This bill amends existing paid family and medical leave law and creates a new employer wage-payment requirement. It amends RCW 50A.05.010 to restate and expand numerous definitions used in Title 50A (for example: casual labor, child, commissioner, department, employee, employer, employment, family leave, medical leave, paid time off, parent, period of incapacity, postnatal) and amends RCW 50A.15.060 (the amendment text is incomplete in the extracted facts). The bill also adds a new section to chapter 49.46 RCW. The new section requires employers, once an employee has exhausted all paid family and medical leave under Title 50A, to pay at least 50 percent of the employee’s normal hourly compensation for hours the employee would have been regularly scheduled to work while the employee is undergoing specified Federal Aviation Administration medical certificate application, reconsideration, or administrative review processes related to mental and neurologic standards (14 C.F.R., Part 67). That employer payment requirement terminates if the FAA issues a final denial without reconsideration, if the employee willfully fails to cooperate with FAA requests, or if the absence is due to willful self-harm, injury/sickness from committing an illegal act, or substance abuse (except for time off for substance abuse treatment). The requirement does not apply once the individual reaches age 65, is designated a wage payment requirement under RCW 49.48.082, preserves employers’ ability to terminate employees who are physically unable to perform duties beyond the mental or neurologic condition, and allows the Department of Labor and Industries to adopt implementing rules. The bill also (1) clarifies that employer-offered supplemental benefit payments may be provided in addition to paid family and medical leave, that acceptance is voluntary, and that such supplemental payments are not treated as remuneration for benefit calculation or cause proration or reduction of weekly benefits, and (2) increases and structures penalties for knowingly and willfully making false statements or failing to report material facts to obtain benefits: first offense adds 26 weeks disqualification plus a 15% penalty on overpaid benefits; second offense adds 52 weeks plus 25% penalty; third and subsequent offenses add 104 weeks plus 50% penalty, with penalties deposited into the family and medical leave enforcement account (RCW 50A.05.080). The extracted facts do not contain the full amended text of RCW 50A.15.060, the complete remainder of the definition list (the definition for “premium” is cut off), or full procedural details referenced elsewhere. The bill was read for the first time on 02/21/25.

If enacted, employers in Washington would have to keep paying employees who have used up their state paid family and medical leave at least half of their normal hourly pay for scheduled work hours while those workers are going through FAA medical certificate application or reconsideration processes tied to mental or neurological standards. That obligation stops if the FAA finally denies the certificate without further review, if the employee willfully fails to cooperate, if the absence is due to willful self-harm/illegal acts or disqualifying substance use, or when the worker turns 65; employers are exempt if they or the union provide a shortor long-term disability plan that pays at least 50% of wages or at least $6,000 per month for 24 months. Employers therefore face a new potential payroll cost and an administrative duty to track when the FAA process applies, while employees gain a likely source of partial pay after exhausting state leave; collective bargaining arrangements and the availability of qualifying disability benefits will be a key way employers can avoid the cost. The bill also clarifies that optional employer “supplemental benefit” payments won’t reduce a worker’s state weekly benefit and are the employee’s choice, creates escalating penalties and benefit disqualifications for fraud (with penalties funding an enforcement account), and directs the Department of Labor and Industries to write rules. Important details needed to predict how long payments typically last, how employers prove cooperation or the FAA’s stage of review, and how the new duty fits with other leave rules are not included in the extracted text, so some implementation timing and administrative specifics remain uncertain.