HB 2144 — Requiring notices to employees when electronic monitoring is used to assist employers conducting performance evaluations.

H-3270.1H-2432.2 SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2144 State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session By House Labor & Workplace Standards (originally sponsored by Representatives Parshley, Scott, Hill, Thomas, Reed, Berry, Duerr, Cortes, Peterson, Kloba, Donaghy, Macri, Bernbaum, Obras, Taylor, Fey, Fosse, Hall, Berg, Ramel, Wylie, Goodman, Stearns, Reeves, Pollet, Nance, Callan, Street, Ryu, Doglio, Simmons, Santos, Zahn, Bronoske, Stonier, Gregerson, Ormsby, Farivar, and Bergquist)Bergquist READPrefiled FIRST12/15/25. TIME 01/30/26.

Read first time 01/12/26.

Referred to Committee on Labor & Workplace Standards.

adding a new chaptersection to Titlechapter 4949.44 RCW;

and prescribing penalties;penalties.

and providing an effective date.

TheA followingnew definitionssection applyis throughoutadded thisto chapter unless49.44 theRCW contextto clearlyread requiresas otherwise:follows:

(1) "ArtificialThe intelligence"following meansdefinitions anapply engineeredthroughout orthis machine-section, basedunless systemthe thatcontext can,clearly forrequires aotherwise: given set of objectives, generate outputs such as predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing real or virtual environments.

Artificial(a) intelligence"Artificial systemsintelligence" canmeans bethe designeduse of machine learning and related technologies that use data to operatetrain withstatistical varyingmodels levelsfor the purpose of autonomy.enabling computer systems to perform tasks normally associated with human intelligence or perception, such as computer vision, speech or natural language processing, translation, decision making, and content generation.

(2)For "Department"the purposes of this subsection, "machine learning" means the departmentprocess ofby laborwhich artificial intelligence is developed using data and industries.algorithms to draw inferences thereupon to automatically adapt or improve its accuracy without explicit programming.

(3)(b) "Director""Department" means the director of the department of labor and industriesindustries. or the director's designee.

(4) "Electronic monitoring" means the collection of information concerning an employee's activities or communications by any means other than direct, in-person observation, including, for example, through the use of artificial intelligence, a digital device, computer, telephone, wire, radio, camera, or electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system.

1 SHBHB 2144 (5)(c) "Employee""Director" means anthe individualdirector employedof by the employerdepartment whetherof bylabor wayand ofindustries manualor laborthe ordirector's otherwise.designee.

(6)(d) "Employer""Electronic monitoring" means anythe person,collection firm,of corporation,information partnership,concerning businessan trust,employee's legalactivities representative, or othercommunications businessby entity that engages in any business,means industry,other profession,than ordirect, activityin-person inobservation, thisincluding, statefor andexample, employsthrough one or more employees, and includes the state,use anyof stateartificial institution,intelligence, statea agency,digital politicaldevice, subdivisionscomputer, oftelephone, thewire, state,radio, andcamera, anyor municipalelectromagnetic, corporationphotoelectronic, or quasi-municipalphoto-optical corporation.system.

"Employer"(e) does"Employee" notmeans includean anyindividual generalemployed authorityby Washingtonthe lawemployer enforcementwhether agencyby asway definedof inmanual RCWlabor 10.93.020 or anyotherwise. city, county, town, or state fire department responsible for fire suppression.

(7)(f) "Meaningful"Employer" humanmeans review"any meansperson, afirm, good-faithcorporation, reviewpartnership, bybusiness atrust, supervisor,legal manager,representative, or other authorizedbusiness personnelentity whothat considersengages relevantin electronicany monitoringbusiness, outputs,industry, andprofession, asor appropriate,activity otherin availablethis informationstate aboutand theemploys employee'sone performance,or andmore hasemployees, discretionand toincludes relythe on,state, supplement,any orstate departinstitution, fromstate thoseagency, outputspolitical whensubdivisions conductingof the performancestate, evaluation.and any municipal corporation or quasi-municipal corporation.

(8)(g) "Performance evaluation" means an assessment, conducted by or on behalf of the employer, of an employee's execution of any aspect of the employee's job.

NEW(2)(a) SECTION.Except as provided in (c) of this subsection, if an employer intends to use electronic monitoring to assist the employer in conducting a performance evaluation of an employee, the employer must notify the employee in writing at least 30 days prior to implementing the use of electronic monitoring.

Sec.(b) If, as of the effective date of this section, an employer is already using electronic monitoring to assist in a performance evaluation of an employee, the employer may continue to use electronic monitoring but must provide written notice to the employee within 60 days of the effective date of this section.

2.(c) Beginning on the effective date of this section, when an employer hires an individual for employment and the employer uses or intends to use electronic monitoring to assist in performance evaluations, the employer must, at the time the job offer is made, provide written notice to the individual stating that the employer uses or intends to use electronic monitoring to assist in performance evaluations.

(1)(d) ExceptThe asnotice providedrequired inunder subsections (3) and (4) of this section,section if an employer intends to use electronic monitoring to assist the employer in conducting a performance evaluation of an employee, the employer must notifyinclude: the employee, and the employee's exclusive bargaining representative if the employee is represented, in writing at least 30 days prior to implementing the use of electronic monitoring.

(2)(i) If,A assummary of the effectiveways date of this section, an employer is already using electronic monitoring tois assistor inwill abe performanceused evaluation of an employee, the employer may continue to usep. electronic monitoring but must provide written notice to the employee, and the employee's exclusive bargaining representative if the employee is represented, within 30 days of the effective date of this section.

(3)2 BeginningHB on2144 assist the effectiveemployer datewith ofperformance thisevaluations, section,such whenas anwhether employerelectronic hiresmonitoring anis individualused forto employmentgather andan theemployee's employerproductivity usesdata, summarize internal data or intendsfeedback toon usean electronicemployee, monitoringor tocreate assista insummary performanceof p.an employee's performance;

2and SHB(ii) 2144a evaluations,summary theof employer must, at the timeverification theprocess, jobif offerany, is made, provide written notice to the individual stating that the employer uses or intends to useconfirm electronicdata monitoringgathered toby assistthe inelectronic performancemonitoring. evaluations.

(4)(3)(a) ThisIf sectionan doesemployee notfiles prohibita ancomplaint employerwith fromthe implementingdepartment electronicalleging monitoringa violation of anthe employeerequirements priorof tothis providingsection, writtenthe noticedepartment tomay investigate the employee,complaint. if:

(a) The implementation of the use of technology is necessary to prevent imminent harm to an employee or any person;

or to prevent imminent theft, property damage, or other economic harm to the employer;

or to respond to an emergency event involving the employer or a state of emergency declared by a government body;

and (b) The employer notifies the employee in any manner as soon as practicable and subsequently follows up within 30 days of implementation, with a written notice that complies with the requirements in subsection (5) of this section.

(5) The notice required under this section must include:

(a) A statement that the employer uses technology to electronically monitor its employees.

If the employer is using computer monitoring software, key-stroke tracking technology, cameras or other video or photographic technology, audio recording or listening devices, artificial intelligence systems, or global positioning system or other positioning technology, for the primary purpose of monitoring the employee's job performance, the employer must include in the notice a general list of the type of technology being used.

The employer is not required to include in the notice a descriptive list of specific equipment, devices, or software being used;

and (b) A statement saying whether the employer has a verification process that includes meaningful human review to confirm information and data gathered by the electronic monitoring.

(6) The employer should take into account the employer's workforce and where feasible provide notices in the languages most commonly spoken by the employer's employees.

NEW SECTION.

Sec.

3.

(1) If an employee files a complaint with the department alleging a violation of the requirements of this section, the department may investigate the complaint.

p.(b) The department may not investigate any complaint alleging a violation of this section that occurred more than three years before the date the employee filed the complaint.