Access to hours for existing employees
Seattle Mun. Code § 14.22.055
in effect14.22.055 - Access to hours for existing employees
A. Before hiring new employees from an external applicant pool or subcontractors, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, an employer must offer additional hours of work to existing employees when those hours become available at their place of work as defined by the employers usual and customary business practice.
B. Except as provided in this subsection 14.22.055.B, the employer must post written notice of available hours of work for at least three consecutive calendar days.
1. The notice must contain the following information:
a. Description and title of the position;
b. Required qualifications for the position;
c. Total hours of work being offered;
d. Schedule of available work shifts;
e. Whether the available work shifts will occur at the same time each week; and
f. Length of time the employer anticipates requiring coverage of the additional hours.
2. The employer must post the notice in a conspicuous and accessible location where employee notices are customarily posted. If the employer posts the notice in electronic format, all employees in the workplace must have access to it on-site.
3. The employer must post the notice in English and the primary language(s) of the employee(s) at the particular workplace. The Agency shall create and distribute a model notice in English, Spanish and other languages that are necessary for employers to comply with this subsection 14.20.055.B.3.
4. The employer may post the notice concurrently to external candidates.
C. The employer shall offer additional hours of work to an existing employee who has responded to the offer of work, and who, to a reasonable employer acting in good faith is qualified with the skills and experience to perform the work.
1. The employer shall give the employee at least two consecutive calendar days, running from the date of the employer's offer, to accept the additional hours of work.
2. If more than one qualified employee responds to the offer of additional hours of work, the employer may distribute the hours among interested employees or may offer all of the available hours to one qualified employee. The employer may limit distribution of hours to full work shifts rather than parceling hours among employees. The employer may choose among qualified internal candidates following the employer's usual and customary hiring procedures.
3. If the employee accepts additional hours of work for seasonal employment, the employer may reasonably delay scheduling such hours and permit new employees to start working for training purposes, provided that the employer follows the employer's usual and customary practices for training new employees and the employer provides the existing employee with a prospective start date for the additional hours.
4. The employer is encouraged to make reasonable efforts to offer employees training opportunities to gain the skills and experience to perform work for which the employer typically has additional needs.
D. If no employee responds to the written notice of additional hours of work following the three consecutive calendar day posting requirement, or accepts an offer of additional hours during the two consecutive calendar day acceptance period, the employer may immediately proceed with hiring new employees from an external applicant pool or subcontractors to work the additional hours.
E. This Section 14.22.055 shall not apply, in whole or in part, as follows:
1. If the employer provides notice of additional hours to all employees and receives written confirmation from all such employees that they are not interested in accepting additional hours of work, the employer may immediately proceed with hiring new employees from an external applicant pool or subcontractors to work the additional hours.
2. If the employer chooses to maintain a written access to hours list, the requirement to offer additional hours of work in subsection 14.022.055 A. may be limited to employees on the access to hours list.
a. At time of hire, the employer shall notify the employee of the access to hours list for written notice of additional hours.
b. The employer shall place the employee on the access to hours list, identifying their availability for additional hours.
c. The employee may opt out of the availability list.
d. The employee may choose to be added or removed from the access to hours list by notifying the employer at any time during employment.
e. When being added to the access to hours list, each employee shall, to the extent possible, identify those days and times that they are available for additional work.
f. The employer shall make the access to hours list accessible to employees for viewing upon request.
g. The employer's written notice of additional hours of work shall contain the items described in subsection 14.22.055.B.1 and shall be posted for each employee on the access to hours list in a conspicuous and accessible format, including but not limited to placement where employee notices are customarily posted, in-person delivery, telephone call, email, text message, or other electronic or written format, in English and the primary language(s) of the employee(s) at the particular workplace.
h. If the employer provides notice of additional hours of work to all employees on the access to hours list and receives written confirmation from all such employees that they are not interesting in accepting the additional hours of work, the employer may immediately proceed with hiring new employees from an external applicant pool or subcontractors to work the additional hours.
3. If additional hours become available, the employer must first attempt to use the access to hours list before hiring externally.
a. The employer may limit the distribution of hours to full shifts.
b. If the employer makes a good faith effort to contact employees on the access to hours list and the employees decline or do not respond to the offer, the employer may then hire externally.
c. Employers may use an online or computer based scheduling system and notify the employee through the scheduling system when hours that match their availability from the access to hours list become available.
d. For purposes of this section 14.22.055 E, an employee may not qualify for the additional hours under the following circumstances:
i. Overtime or predictability pay would be required if the employee received the additional hours;
ii. The employee is not currently in good standing due to a bona fide employer documented discipline or improvement plan;
iii. The employee is barred by other laws from conducting the work required in the available hours.
4. Section 14.22.050 does not apply when an employee consents to work additional hours, on less than 14 days' notice, when the employee is accepting a long-term schedule change based on an access to hours posting.
5. This Section 14.22.055 shall not apply to additional hours of work that the employer has designated for hiring programs, including but not limited to diversity, supported employment hiring programs or young adult hiring programs, affiliated with a government entity or external non-profit organization that has been approved subject to the rules of the Director or is a program that meets the eligibility criteria for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit as defined by the Department of Labor.
6. This Section 14.22.055 shall not be construed to require the employer to offer employees work hours paid at the overtime premium (i.e. one and one-half times the regular rate of pay) nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours.
(Ord. 125135, § 1, 2016)
Source: City of Seattle, Seattle Municipal Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT14HURI_CH14.22SESC_14.22.055ACHOEXEMFetched: 11/1/2026