Chapter 5.132
QUICK SERVICE FACILITY—DRESS REQUIREMENT
Sections:
5.132.030 Dress requirement for all quick service facilities.
5.132.040 Violations of the dress requirement and probationary license requirement.
5.132.050 Appeal from a notice of denial or revocation of quick service probationary license.
5.132.060 Expressive activity.
5.132.010 Intent and purpose.
This chapter is intended to protect the general public health, safety and welfare of the citizenry of the city through the regulation of quick service facilities. The regulations in this chapter are intended to prevent health and safety problems in and around quick service facilities where employees work in various states of undress and to prevent dangerous and unlawful conduct in and around such locations. To accomplish these goals, this chapter adopts certain minimum dress requirements and makes the business owners primarily responsible for enforcement. (Ord. 3560-17 § 1, 2017)
5.132.020 Definitions.
A. “Dress requirement” is clothing that covers “minimum body areas.” Such clothing shall not be see-through and must fit adequately so that undergarments and all minimum body areas remain covered at all times including when the wearer is sitting, standing, bending, reaching or performing other work duties. The city clerk is authorized to issue regulations to ensure full compliance and provide diagrams to illustrate the dress requirement.
B. “Minimum body areas” means the upper and lower body (breast/pectorals, stomach, back below the shoulder blades, buttocks, top three inches of legs below the buttocks, pubic area and genitals).
C. “Quick service facilities” (“facility”) include coffee stands, fast food restaurants, delis, food trucks, and coffee shops, as well as businesses that provide drive-thru forms of food and/or beverage service, or are focused on quick service providing minimal or no table service. If an owner owns or operates more than one quick service facility within the city, each facility shall be treated as a separate business for the purpose of this chapter.
D. “Employee” means anyone working at a quick service facility including the owner or any person who agrees or contracts with the owner of a quick service facility to operate the business or work at the business, whether working as an employee or manager or other type of agent including subcontractors and independent contractors.
E. “Owner” means the person that owns the quick service facility from which the business activity is conducted.
F. “Person” means any individual, receiver, administrator, executor, assignee, trustee in bankruptcy, trust, estate, firm, co-partnership, joint venture, club, company, joint stock company, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, association, society, or any group acting as a unit, whether mutual, cooperative, fraternal, nonprofit, or otherwise. (Ord. 3560-17 § 2, 2017)
5.132.030 Dress requirement for all quick service facilities.
The dress of all employees, owners and operators of quick service facilities must comply with the dress requirement. The owner is responsible to ensure that all employees comply with the dress requirement. (Ord. 3560-17 § 3, 2017)
5.132.040 Violations of the dress requirement and probationary license requirement.
A. Unlawful Acts.
1. It shall be unlawful for the owner of a quick service facility to serve customers (to operate a facility) when the owner or any employee is not in full compliance with the dress requirement. A violation of this requirement is a civil infraction.
2. It shall be unlawful for a person required to obtain a quick service probationary license under this chapter to knowingly operate a quick service facility without having a valid quick service probationary license. A violation of this requirement shall be a gross misdemeanor.
B. Civil Infraction Violations Including the Quick Service Probationary License Requirement. Civil infractions for violating the dress requirement shall be issued against the owner of the facility by Everett police and/or Everett code enforcement.
1. First Violation. The first infraction issued to a quick service facility shall be a two hundred fifty dollar fine assessed against the owner. In addition, the owner shall be required to obtain and maintain a quick service probationary license issued in accordance with subsection (C)(1) of this section for five consecutive years following a violation in order to operate a quick service facility at the location where the violation occurred.
2. Subsequent Violations. If an owner of a quick service facility is operating with a quick service probationary license and the owner or an employee violates the dress requirement, the infraction issued to an owner shall be a five hundred dollar fine assessed against the owner. In addition, the owner shall be required to continue to have a quick service probationary license for five years following the subsequent violation to operate any quick service facility at the location where the subsequent violation occurred. If the owner receives two or more infractions while required to have a quick service probationary license, those citations shall serve as grounds for revoking the quick service probationary license pursuant to subsection C of this section.
3. Notice of Infraction and of the Quick Service Probationary License Requirement. An owner of a quick service facility shall be deemed to have notice of the infraction and of the quick service probationary license requirement if the citation and notice are either mailed to the owner via first class mail to the address provided in the owner’s application for a city business license for the quick service facility (provided if there is no application, then notice may be mailed to an address determined by the city to be the owner’s) or by having it hand-delivered to the quick service facility’s location and provided to the owner, or any employee who is eighteen years or older. The notice shall identify the address of the quick service facility, the violation of the dress requirement and the date and time the violation occurred.
4. Appeal of Infraction. Any challenge of an infraction shall be in accordance with the rules in Washington State Infraction Rules for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction. Pursuant to Infraction Rule 2.4 any such appeal must be filed within fifteen days of the service of the notice of infraction.
C. Probationary License Application, Denial, and Revocation.
1. Application for a Probation License Requirement. An owner of a quick service facility required to obtain a quick service probationary license shall apply for the license using the procedures in Section 5.04.050, subject to the following additional requirements: (a) the applicant must affirm that the owner has adopted a mandatory dress code that complies with the dress requirement in Section 5.132.030 and has posted that dress code in a conspicuous location on or within the quick service facility where it can be easily viewed by the employees of the quick service facility.
2. Denial. In addition to those bases for denial of a license in Chapter 5.04, a quick service probationary license may/will be denied if (a) the owner has previously had a quick service probationary license revoked in the prior five years; or (b) has been convicted of operating a quick service facility without having obtained a valid quick service probationary license.
3. Revocation of Quick Service Probationary License for Multiple Violations. If an owner of a quick service facility that has been required to obtain a quick service probationary license receives two or more infractions for violating the dress requirement during the period the owner is required to have a quick service probationary license, those infractions shall be grounds for revoking the quick service probationary license. This ground for revocation is in addition to those provided for in Section 5.04.080. Any appeal from revocation shall be governed by Chapter 5.04, as supplemented by the requirements of Section 5.132.050.
D. Infraction Does Not Limit Authority to Issue Criminal Citation. Nothing in this chapter shall preclude the city from filing criminal charges for any conduct which violates the laws of the city or the state, including but not limited to laws prohibiting lewd conduct. (Ord. 3560-17 § 4, 2017)
5.132.050 Appeal from a notice of denial or revocation of quick service probationary license.
A. Appeal from Notice of Revocation or Notice of Denial. If the city clerk determines that there are grounds for denying or revoking a quick service probationary license pursuant to this chapter, the city shall institute the denial or revocation by the delivery of a notice of denial/revocation pursuant to Sections 5.04.070 through 5.04.080. The denial or revocation shall become effective if the owner does not file an appeal within ten days of receiving the notice of denial/revocation as set forth in Sections 5.04.070 through 5.04.080. A party appealing a denial or revocation cannot challenge the validity of any infraction that has become final before the date of the notice of denial/revocation.
B. Content. Form and Procedure of Appeal. The notice shall be in writing and include at least the following:
1. A caption reading: “Appeal of Notice of _________,” giving the name of the appellant and the name of the quick service facility;
2. A brief statement specifically identifying what is being appealed, together with any material facts claimed to support the contentions of the appellant;
3. A brief statement of the relief sought, and the reasons why the revocation or denial of a quick service probationary license should be reversed, modified or otherwise set aside;
4. The current address of the owner/appellant;
5. Current contact information; and
6. A verification, by declaration under penalty of perjury, made by the owner/appellant as to the truth of the matters stated in the appeal.
C. Stay of Denial/Revocation Pending Appeal. A quick service probationary license denial or revocation will be stayed and will not become effective upon the filing of a timely appeal and will remain stayed during the pendency of the appeal. The stay shall be lifted ten days after the appeal is denied or on the day a pending appeal is dismissed, whichever is sooner. In addition, the city may seek to have the stay lifted if an additional violation of the dress requirement occurs during the pendency of the appeal. The city shall make this request by filing a motion before the hearing examiner identifying the specifics of the new violation. The city’s request shall be granted upon a finding by the hearing examiner that another violation of the dress requirement has occurred.
D. Waiver If No Appeal Filed. The failure to file a timely and complete notice of appeal constitutes a waiver of all rights to an appeal under this chapter. (Ord. 3560-17 § 5, 2017)
5.132.060 Expressive activity.
If any employee of a quick service facility engages in expressive activities at the quick service facility while out of compliance with the dress requirement, such activities shall be considered “adult entertainment” as that term is defined in Section 5.120.020(A), and the owner and employee must comply with all requirements of Chapter 5.120, subject to the exceptions found in Section 5.120.090. (Ord. 3560-17 § 6, 2017)