The bill amends existing law (RCW 50.20.092) to require the unemployment insurance department to issue an overpayment assessment to recover benefits paid to a person who was unemployed due to a strike if that person later receives retroactive wages from the separating employer for any week for which benefits were paid. It also requires the department, when an individual applies for strike-related benefits under RCW 50.20.090, to notify the applicant that receiving retroactive wages may trigger an overpayment assessment. The notice may be given by an online acknowledgment box, a letter, or another method reasonably determined by the department. Recovery of overpayments is to follow the procedures in RCW 50.20.190. The amendment is a procedural change to unemployment benefit administration and modifies existing statute rather than creating a new crime or changing criminal penalties. The amended section expires December 31, 2035. The act includes a federal conformity provision making any part inoperative to the extent it conflicts with federal requirements tied to federal funds or employers’ eligibility for federal unemployment tax credits, and it requires rules adopted under the act to meet necessary federal requirements. The extract does not identify which agency is meant by “the department,” does not provide the original RCW 50.20.092 text for comparison, does not give the specific wording of the required notice beyond its subject, and does not provide additional details on calculation, appeal, enforcement procedures, or an effective date for the amendment. The bill passed the Senate on February 13, 2026 (48-0) and the House on March 4, 2026 (94-0).

If enacted, people who collect unemployment because of a strike and later receive retroactive wages from the employer for the same weeks will very likely be required to repay those benefits; the unemployment agency must issue an overpayment assessment when retroactive pay is received and must warn applicants at the time of application that this repayment could occur using an online acknowledgment box, a letter, or another reasonable method. The repayment process follows existing overpayment recovery law and the amended rule expires on December 31, 2035; any part that conflicts with federal requirements would be inoperative. The most affected are striking workers who apply for benefits and the employers who pay retroactive wages: workers face a clear risk of having to repay benefits and potentially new financial liability, while employers’ retroactive payments can trigger recovery actions. The state unemployment department will take on an explicit duty to notify applicants and to issue assessments, which will likely increase its administrative workload and related costs; the bill text does not name the specific agency, specify the exact notice wording, or detail appeal, calculation, or timing procedures, so some implementation details remain unclear.