General meal and rest period requirements can be found in the Washington Administrative Code. Specific law pertaining to railroad employees can be found in the Revised Code of Washington Title 81, Chapter 81.40. Employers with an "infant friendly" breastfeeding policy must submit their policy to the Department of Health, as stated in Title 43, Chapter 43.60 of the Revised Code of Washington.

WAC 296-126-092 Meal periods -- Rest periods.

(1) Employees shall be allowed a meal period of at least 30 minutes which commences no less than two hours nor more than five hours from the beginning of the shift. Meal periods shall be on the employer's time when the employee is required by the employer to remain on duty on the premises or at a prescribed work site in the interest of the employer.

(2) No employee shall be required to work more than five consecutive hours without a meal period.

(3) Employees working three or more hours longer than a normal work day shall be allowed at least one 30-minute meal period prior to or during the overtime period.

(4) Employees shall be allowed a rest period of not less than 10 minutes, on the employer's time, for each 4 hours of working time. Rest periods shall be scheduled as near as possible to the midpoint of the work period. No employee shall be required to work more than three hours without a rest period.

(5) Where the nature of the work allows employees to take intermittent rest periods equivalent to 10 minutes for each 4 hours worked, scheduled rest periods are not required.

WAC 296-126-050 Employment records.

(1) Every employer shall keep for at least three years a record of the name, address, and occupation of each employee, dates of employment, rate or rates of pay, amount paid each pay period to each such employee and the hours worked.

(2) Every employer shall make the record described in subsection (1) available to the employee, upon request, at any reasonable time.

(3) Every employer shall, upon written request by the employee, furnish within ten working days of the request to each employee who is discharged a signed written statement, setting forth the reasons for such discharge and the effective date thereof.

WAC 296-125-0285 What regulations apply to meal and rest breaks for my fourteen-year-old and fifteen-year-old minors?

(1) Since the purpose of meal periods and rest breaks is to provide rest from work, they must not be scheduled near the beginning of the work shift.

(2) The following specific regulations apply to your minors who are fourteen-years-old and fifteen-years-old:

(a) They must not work more than four hours without being given a meal period. This meal period must be at least thirty minutes in length and be separate and distinct from, and in addition to, the rest breaks mandated by this subsection.

(b) They must be given, on your business's time, a rest break of at least ten minutes for every two hours worked.

(c) When they work four-hour periods, they cannot be required to work more than two hours without being given either a ten-minute rest break or a thirty-minute meal period.

WAC 296-125-0287 What regulations apply to meal and rest breaks for my sixteen-year-old and seventeen-year-old employees?

(1) The following regulations apply to meal periods for your minors who are sixteen-years-old and seventeen-years-old:

(a) They must be allowed meal periods of at least thirty minutes in length.

(b) Their meal periods must start no less than two hours but no more than five hours from the beginning of their work shift.

(c) They must not be required to work more than five consecutive hours without a meal period.

(2) The following regulations apply to rest periods for your minors who are sixteen-years-old and seventeen-years-old:

(a) They must be allowed a rest period of not less than ten minutes, on your time, for each four hours worked.

(b) Their rest periods must be scheduled as near as possible to the midpoint of the work period.

(c) They must receive a rest period at least every three hours.

WAC 296-131-020 Meals and rest periods.

(1) Every employee employed more than five hours shall receive a meal period of at least thirty minutes. Employees working eleven or more hours in a day shall be allowed at least one additional thirty-minute meal period.

(2) Every employee shall be allowed a rest period of at least ten minutes, on the employer's time, in each four-hour period of employment. For purposes of computing the minimum wage on a piecework basis, the time allotted an employee for rest periods shall be included in the number of hours for which the minimum wage must be paid.

WAC 251-09-110 Rest periods. Employees shall receive not less than a ten minute rest period for each four hours of work. Each eight hour shift shall include two rest periods, even though the shift is unequally divided.

Breastfeeding

RCW 43.70.640
Workplace breastfeeding policies -- Infant-friendly designation.

(1) An employer may use the designation "infant-friendly" on its promotional materials if the employer has an approved workplace breastfeeding policy addressing at least the following:

(a) Flexible work scheduling, including scheduling breaks and permitting work patterns that provide time for expression of breast milk;

(b) A convenient, sanitary, safe, and private location, other than a restroom, allowing privacy for breastfeeding or expressing breast milk;

(c) A convenient clean and safe water source with facilities for washing hands and rinsing breast-pumping equipment located in the private location specified in (b) of this subsection; and

(d) A convenient hygienic refrigerator in the workplace for the mother's breast milk.

(2) Employers seeking approval of a workplace breastfeeding policy must submit the policy to the department of health. The department of health shall review and approve those policies that meet the requirements of this section. The department may directly develop and implement the criteria for "infant-friendly" employers, or contract with a vendor for this purpose.

(3) For the purposes of this section, "employer" includes those employers defined in RCW 49.12.005 and also includes the state, state institutions, state agencies, political subdivisions of the state, and municipal corporations or quasi-municipal corporations.

NOTES: Acknowledgment -- Declaration -- Findings -- 2001 c 88: "

(1) The legislature acknowledges the surgeon general's summons to all sectors of society and government to help redress the low breastfeeding rates and duration in the United States, including the social and workplace factors that can make it difficult for women to breastfeed. The legislature also acknowledges the surgeon general's report on the health and economic importance of breastfeeding which concludes that:

(a) Breastfeeding is one of the most important contributors to infant health;

(b) Breastfeeding provides a range of benefits for the infant's growth, immunity, and development; and

(c) Breastfeeding improves maternal health and contributes economic benefits to the family, health care system, and workplace.

(2) The legislature declares that the achievement of optimal infant and child health, growth, and development requires protection and support for the practice of breastfeeding. The legislature finds that:

(a) The American academy of pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child's life and breastfeeding with the addition of solid foods to continue for at least twelve months, and that arrangements be made to provide expressed breast milk if the mother and child must separate during the first year. Children should be breastfed or fed expressed breast milk when they show signs of need, rather than according to a set schedule or the location;

(b) Breast milk contains all the nutrients a child needs for optimal health, growth, and development, many of which can only be found in breast milk;

(c) Research in developed countries provides strong evidence that breastfeeding decreases the incidence and/or severity of diarrhea, lower respiratory tract infection, otitis media, bacteremia, bacterial meningitis, urinary tract infection, and necrotizing enterocolitis. In addition, a number of studies show a possible protective effect of breastfeeding against SIDS, Type I diabetes mellitus, Crohn's disease, lymphoma, ulcerative colitis, and allergic diseases;

(d) Studies also indicate health benefits in mothers who breastfeed. Breastfeeding is one of the few ways that mothers may be able to lower their risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer, with benefits proportional to the duration that they are able to breastfeed. In addition, the maternal hormonal changes stimulated by breastfeeding also help the uterus recover faster and minimize the amount of blood mothers lose after birth. Breastfeeding inhibits ovulation and menstrual bleeding, thereby decreasing the risk of anemia and a precipitous subsequent pregnancy. Breastfeeding women also have an earlier return to prepregnancy weight;

(e) Approximately two-thirds of women who are employed when they become pregnant return to the work force by the time their children are six months old;

(f) Employers benefit when their employees breastfeed. Breastfed infants are sick less often; therefore, maternal absenteeism from work is lower in companies with established lactation programs. In addition, employee medical costs are lower and employee productivity is higher;

(g) According to a survey of mothers in Washington, most want to breastfeed but discontinue sooner than they hope, citing lack of societal and workplace support as key factors limiting their ability to breastfeed;

(h) Many mothers fear that they are not making enough breast milk and therefore decrease or discontinue breastfeeding. Frequency of breastfeeding or expressing breast milk is the main regulator of milk supply, such that forcing mothers to go prolonged periods without breastfeeding or expressing breast milk can undermine their ability to maintain breastfeeding; and

(i) Maternal stress can physiologically inhibit a mother's ability to produce and let down milk. Mothers report modifiable sources of stress related to breastfeeding, including lack of protection from harassment and difficulty finding time and an appropriate location to express milk while away from their babies.

(3) The legislature encourages state and local governmental agencies, and private and public sector businesses to consider the benefits of providing convenient, sanitary, safe, and private rooms for mothers to express breast milk."

Trainmen

RCW 81.40.040
Trainmen -- Hours of service.

It shall be unlawful for any common carrier by railroad or any of its officers or agents, to require or permit any employee engaged in or connected with the movement of any train to remain on duty more than twelve consecutive hours, except when by casualty occurring after such employee has started on his trip; or, except by accident or unavoidable delay of trains scheduled to make connection with the train on which such employee is serving, he is prevented from reaching his terminal; or, to require or permit any such employee who has been on duty twelve consecutive hours to go on duty without having had at least ten hours off duty; or, to require or permit any such employee who has been on duty twelve hours in the aggregate in any twenty-four hour period to continue on duty without having had at least eight hours off duty within the twenty-four hour period.

RCW 81.40.050
Enforcement.

Any such common carrier, or any of its officers or agents violating any of the provisions of RCW 81.40.040 is hereby declared to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be liable to a penalty of not less than one hundred or more than one thousand dollars for each and every such violation to be recovered in a suit or suits to be brought by the attorney general; and it shall be the duty of the attorney general to bring such suits upon duly verified information being lodged with him of such violation having occurred, in any superior court; and it shall also be the duty of the commission to fully investigate all cases of the violation of RCW 81.40.040, and to lodge with the attorney general information of any such violation as may come to its knowledge.