Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 5101 into law on May 20, 2025, which will amend Washington’s Domestic Violence Leave Act (DVLA) to include job protections for employees who seek certain types of assistance relating to a hate crime. Effective January 1, 2026, the DVLA will provide job protection for employees who need to be absent from work to:
- Seek legal or law enforcement assistance or remedies to ensure the health and safety of the employee or their family member (defined under the DVLA as “any individual whose relationship to the employee can be classified as a child, spouse, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or person with whom the employee has a dating relationship”), including but not limited to preparing for or participating in any civil or criminal legal proceeding related to or derived from a hate crime;
- Seek or attend health care treatment by a health care provider for physical or mental injuries caused to the employee (or their family member) by a hate crime;
- Obtain (or assist a family member in obtaining) services from a social services program for relief from a hate crime;
- Obtain (or assist a family member in obtaining) mental health counseling relating to a hate crime; or
- Participate in safety planning, temporary or permanent relocation, or take other actions to increase the safety of the employee or employee’s family members from a future hate crime.
The DVLA defines a “hate crime” as the “commission, attempted commission, or alleged commission of an offense described in RCW 9A.36.080” and expressly includes offenses that are committed through online or internet-based communication.
Employees taking leave under the DVLA must provide their employer advance notice as dictated by the employer’s policy, unless doing so is not possible because of emergency or unforeseen circumstances. In the event of emergency or unforeseen circumstances, the employee (or their designee) must notify the employer no later than the end of the first day that the employee takes leave. In practice, this means employers should be sure their policies are updated and include timelines for seeking non-emergency DVLA leave.
Although leave under the DVLA is generally unpaid, employees may use accrued and available paid sick leave during a period of leave under the DVLA. Employees taking leave under the DVLA remain entitled to certain job-related protections, including that employers may not refuse to hire an otherwise qualified individual because they are an actual or perceived victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or hate crime. In addition, employers may not discriminate or retaliate against any individual, or refuse to make a reasonable safety accommodation requested by an individual, who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or hate crime.
Key Takeaways for Employers
- Update your employee handbooks and other leave policies, before the above-described changes take effect on January 1, 2026.
- Educate the necessary personnel on these new protections to ensure that DVLA-covered absences are given the job protection they are entitled to. This includes ensuring that such absences are not counted “against” the employee for purposes of discipline or attendance incentives.
The legal issues impacting this topic are and will continue to be ever-changing (Employment Law in Motion!), and since publication of this blog post, new or additional information not referenced in this blog post may be available.
This article is provided for informational purposes only—it does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the firm and the reader. Readers should consult legal counsel before taking action relating to the subject matter of this article.
