Washington Administrative Code › Title 388 - Social and Health Services, Department of › AGING AND ADULT SERVICES › Chapter 388-96 - Wage equity funding › Section 388-96-918 - Wage equity funding

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1) The contractor
				must submit a report of wage equity funding costs in a standardized manner and
				in accordance with this chapter and chapter 74.46 RCW on the dates specified in
				this section.
(2) The department
				will review the contractor's costs of the wage equity funding in accordance
				with the methodology effective at the time the services were rendered as
				described in this chapter and session laws of Washington state 2022 c 297
				§ 204(53).
(3) No later than
				September 1, 2023, each contractor must submit to the department a wage equity
				worksheet for the period of July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.
(4) Wage equity worksheets for new
				contractors must be submitted for the period covering their date of contract
				through June 30, 2023.
(5) A
				terminating or assigning contractor must submit to the department a wage equity
				worksheet for the period from July 1, 2022, through the date the contract was
				terminated or assigned.
(6) To
				properly complete the wage equity worksheet, the contractor must submit the
				wage equity worksheet, including the completed certification page to the
				document electronically.
(7) If the
				contractor does not properly complete the wage equity worksheet or the
				department does not receive it by the due date established in this section, the
				department may recoup any wage equity funding received by the
				contractor.
(8) The department may
				impose civil fines or take adverse rate action against contractors and former
				contractors who do not submit properly completed wage equity worksheets by the
				applicable due date established in this section.
(9) The department will review the wage
				equity worksheet to ensure the contractor has used its wage equity funding to
				increase wages for low-wage workers by up to four dollars per hour.
(10) The department will recover any funding
				difference between each contractor's wage equity funding and the amount of wage
				equity funding that the provider utilizes to increase low-wage worker
				wages.
(11) The department will
				separate the settlement amount into the funds attributable to direct care
				employees and funds attributable to indirect care employees. The direct care
				portion will be divided into two. One half may be used to offset any direct
				care final settlement monies owed for the 2022 cost report year. One half may
				be used to offset any direct care preliminary settlement monies owed for the
				2023 cost report year. For partial worksheets due to new contractors, or
				terminating or assigning contractors, the direct care portion may be offset
				against the applicable cost report's direct care settlement to the appropriate
				proportionality.
(12) The
				verification process must use wages paid as of December 31, 2021, as the base
				wage to compare contractors' wage spending in the designated job categories to
				the facility-specific amounts of wage equity funding provided, excluding any
				amounts adjusted by settlement. If a facility did not have a particular
				category of staff on December 31, 2021, to set a baseline wage, wages from
				comparable facilities may be used.
(13) The verification and recovery process in
				this section is a distinct and separate process from the settlement process
				described in
				RCW
				74.46.022 and elsewhere described in this
				chapter.
(14) The provisions of
				388-96-901 and 388-96-904 apply to this section.