Washington § 49.95.040 - Employer duty to inform.

(1)(a) Covered employers must inform an employee of instances of discrimination and abusive conduct occurring in or around the service recipient's home care setting prior to assigning the employee to that service recipient, and throughout the duration of service, if those instances are:

(i) Documented by the covered employer; or

(ii) Documented by the department of social and health services and communicated to the covered employer.

(b) Covered employers must inform an employee, prior to assigning the employee to a service recipient, of a service recipient's challenging behavior that is documented:

(i) In the service recipient's care plan;

(ii) By the covered employer; or

(iii) By the department of social and health services and communicated to the covered employer.

(2)(a) Communication of the information in subsection (1) of this section must be tailored to respect the privacy of service recipients in accordance with the federal health insurance portability and accountability act of 1996.

(b) Upon request of the service recipient, a covered employer must provide a copy of the information the covered employer communicated to the employee under subsection (1) of this section.

(3) If a covered employer miscategorizes an instance as discrimination or abusive conduct that should have been categorized as challenging behavior, or if a covered employer miscategorizes an instance as challenging behavior that should have been categorized as discrimination or abusive conduct, the covered employer must correct the categorization, correct how the instance was reported under RCW 49.95.050, and comply with any provisions under this chapter applicable to addressing the behavior or conduct.

(4) A covered employer may not terminate an employee, reduce the pay of an employee, or not offer future assignments to an employee for requesting reassignment due to alleged discrimination, abusive conduct, or challenging behavior.

(5) Nothing in this section prevents a covered employer from:

(a) Disciplining or terminating an employee if an allegation or request for reassignment was reasonably determined to be false or not made in good faith;

(b) Terminating an employee or reducing hours due to lack of suitable work; or

(c) Disciplining or terminating an employee for lawful reasons unrelated to their request for reassignment.

(6) Nothing in this section requires an individual recipient of services to provide information required by this section to an employee. Nothing in this chapter shall limit the rights of a recipient of services under chapter 74.39A RCW to select, dismiss, assign hours, and supervise the work of individual providers as in RCW 74.39A.500(1)(b).