Bill would allow paid leave to be shared for state employees detained by immigration enforcement

OLYMPIA – State employees may soon be able to share their paid sick leave with coworkers detained or impacted by immigration enforcement actions.

Under the bill, state workers could donate sick days to coworkers who have been impacted in some way by ICE, ensuring they are able to keep their jobs, health insurance and other benefits.

The bill passed the House last month and was heard in the Senate on Monday. It builds on a law enacted last year allowing sick leave to be used when a state employee, or a family member, is detained by ICE.

“This legislation addresses potentially longer destabilizing situations,” said the bill’s sponsor, Osman Salahuddin, D-Redmond. “We know that these circumstances are actually not hypothetical.”

Salahuddin pointed to a state employee who was detained last year – along with her 6-year-old – by ICE. Her coworkers tried to share their sick leave, but under current law could not.

“That gap is what this bill fixes,” he said.

Washington Federation of State Employees president Mike Yestramski said the legislation should not be a partisan issue and is simply common sense.

“Our state benefits from the labor of workers, some of which were not always U.S. citizens,” he said.

Republicans disagreed, arguing the bill would cost money the state does not have.

“Our state is out of money; we spend way more money than we take in,” said Rep. Jeremie Dufault, R-Salah, expressing concern the bill would make more people eligible for unemployment. “This is the wrong direction for our state.”

Everyone from ferry workers to correctional officers at prisons is considered a state employee. Washington employs over 75,000 people.