Modifying the securing timely notification and benefits for laid-off employees act. (REVISED FOR ENGROSSED: Concerning the laid-off employees act.), the official text

CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
ENGROSSED SENATE BILL 6106
Chapter 86, Laws of 2026
69TH LEGISLATURE
2026 REGULAR SESSION
LAID-OFF EMPLOYEES—NOTICE—VARIOUS PROVISIONS
EFFECTIVE DATE: March 17, 2026
Passed by the Senate February 13, 2026
Yeas 48  Nays 0
DENNY HECK

President of the Senate
Passed by the House March 3, 2026
Yeas 75  Nays 18
LAURIE JINKINS

Speaker of the House of Representatives
CERTIFICATE
I, Sarah Bannister, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is ENGROSSED SENATE BILL 6106 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.
SARAH BANNISTER

Secretary
Secretary
Approved March 17, 2026 4:19 PM
FILED
March 18, 2026

BOB FERGUSON

Governor of the State of Washington
Secretary of State
State of Washington

ENGROSSED SENATE BILL 6106

Passed Legislature - 2026 Regular Session
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2026 Regular Session

By Senators Cleveland, Saldaña, Conway, Nobles, and Valdez; by request of Employment Security Department
Read first time 01/14/26. Referred to Committee on Labor & Commerce.
AN ACT Relating to the securing timely notification and benefits for laid-off employees act by updating the definition of employer to exclude Indian tribes and protecting employee names and addresses through an exemption from public disclosure; amending RCW 49.45.010 and 49.45.020; reenacting and amending RCW 42.56.230; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 49.45.010 and 2025 c 277 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Affected employee" means an employee who may reasonably expect to experience an employment loss because of a proposed business closing or mass layoff by an employer.
(2) "Aggrieved employee" means an employee who has worked for the employer ordering the business closing or mass layoff and who, because of the employer's failure to comply with the requirements of chapter 277, Laws of 2025, did not receive timely notice either directly or through the employee's representative.
(3) "Bargaining representative" means an exclusive representative of employees under the national labor relations act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq., or the railway labor act, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq.
(4) "Business closing" means the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment of one or more facilities or operating units that will result in an employment loss for 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.
(5) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the employment security department.
(6) "Department" means the employment security department.
(7) "Employee" means a person employed in this state by an employer. "Employee" includes part-time employees.
(8) "Employer" means a person who employs 50 or more employees in this state, excluding part-time employees. "Employer" does not include the state or any political subdivision thereof, including any unit of local government, or any Indian tribe, as defined in section 3306(u) of the federal unemployment tax act .
(9)(a) "Employment loss" means:
(i) An employment termination, other than a discharge for cause, voluntary separation, or retirement;
(ii) A layoff exceeding six months; or
(iii) A reduction in hours of more than 50 percent of work of individual employees during each month of a six-month period.
(b) "Employment loss" does not include instances when a business closing or mass layoff is the result of the relocation or consolidation of part or all of the employer's business and, before the business closing or mass layoff, the employer offers to transfer the employee to a different site of employment within a reasonable commuting distance, as defined by the department, with no more than a six-month break in employment.
(10) "Mass layoff" means a reduction in employment force that is not the result of a business closing and results in an employment loss during any 30-day period of 50 or more employees, excluding part-time employees.
(11) "Part-time employee" means an employee who is employed for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week, or an employee who has been employed for fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the date on which notice is required. However, if an applicable collective bargaining agreement defines a part-time employee, such definition shall supersede the definition in this subsection.
(12) "Single site of employment" means a single location or a group of contiguous locations, such as a group of structures that form a campus or business park or separate facilities across the street from each other.
Sec. 2. RCW 49.45.020 and 2025 c 277 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)(a) Subject to RCW 49.45.030, an employer may not order a business closing or a mass layoff until the end of a 60-day period that begins after the employer, pursuant to this section, serves written notice of such action to the department and to the affected employee or, if the employee is represented by a union, to the employee's bargaining representative.
(b) An employer who has previously announced and carried out a short-term mass layoff of three months or less that is extended beyond three months due to business circumstances not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the initial mass layoff is required to give notice when it becomes reasonably foreseeable that the extension is required. A mass layoff extending beyond three months from the date the mass layoff commenced for any other reason must be treated as an employment loss from the date of commencement of the initial mass layoff.
(c) In the case of the sale of part or all of a business, the seller is responsible for providing notice of any business closing or mass layoff which will take place up to and on the effective date of the sale. The buyer is responsible for providing notice of any business closing or mass layoff that will take place thereafter.
(2) Notice from the employer to the department ((or ))and affected employees or, if the employees are represented, the employees' bargaining representative must be in written form, include the elements required, as they exist on July 27, 2025, by the federal worker adjustment and retraining notification act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 2101 et seq., and include the following:
(a) The name and address of the employment site where the business closing or mass layoff will occur, and the name and contact information of a company official to contact for further information;
(b) A statement whether the planned action is expected to be permanent or temporary and, if the entire business is to be closed, a statement to that effect. If the planned action is expected to be temporary, the statement must also include whether the planned action is expected to last longer or shorter than three months;
(c) The expected date of the first employment loss and the anticipated schedule for employment losses;
(d) The job titles of positions to be affected ((and the names of the employees currently holding the affected jobs. The notice to the department must also include the addresses of the affected employees )); ((and ))
(e) Whether the mass layoff or business closing is the result of, or will result in, the relocation or contracting out of the employer's operations or the employees' positions; and
(f) For the notice provided to the department and, if the employees are represented, the employees' bargaining representative, the names and addresses of the employees currently holding the affected job .
(3) The employer must provide additional notice of the date or schedule of dates of a planned business closing or mass layoff extended beyond the date of any period announced in the original notice.
Sec. 3. RCW 42.56.230 and 2023 c 361 s 14, 2023 c 346 s 1, and 2023 c 182 s 2 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
The following personal information is exempt from public inspection and copying under this chapter:
(1) Personal information in any files maintained for students in public schools, patients or clients of public institutions or public health agencies, or welfare recipients;
(2)(a) Personal information:
(i) For a child enrolled in licensed child care in any files maintained by the department of children, youth, and families;
(ii) For a child enrolled in a public or nonprofit program serving or pertaining to children, adolescents, or students, including but not limited to early learning or child care services, parks and recreation programs, youth development programs, and after-school programs;
(iii) For a student enrolled or previously enrolled in a local education agency, in any records pertaining to the student, including correspondence;
(iv) For the family members or guardians of a child who is subject to the exemption under this subsection (2) if the family member or guardian has the same last name as the child or if the family member or guardian resides at the same address as the child and disclosure of the family member's or guardian's information would result in disclosure of the personal information exempted under (a)(i) through (iii) of this subsection; or
(v) For substitute caregivers who are licensed or approved to provide overnight care of children by the department of children, youth, and families.
(b) Emergency contact information under this subsection (2) may be provided to appropriate authorities and medical personnel for the purpose of treating the individual during an emergency situation;
(3) Personal information in files maintained for employees, appointees, or elected officials of any public agency to the extent that disclosure would violate their right to privacy;
(4) Information required of any taxpayer in connection with the assessment or collection of any tax if the disclosure of the information to other persons would: (a) Be prohibited to such persons by RCW 84.08.210, 82.32.330, 84.40.020, 84.40.340, or any ordinance authorized under RCW 35.102.145; or (b) violate the taxpayer's right to privacy or result in unfair competitive disadvantage to the taxpayer;
(5) Credit card numbers, debit card numbers, electronic check numbers, card expiration dates, or bank or other financial information as defined in RCW 9.35.005 including social security numbers, except when disclosure is expressly required by or governed by other law;
(6) Personal and financial information related to a small loan or any system of authorizing a small loan in RCW 31.45.093;
(7)(a) Any record used to prove identity, age, residential address, social security number, or other personal information required to apply for a driver's license or identicard.
(b) Information provided under RCW 46.20.111 that indicates that an applicant declined to register with the selective service system.
(c) Any record pertaining to a vehicle license plate, driver's license, or identicard issued under RCW 46.08.066 that, alone or in combination with any other records, may reveal the identity of an individual, or reveal that an individual is or was, performing an undercover or covert law enforcement, confidential public health work, public assistance fraud, or child support investigative activity. This exemption does not prevent the release of the total number of vehicle license plates, drivers' licenses, or identicards that, under RCW 46.08.066, an agency or department has applied for, been issued, denied, returned, destroyed, lost, and reported for misuse.
(d) Any record pertaining to a vessel registration issued under RCW 88.02.330 that, alone or in combination with any other records, may reveal the identity of an individual, or reveal that an individual is or was, performing an undercover or covert law enforcement activity. This exemption does not prevent the release of the total number of vessel registrations that, under RCW 88.02.330, an agency or department has applied for, been issued, denied, returned, destroyed, lost, and reported for misuse.
Upon request by the legislature, the department of licensing shall provide a report to the legislature containing all of the information in (c) of this subsection (7) and this subsection (7)(d) that is subject to public disclosure;
(8) All information related to individual claim resolution settlement agreements submitted to the board of industrial insurance appeals under RCW 51.04.063, other than final orders from the board of industrial insurance appeals. The board of industrial insurance appeals shall provide to the department of labor and industries copies of all final claim resolution settlement agreements;
(9) Voluntarily submitted information contained in a database that is part of or associated with 911 emergency communications systems, or information contained or used in emergency notification systems as provided under RCW 38.52.575 and 38.52.577;
(10) Information relating to a future voter, as provided in RCW 29A.08.725;
(11) All information submitted by a person to the state, either directly or through a state-licensed gambling establishment, or Indian tribes, or tribal enterprises that own gambling operations or facilities with class III gaming compacts, as part of the self-exclusion program established in RCW 9.46.071 or 67.70.040 for people with a gambling problem or gambling disorder;
(12) Names, addresses, or other personal information of individuals who participated in the bump-fire stock buy-back program under former RCW 43.43.920; ((and ))
(13) All personal and financial information concerning a player that is received or maintained by the state lottery or any contracted lottery vendor except the player's name and city or town of residence. Additional information may be released only in accordance with prior written permission from the player; and
(14) The name and address of an employee provided to the employment security department by an employer for the notice required under RCW 49.45.020 .
NEW SECTION.    Sec. 4. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.
Passed by the Senate February 13, 2026.
Passed by the House March 3, 2026.
Approved by the Governor March 17, 2026.
Filed in Office of Secretary of State March 18, 2026.