supervision of inmates in a jail or juvenile offenders in a detention facility.(b) "Department" means the employment security department.(c) "Detention facility" means a county facility, paid for by the county, for the physical confinement of a juvenile alleged to have committed an offense or an adjudicated offender subject to a disposition or modification order.

"Detention facility" includes electronic monitoring.(d) "Jail" means a facility operated by a county and primarily designed, staffed, and used for the housing of adult persons charged with a criminal offense either prior to trial or sentencing or following conviction, or both.(e) "Overtime" means hours in excess of the agreed upon, predetermined, regularly scheduled shift within a twenty-four hour period.(f) "Unforeseeable emergent circumstance" means:(i) A riot or other organized body acting together by force or similar emergency in which a need arises to detain a significant number of persons;(ii) An unforeseen emergency requiring additional staffing occurs in the jail;

or(iii) Any other unforeseen disaster or other catastrophic event that affects staffing in the jail.(4) The department shall provide the data collected under this section to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2020.NEW SECTION.  Sec.

ThisThe actdepartment expiresof Januarylabor 1,and 2021.---industries ENDmust ---investigate complaints of violations of section 1 of this act.

A violation of section 1 of this act is a class 1 civil infraction in accordance with chapter 7.80 RCW, except that the maximum penalty is one thousand dollars for each infraction up to three infractions.

If there are four or more violations of section 1 of this act by an employer, the employer is subject to a fine of two thousand five hundred dollars for the fourth violation, and five thousand dollars for each subsequent violation.

The department of labor and industries is authorized to issue and enforce civil infractions according to chapter 7.80 RCW.NEW SECTION.  Sec.

4.

Sections 1 through 3 of this act are each added to chapter 49.28 RCW.--- END ---