1. (1) A general government employer may grant leave with pay for an employee to perform civil duties as a volunteer including, but not limited to, firefighting, search and rescue efforts, or donating blood. Leave granted to participate in blood and plasma donations must not exceed five days in a two-year period.
2. (2) A higher education employer may grant leave with pay for an employee to perform civil duties as a volunteer including, but not limited to, firefighting, search and rescue efforts, participating in life-giving procedures, or donating blood. Leave granted to participate in life-giving procedures must not exceed five days in a two-year period.
3. (3) In the department of natural resources, leave with pay equivalent to one regular workshift may be allowed for the purpose of rest and recuperation after 10 consecutive calendar days performing emergency work under an incident command system, defined in RCW 38.52.010. The employer may grant two additional days of leave with pay for rest and recuperation after 14 consecutive calendar days performing emergency work under an incident command system. Additional days may only be granted if they fall on the employee's regularly scheduled workday and are taken consecutively. Leave with pay under this subsection is subject to the overtime provisions in WAC 357-28-265.

4. (4) An employer may grant up to 24 hours of leave with pay per occurrence to employees who are experiencing extraordinary or severe impacts of a wildfire disaster in the event the governor declares a state of emergency in any area of the state of Washington where the employee resides. Examples of extraordinary or severe impacts are displacement from their home temporarily or permanently through evacuation, or significant damage or loss.

   The employer may require verification of the extraordinary or severe impacts regarding the use of leave with pay. In order to ensure continued essential services to the public, the employer may consider emergency operations requirements and/or program and staffing replacement requirements in the approval and scheduling of leave under this subsection. Leave under this subsection must be used within three months from the date the state of emergency was declared.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 41.06.133. WSR 25-12-067, s 357-31-326, filed 5/30/25, effective 7/1/25. Statutory Authority: Chapter 41.06 RCW. WSR 22-12-076, § 357-31-326, filed 5/27/22, effective 7/1/22; WSR 22-01-019, § 357-31-326, filed 12/3/21, effective 1/3/22; WSR 21-12-020, § 357-31-326, filed 5/24/21, effective 7/1/21; WSR 20-24-019, § 357-31-326, filed 11/20/20, effective 12/28/20; WSR 17-18-029, § 357-31-326, filed 8/28/17, effective 10/2/17. Statutory Authority: RCW 41.06.133. WSR 17-11-049, § 357-31-326, filed 5/15/17, effective 6/19/17. Statutory Authority: Chapter 41.06 RCW. WSR 09-03-014, § 357-31-326, filed 1/9/09, effective 2/13/09.]