State Law Creates New Employment Leave Benefits

by Stan Bastian

Employers in Washington are now required to provide to their employees two new and additional types of leaves of absence: leave for domestic violence/sexual assault and family military leave. These new rules were recently passed by the Washington State Legislature and they apply to all employers – regardless of the size of the business or the number of employees. Further, employees have the right to sue the employer for violations. This article summarizes these new rules.

Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Leave. This new leave of absence benefit is intended to help reduce the impact of domestic abuse and sexual assault by enabling victims to maintain the financial independence necessary to leave abusive situations, achieve safety, minimize physical and emotional injuries, and reduce the economic consequences of being victimized. It is available to employees who are the victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. It is also available to the family members of such violence and abuse. Family members include the employee’s child, spouse, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or person with whom the employee has a dating relationship. The leave may be taken in blocks of time or intermittently, but the employee may only take a ‘reasonable’ amount of leave. Unfortunately, the term ‘reasonable’ is not defined by the new law, and the duration of the leave is not limited to a specific length. The leave can be either paid or unpaid.

Although the leave is available to victims and family members of victims, it must be taken for specific purposes, which include the following: (1) to seek law enforcement or legal assistance or to prepare for or participate in any legal proceedings related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; (2) to seek health care treatment for physical or mental injuries from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or to attend to such health care treatment for family members; (3) to obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, a rape crisis center, or other social services (or to assist a family member in obtaining these services); (4) to obtain mental health counseling related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking (or to assist a family member in obtaining counseling); and (5) to participate in safety planning, to temporarily or permanently relocate, or to take other actions to increase the safety of the employee or family member relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Employees eligible for this leave must provide to the employer notice of their need for leave no later than the end of the first day that the leave is taken. The employer can request and require verification of the need for the leave, such as copies of court documents, police reports or written statements from the employee.

This law became effective on April 1, 2008.

Family Military Leave. This new employment benefit is intended to support the families of military personnel serving in military conflicts, and to assure that these families are able to spend time together after being notified of an impending call to active duty and before deployment and during a military member's leave from deployment. The law indicates that an employee whose spouse is called into active duty for the armed forces or who is or will be deployed during a period of military conflict is entitled to up to 15 days of unpaid leave from work. The leave may be taken before the deployment or when the military spouse is on a leave from the deployment. For each new deployment, the employee may take another family military leave of up to 15 days.

This leave is available only during a time of war, and this means that the President or Congress has declared war or military reserves have been called to active duty. It is available only to employees who work an average of 20 hours per week. The employee must provide to the employer notice of intent to take the leave within five business days of receiving official notice of the call to active duty or deployment or within five business days of official notice of the military spouse’s upcoming leave from deployment.

This new law also extends the length of leave available to public employees who serve in the Washington National Guard or the armed forces reserves. In the past, these public employees were entitled to only 15 days leave, but this has now been extended to 21 days of paid leave each year. This must be provided in addition to any vacation or sick leave available to the employee for military training or other active duty.

This law became effective on June 11, 2008.