(1)(a) The employer must provide the exclusive bargaining representative reasonable access to new employees of the bargaining unit for the purposes of presenting information about their exclusive bargaining representative to the new employee. The presentation may occur during a new employee orientation provided by the employer, or at another time mutually agreed to by the employer and the exclusive bargaining representative.

Terms Used In Washington Code 41.56.037

  • Bargaining representative: means any lawful organization which has as one of its primary purposes the representation of employees in their employment relations with employers. See Washington Code 41.56.030
(b) No employee may be mandated to attend the meetings or presentations by the exclusive bargaining representative.
(c) “Reasonable access” for the purposes of this section means:
(i) The access to the new employee occurs within ninety days of the employee’s start date within the bargaining unit;
(ii) The access is for no less than thirty minutes; and
(iii) The access occurs during the new employee’s regular work hours at the employee’s regular worksite, or at a location mutually agreed to by the employer and the exclusive bargaining representative.
(2) Nothing in this section prohibits an employer from agreeing to longer or more frequent new employee access, but in no case may an employer agree to less access than required by this section.