(1) The employment security department shall deem a person to be a qualified individual as provided in this chapter if the person has paid the long-term services and supports premiums required by RCW 50B.04.080 for the equivalent of either:
(a) A total of ten years without interruption of five or more consecutive years; or
(b) Three years within the last six years from the date of application for benefits.
(2) When deeming a person to be a qualified individual, the employment security department shall require that the person have worked at least five hundred hours during each of the ten years in subsection (1)(a) of this section or each of the three years in subsection (1)(b) of this section.
(3) An exempt employee may never be deemed to be a qualified individual.
[ 2021 c 113 § 4; 2020 c 98 § 3; 2019 c 363 § 6.]