Reimbursement of employees for offender or resident assaults.
(1) In recognition of prison overcrowding and the hazardous nature of employment in state institutions and offices, the legislature hereby provides a supplementary program to reimburse employees of the state library for some of their costs attributable to their being the victims of offender or resident assaults. This program shall be limited to the reimbursement provided in this section.
(2) An employee is only entitled to receive the reimbursement provided in this section if the state librarian, or the state librarian's designee, finds that each of the following has occurred:
(a) An offender or resident has assaulted the employee while the employee is performing the employee's official duties and as a result thereof the employee has sustained injuries which have required the employee to miss days of work; and
(b) The assault cannot be attributable to any extent to the employee's negligence, misconduct, or failure to comply with any rules or conditions of employment.
(3) The reimbursement authorized under this section shall be as follows:
(a) The employee's accumulated sick leave days shall not be reduced for the workdays missed;
(b) For each workday missed for which the employee is not eligible to receive compensation under chapter 51.32 RCW, the employee shall receive full pay; and
(c) With respect to workdays missed for which the employee will receive or has received compensation under chapter 51.32 RCW, the employee shall be reimbursed in an amount which, when added to that compensation, will result in the employee receiving full pay for the workdays missed.
(4) Reimbursement under this section may not last longer than three hundred sixty-five consecutive days after the date of the injury.
(5) The employee shall not be entitled to the reimbursement provided in subsection (3) of this section for any workday for which the state librarian, or the state librarian's designee, finds that the employee has not diligently pursued his or her compensation remedies under chapter 51.32 RCW.
(6) The reimbursement shall only be made for absences which the state librarian, or the state librarian's designee, believes are justified.
(7) While the employee is receiving reimbursement under this section, he or she shall continue to be classified as a state employee and the reimbursement amount shall be considered as salary or wages.
(8) All reimbursement payments required to be made to employees under this section shall be made by the state library. The payments shall be considered as a salary or wage expense and shall be paid by the state library in the same manner and from the same appropriations as other salary and wage expenses of the state library.
(9) Should the legislature revoke the reimbursement authorized under this section or repeal this section, no affected employee is entitled thereafter to receive the reimbursement as a matter of contractual right.
[ 1990 c 68 s 1.]