RCW 42.56.665 Agency employee records—Civil liability. (Effective July 1, 2020.)

(1) Any person who requests and obtains a record concerning an agency employee, as described in RCW 42.56.660, is subject to civil liability if he or she uses the record or information in the record to harass, stalk, threaten, or intimidate that agency employee, or provides the record or information in the record to a person, knowing that the person intends to use it to harass, stalk, threaten, or intimidate that agency employee.

(2) Any person liable under subsection (1) of this section may be sued in superior court by any aggrieved party, or in the name of the state by the attorney general or the prosecuting authority of any political subdivision. The court may order an appropriate civil remedy. The plaintiff may recover up to one thousand dollars for each record used in violation of this section, as well as costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.

(3) For the purposes of this section:

(a) "Agency" means a state agency, including every state office, department, division, bureau, board, commission, or other state agency.

(b) "Agency employee" means a state agency employee who has made a claim of workplace sexual harassment or stalking with the employing agency, or is named as the victim in the claim.

(c) "Record concerning an agency employee" does not include work product created by the agency employee as part of his or her official duties.

[ 2019 c 373 § 3.]

NOTES:

Effective date—Findings—2019 c 373: See notes following RCW 42.56.660.