These standards, adopted pursuant to sections 83 through 86, chapter 380, Laws of 1989, shall apply to persons employed in agricultural labor as defined in RCW 50.04.150 and WAC 296-131-005. The standards in this chapter beginning at WAC 296-131-100 shall apply only to minors employed in agricultural labor. The standards in this chapter do not apply to the immediate family members of the officers of any business engaged in agricultural production of crops or livestock.

For the purpose of these rules:

(1) A "minor" is a person of either gender, employed in agricultural labor, who is under the age of eighteen years.

(2) "Agricultural labor" is defined as services performed:

(a) On a farm, in the employ of any person, in connection with the cultivation of the soil, or in connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity, including raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and management of livestock, bees, poultry, and furbearing animals and wildlife, or in the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement, or maintenance of such farm and its tools and equipment; or

(b) In packing, packaging, grading, storing, or delivering to storage, or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, any agricultural or horticultural commodity; but only if such service is performed as incident to ordinary farming operations.

"Agricultural labor" does not include employment in commercial packing houses, commercial storage establishments, commercial canning, commercial freezing, or any other commercial processing with respect to services performed in connection with the cultivation, raising, harvesting and processing of oysters or raising and harvesting of mushrooms or in connection with any agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption.

(3) "Department" means the department of labor and industries.

(4) "Director" means the director of the department of labor and industries.

(5) "Employ" means to engage, suffer, or permit to work in agricultural labor.

(6) "Employee" means any person employed by an employer, except those who are members of the immediate family of an employer.

(7) "Employer" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership, business trust, legal representative, or other business entity that engages in any agricultural activity in this state and employs one or more employees.

In order to carry out the purposes of this chapter, the director or the director's authorized representative is authorized:

(1) To enter without delay any work site or area or other environment where work is performed by an employee or where employment records are, or are required to be, maintained; and

(2) To inspect, transcribe, and copy all pertinent records, and to inspect and investigate any such place of employment and all pertinent conditions, structures, machines, apparatus, devices, equipment, and materials therein, and to question privately any employer, owner, operator, agent, or employee.

(1) This rule shall apply to employers and employees engaged in agricultural labor as defined in RCW 50.04.150 and subject to WAC 296-131-001.

(2) Definitions:

(a) "Monthly interval" means a one-month time period between established pay days.

(b) "Pay day" means a specific day or date established by the employer on which wages are paid for hours worked during a pay period.

(c) "Payment interval" means the amount of time between established pay days. A payment interval may be daily, weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly.

(d) "Pay period" means a defined time frame for which an employee will receive a paycheck. A pay period may be daily, weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly.

(3) An employer shall pay all wages owed to an employee on an established regular pay day at no longer than monthly payment intervals. If federal law provides specific payment interval requirements that are more favorable to an employee than the payment interval requirements provided under this rule, federal law shall apply.

(4) If an employer pays wages on the basis of a pay period that is less than a month, the employer shall establish a regular pay day no later than ten calendar days after the end of the pay period, unless expressly provided otherwise by law.

Example 1: Employer establishes a weekly pay period. The workweek is from Sunday January 1 through Saturday January 7. Unless a different payment interval applies by law, the employer must pay wages no later than January 17.

Example 2: Employer establishes two semi-monthly pay periods (the first pay period covers the 1st day of the month to the 15th day of the month; the second pay period covers the 16th day of the month to the last day of the month). Unless a different payment interval applies by law, the employer must pay wages no later than the 25th day of the current month for the first pay period, and no later than the 10th day of the following month for the second pay period.

(5) If an employer pays wages on the basis of a monthly pay period, the employer may establish a regular payroll system under which wages for work performed by an employee during the last seven days of the monthly pay period may be withheld and included with the wages paid on the pay day for the next pay period.

Example: Employer establishes a monthly pay period starting on the 1st day of each month with an established pay day on the last day of the month. In a thirty-one-day month, unless a different payment interval applies by law, the employer must pay wages for work performed between the 1st and 24th days of the month on the established pay day (the last day of the month). The employer may pay wages for work performed between the 25th and 31st days of the current month on the following month's pay day (which means that the employer would pay wages for work performed between the 25th and 31st days of the current month, and the 1st and 24th days of the following month, on the following month's pay day).

(6) An employer shall pay overtime wages owed to an employee on the regular pay day for the pay period in which the overtime wages were earned. If the correct amount of overtime wages cannot be determined until after such regular pay day, the employer may establish a separate pay day for overtime wages; however, the payment of overtime wages may not be delayed for a period longer than that which is reasonably necessary for the employer to compute and arrange for payment of the amount due, and overtime wages must be paid by the regular pay day following the next pay period.

Example: Employer establishes two semi-monthly pay periods. The first pay period covers work performed from the 1st day of the month to the 15th day of the month with the pay day of the 25th; the second pay period covers the 16th day of the month to the last day of the month with the pay day of the 10th of the following month. An employee works overtime in each of the pay periods. Unless a different payment interval applies by law, the employer must pay overtime wages no later than the 10th day of the following month for the overtime earned during the first pay period, and no later than the 25th day of the following month for the overtime earned during the second pay period.

(7) Mailed paychecks shall be postmarked no later than the established pay day. If the established pay day falls on a weekend day or holiday when the business office is not open, mailed paychecks shall be postmarked no later than the next business day. Employers that pay employees by direct deposit or other electronic means shall ensure that such wage payments are made and available to employees on the established pay day.

(8) These rules may be superseded by a collective bargaining agreement negotiated under the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq., the Public Employees' Bargaining Act, RCW 41.56.010 et seq., or the Personnel System Reform Act, RCW 41.80.001 et seq., if the terms of, or recognized custom and practice under, the collective bargaining agreement prescribe specific payment interval requirements for employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement; provided, that:

(a) All regular wages (whether paid on an hourly, salary, commission, piece rate, or other basis) shall be paid to employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement ("covered employees") at no longer than monthly intervals;

(b) All other wages (including overtime, bonus pay, and other categories of specialty pay in addition to regular wages) are paid in accordance with the payment interval requirements applicable to covered employees under the terms of, or recognized custom and practice under, the collective bargaining agreement; and

(c) The employer pays regular wages to covered employees at no less than the applicable minimum wage rate.

A pay statement shall be provided to each employee at the time wages are paid. The pay statement shall identify the employee, show the number of hours worked or the number of days worked based on an eight-hour day, the rate or rates of pay, the number of piece work units earned if paid on a piece work basis, the gross pay, the pay period, all deductions and the purpose of each deduction for the respective pay period. A pay statement shall also include the employer's name, address, and telephone number.

(1) Every employer shall keep for at least three years a record of the name, address, and occupation of each employee, dates of employment, rate or rates of pay, amount paid each pay period to each such employee and the hours worked.

(2) Every employer shall make the records described in subsection (1) of this section available to the director or the director's authorized representative at any time for inspection and transcription or copying and to the employee, upon request for that employee's work record, at any reasonable time.

(1) Every employee employed more than five hours shall receive a meal period of at least thirty minutes. Employees working eleven or more hours in a day shall be allowed at least one additional thirty-minute meal period.

(2) Every employee shall be allowed a rest period of at least ten minutes, on the employer's time, in each four-hour period of employment. For purposes of computing the minimum wage on a piecework basis, the time allotted an employee for rest periods shall be included in the number of hours for which the minimum wage must be paid.

(1) Within three days after the commencement of employment of one or more minors, an employer shall file with the department an application for a permit to employ minors. When validated by the supervisor of employment standards, this permit will authorize the employer to employ for one year any number of minor workers at the workplace specified in accordance with the conditions of the permit and the regulations established in this chapter.

(2) An employer shall at all times employ minors in accordance with the regulations established in this chapter, regardless whether the employer has filed with the department an application for a permit to employ minors as required in subsection (1) of this section.

(3) The department shall annually publicize the requirements of this chapter through departmental publications and other appropriate means designed to assist employers in complying with the law.

(1) An employer of a minor shall be required to annually obtain written authorization from a minor's parent before employing the minor.

(2) Except when performing intermittent weekend work, a minor who is legally required to attend school and who is working during the school year shall obtain from his or her school written authorization to work a specified number of hours per day and per week up to the maximum permitted in WAC 296-131-120, based on an evaluation of the impact of work on the student's academic performance. School authorization is not required for high school graduates.

(3) The parental and school authorization required by this chapter shall be on forms supplied by the department and shall be kept on file by the employer.

(4) Neither parent nor school authorization is required for minors who are emancipated by court order.

(5) For purposes of this section, "intermittent weekend work" is defined as work during the weekend arranged to be performed after the end of the preceding school week. Work performed after the beginning of the next school day is not considered to be intermittent weekend work and requires school authorization. Work during more than two weekends per quarter is not considered to be intermittent weekend work.

(1) At least one copy of a valid permit to employ minors shall be posted in a conspicuous place at the workplace specified in the permit.

(2) An informational poster supplied by the department, describing in English and Spanish the rights of agricultural employees under this chapter, also shall be posted in a conspicuous place at the workplace specified in the permit.

No minor under the age of fourteen shall be employed in agriculture at any time except as follows: Minors twelve and thirteen years of age may be employed in the hand harvest of berries, bulbs, and cucumbers and in the hand cultivation of spinach during weeks when school is not in session.

Except where a higher minimum wage is required by Washington state or federal law:

(1) Every employer shall pay to each employee who has reached their sixteenth or seventeenth year of age a rate of pay per hour which is equal to the hourly rate required by RCW 49.46.020 for employees eighteen years of age or older, whether computed on an hourly, commission, piecework, or other basis, except as may be otherwise provided under this chapter.

(2) Every employer shall pay to each employee who has not reached their sixteenth year of age a rate of pay per hour that is not less than eighty-five percent of the hourly rate required by RCW 49.46.020 for employees eighteen years of age or older, whether computed on an hourly, commission, piecework, or other basis, except as may be otherwise provided under this chapter.

(3) These minimum wage provisions shall not apply when a minor student is in a work place to carry out an occupational training experience assignment directly supervised on the premises by a school official or an employer under contract with a school, and when no appreciable benefit is rendered to the employer by the presence of the minor student.

(1) Minors legally required to attend school may not be employed during school hours except by special permission from school officials as provided in RCW 28A.27.010 and 28A.27.090.

(2)(a) Minors under the age of sixteen may work up to three hours a day on school days, up to eight hours a day on nonschool days and up to twenty-one hours a week during weeks when school is in session. Minors under the age of sixteen may work up to eight hours a day and up to forty hours a week during weeks when school is not in session.

(b) Except as otherwise provided, on days when school is in session, minors under the age of sixteen may not be employed before 7:00 a.m. nor after 8:00 p.m. On days when school is not in session, minors under the age of sixteen may not be employed before 5:00 a.m. nor after 9:00 p.m. On days when school is in session, minors under the age of sixteen employed in animal agriculture or whose employment in crop production requires daily attention to irrigation, may be employed beginning at 6:00 a.m.

(3)(a) Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may work up to twenty-eight hours a week, up to four hours a day on school days and up to eight hours a day on nonschool days during weeks when school is in session. Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may work up to ten hours per day and up to fifty hours per week during weeks when school is not in session. Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may work up to sixty hours per week in the mechanical harvest of peas, wheat, and hay during weeks when school is not in session.

(b) Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may not be employed before 5:00 a.m. nor after 10:00 p.m. Minors who are sixteen and seventeen years of age may not work later than 9:00 p.m. on more than two consecutive nights preceding a school day.

(4) Except for minors employed in dairy or livestock production, in the harvest of hay, or whose employment in crop production requires daily attention to irrigation, no minor shall be employed more than six days in any one week.

(5) The provisions of this section shall not apply to minors sixteen years of age and older who can demonstrate emancipation by either (a) providing a marriage certificate as proof of marriage, or (b) providing a birth certificate that names the minor as a parent. Copies of such documents must be retained by the employer for one year, pursuant to the requirements of WAC 296-131-130.

(1) Employment in the following occupations in agriculture is prohibited to minors under the age of sixteen:

(a) Operating a tractor of over 20 PTO horsepower, or connecting or disconnecting an implement or any of its parts to or from such a tractor.

(b) Operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines:

(i) Corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, or mobile pea viner;

(ii) Feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, or the unloading mechanism of a nongravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer; or

(iii) Power post-hole digger, power post driver, or nonwalking type rotary tiller.

(c) Operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines:

(i) Trencher or earthmoving equipment;

(ii) Fork lift; or

(iii) Potato combine.

(d) Working on a farm in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by a:

(i) Bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes; or

(ii) Sow with suckling pigs, or cow with newborn calf (with umbilical cord present).

(e) Felling, bucking, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with butt diameter of more than six inches.

(f) Working from a ladder or scaffold (painting, repairing, or building structures, pruning trees, picking fruit, etc.) at a height of over twenty feet.

(g) Driving a bus, truck, or automobile when transporting passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper.

(h) Working inside:

(i) A fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen deficient or toxic atmosphere;

(ii) An upright silo within two weeks after silage has been added or when a top unloading device is in operating position;

(iii) A manure pit; or

(iv) A horizontal silo while operating a tractor for packing purposes.

(i) Working in any manufacturing occupation.

(j) Working in any processing operations, including food processing.

(k) Working in transportation, warehouse, and storage or construction.

(l) Work in or about engine or boiler rooms.

(m) Work in freezers, meat coolers, and all work in preparing meats for sale. (Wrapping, sealing, labeling, weighing, pricing, and stocking are permitted if work is performed away from meat-cutting and preparation areas.)

(2) Employment in the following occupations in agriculture is prohibited to all minors:

(a) Handling, mixing, loading or applying (including cleaning or decontaminating equipment, disposal or return of empty containers, or serving as a flagman for aircraft applying) agricultural chemicals classified under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 135 et seq.) as Category I of toxicity, identified by the word "poison" and the "skull and crossbones" on the label; or Category II of toxicity, identified by the word "warning" on the label.

(b) Handling or using a blasting agent, including but not limited to, dynamite, black powder, sensitized ammonium nitrate, blasting caps, and primer cord.

(c) Transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.

(d) Work involving circular, band or chain saws, power driven wood working machines, power driven metal forming, punching and shearing machines, and guillotine shears.

(e) Work involving slaughtering, meat packing, or processing and rendering.

(f) Work involving wrecking and demolition.

(g) Work involving roofing.

(h) Work involving mechanical excavation.

(i) Work in any place where a strike or lockout exists.

(3) The employment prohibited by subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the employment of any minor as a vocational agriculture student-learner in any of the occupations described in subsection (1)(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), or (f) of this section when each of the following requirements are met:

(a) The student-learner is enrolled in a vocational education training program in agriculture under a recognized state or local educational authority, or in a substantially similar program conducted by a private school;

(b) Such student-learner is employed under a written agreement which provides that the work of the student-learner is incidental to his training; that such work shall be intermittent, for short periods of time, and under the direct and close supervision of a qualified and experienced person; that safety instruction shall be given by the school and correlated by the employer with on-the-job training; and that a schedule of organized and progressive work processes to be performed on the job have been prepared;

(c) Such written agreement contains the name of the student-learner, and is signed by the employer and by a person authorized to represent the educational authority or school; and

(d) Copies of each such agreement are kept on file by both the educational authority or school and by the employer.

(4) The employment prohibited by subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the employment of any minor in those occupations for which the minor has successfully completed one or more federal extension service training programs described in 29 C.F.R. section 570.72(b) and who has been instructed by the employer in the safe and proper operation of the specific equipment to be used, who is continuously and closely supervised by the employer where feasible or, where not feasible, in work such as cultivating, whose safety is checked by the employer at least at midmorning, noon, and midafternoon, or during the first and second halves of the workday, whichever is more frequent.

(5) The employment prohibited by subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the employment of any minor in those occupations for which the minor has successfully completed one or more of the vocational agriculture training programs described in 29 C.F.R. section 570.72(c) and who has been instructed by the employer in the safe and proper operation of the specific equipment to be used, who is continuously and closely supervised by the employer where feasible or, where not feasible, in work such as cultivating, whose safety is checked by the employer at least at midmorning, noon, and midafternoon, or during the first and second halves of the workday, whichever is more frequent.

(6) No minor shall be permitted to ride in or work in the vicinity of a vehicle driven by any person who is under the age of sixteen or anyone who does not possess a valid driver's license.

(7) No minor shall be employed in agriculture in the harvest of any crop to which agricultural chemicals described in subsection (2)(a) of this section have been applied, prior to the expiration of the preharvest interval or within fourteen days after the application if no preharvest interval has been established.

(8) If, upon inspection or investigation, the director or the director's designee believes that an employer is violating this section creating a danger from which there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result to a minor employee, the director or the director's designee may issue an order under RCW 34.05.479 immediately restraining the condition, practice, method, process, or means creating the danger and suspend the employer's permit authorizing employment of minors until action is taken to avoid, correct, or remove the danger.

(9) A copy of the federal regulations referenced in subsections (4) and (5) of this section may be obtained from the department upon request.

Where weights in excess of twenty pounds are to be lifted, carried, pushed, or pulled as a normal part of an employee's responsibility, the employer shall instruct minors on correct weight lifting techniques prior to the commencement of work and display a poster developed by the department illustrating correct weight lifting techniques.

In addition to the records required under WAC 296-131-017, an employer is responsible for obtaining and keeping on file for one year the following information concerning each minor employee:

(1) Proof of age by means of a copy of one of the following: Birth certificate; driver's license; baptismal record; Bible record; insurance policy at least one year old indicating the date of birth; witnessed statement of the parent or guardian; or a completed federal employment eligibility verification (Form I-9);

(2) Parental authorization required by WAC 296-131-105;

(3) School authorization required by WAC 296-131-105;

(4) Documentation of emancipation as provided by WAC 296-131-120(5).

Every employer shall make the records described in this section available to the director or the director's authorized representative at any time for inspection and transcription or copying and to the employee, upon request for that employee's work record, at any reasonable time.

(1) The department may revoke any employer's permit to employ minors upon a showing that the conditions of its issuance are not being met, or that other conditions exist which are detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the minor.

(2) The department may refuse to issue or renew a permit to employ minors. If the department refuses to issue or renew a permit, it shall send the employer a notice of denial. The notice of denial shall explain the grounds for denial of the permit. The department may refuse to renew a permit if the conditions of its initial issuance are not being met.

(3) Any employer aggrieved by any action taken by the department under this section may appeal the action or decision by filing notice of the appeal with the director within thirty days of the department's action or decision. Upon receipt of an appeal, a hearing shall be held in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW. The director shall issue all final orders after the hearing. Final orders are subject to appeal in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW. Orders not appealed within the time period specified in chapter 34.05 RCW are final and binding.

(1) Upon written application from an employer or an organization representing employers, a variance permitting employment of minors otherwise prohibited under WAC 296-131-120 or 296-131-125 may be granted for good cause shown. The employer or the organization representing employers shall give written notice to the employees so that they may submit their views to the department on any variance request.

(2) The department may afford the applicant and any involved employee, or employee representatives, the opportunity for oral presentation whenever circumstances of the particular application warrant.

(3) "Good cause" shall mean, but not be limited to, those situations in which the employer demonstrates that (a) the granting of the variance would not have a harmful effect upon the health, safety, or welfare of the minor employees involved; (b) the granting of the variance would not have a deleterious effect on school attendance or the academic performance of minors; and (c) the variance is necessary to meet usual crop cultural or harvest requirements.

(4) Upon application from an employer or an organization representing employers a variance permitting employment of minors otherwise prohibited under these rules may be granted by the director or an authorized representative of the director in response to a weather emergency.