Drafter
Clerk 07/24/2019
Title
AN ORDINANCE prohibiting the county and its contractors from participating in any programs that would result in employees being paid a subminimum wage; amending Ordinance 11992, Section 4, as amended, and K.C.C. 12.16.025 and adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 3.18.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. King County values its employees and those employees of its contractors.
2. There are programs that allow for employers to pay employees with disabilities less than the otherwise applicable minimum wage.
3. King County does not believe these programs result in the best public policy outcomes and wishes to prohibit itself as an employer and the contractors it does business with from participating in the program.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
NEW SECTION. SECTION 1. There is hereby added to K.C.C. chapter 3.18 a new section to read as follows:
The county shall not pay any employee less than any applicable minimum wage.
SECTION 2. Ordinance 11992, Section 4, as amended, and K.C.C. 12.16.025 are hereby amended to read as follows:
In addition to the general prohibition against discrimination in K.C.C. 12.16.020, all contractors, subcontractors or unions doing business with or furnishing workers or services to the county:
A. Shall make reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified disabled applicant or employee unless the contractor can demonstrate that the accommodation would impair or cause undue hardship on the operation of the contractor, subcontractor or union's business; ((and))
B. Shall not pay any employee less than any applicable minimum wage; and
C. Shall not conduct a preemployment medical examination or make a preemployment inquiry about whether an applicant has a disability. A contractor, subcontractor or union doing business with or furnishing workers or services to the county may make a preemployment inquiry about an applicant's ability to perform job-related functions. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a contractor, subcontractor or union doing business with or furnishing workers or services to the county from conditioning an offer of employment on the results of a medical examination prior to
initiation of the employment, but only if all employees entering into that job classification or position are also subject to such an examination regardless of disability.