King County Sheriff and off-duty employment

The permit that does not expire

A member wanting off-duty work submits an electronic Secondary Employment Permit — form A-113 — to their supervisor. One permit per employer, and approval has to be in hand before any work starts.

If the employer is not already in the member's approved list, they use a separate request tab to put the employer forward first, then submit the permit. The supervisor approves or denies it; a denial comes back with a written explanation. Supervisors or command staff can revoke a permit at any time for cause.

Then the part worth pausing on: permits do not need to be renewed annually. Once approved, a permit stays in effect until the member's employment with that specific company ends.

That makes King County one of only two agencies in this section with no renewal clock at all. Kansas City is the other, and the two get there differently — Kansas City replaces the annual form with continuous checking inside its scheduling platform, while King County simply ties the permit's life to the job it was written for. Everywhere else, officers are renewing against a date: 1 January, 1 February, 1 March, 1 April, 31 August, 31 December, their own hire date, or a five-year cycle.

An employer list policed by unpaid invoices

The Sheriff's Office maintains a list of authorized employers in its online secondary employment database, and off-duty work may only happen with an employer on it.

Every employer on the list is notified of the requirements for vehicle reimbursement — and an employer who fails to pay those vehicle fees may be removed from the pre-approved list.

That is a sanction with real reach. An employer who does not settle the bill for patrol cars loses access to every deputy in the county, not just the one whose invoice went unpaid. Other agencies screen employers on insurance or character; this one keeps them honest on the invoice.

The patrol car, and who pays for it

Members may use department vehicles for off-duty employment. Not merely tolerated — personnel who are not assigned a marked patrol car are encouraged to borrow a marked vehicle where it suits the assignment. Marked pool vehicles need permission from the precinct or section commander.

Normally the employer pays the vehicle usage fee, at a rate set by the Sheriff's Office. The Chief Financial Officer posts the current rate on the county's budget and accounting website, and any labor union arranging off-duty work posts the fee schedule too. Accounting tracks payment with help from the union representative.

Two venues work the other way round. For off-duty assignments at Lumen Field or T-Mobile Park, the member is personally responsible for a flat rate for the vehicle. They self-report it by emailing accounting with the venue, date and time; accounting raises an invoice, sends it to their work location, and the member is expected to pay it promptly.

There are two exemptions from that flat rate: when the off-duty assignment falls within four hours of the beginning or end of the member's regular shift, or when they are in official on-call status and required to respond if called.

Set that against the rest of the section and it is unusually generous. Washington State Patrol charges the trooper the state mileage rate plus $5 an hour. UT System Police allow no agency vehicle at all, not even to drive to the job. St. Mary's County permits it as transport only, with the deputy barred from making the employer's deliveries in it. Illinois State Police allow it only for officers who already have 24-hour use.

On call, subject to call, and why the difference matters

The policy defines two availability statuses, and this is the most precise treatment of it anywhere in this section.

On-call status means being on a maintained list of people responsible for responding immediately if called, for a set period. Members in it are expected to adjust their off-duty activities so they stay immediately available. The named examples are members assigned CDO duty and on-call detectives, plus the tactical unit captain, who counts as on-call unless cover for their duties has been pre-arranged.

Subject to call means the member may be called back in an emergency or unusual circumstances, but is not on any maintained list for a set duration — and there is expressly no expectation that they adjust their normal off-duty activities to stay available. Tactical unit sergeants, deputies and detectives sit here, as do captains, majors and chiefs who are not on CDO status.

The distinction is not academic. It decides whether you owe the flat vehicle rate at the two stadium venues, and it decides whether your own time off is genuinely your own. Most agencies simply say emergencies win and leave it there.

Overtime beats the detail, with one courtesy

Members directed to work overtime must do so regardless of off-duty commitments — mandatory overtime immediately before or after a shift, and emergency call-in overtime during off-duty hours or furlough days.

What is unusual is the sentence after it. Where the member's off-duty assignment is less than 24 hours away, the supervisor directing the overtime will, when feasible, carefully consider reasonable staffing alternatives first.

It is not a right, and it does not stop the order. But it is one of the few places in any of these documents where a policy asks a supervisor to weigh the officer's already-booked second job before reaching for them.

When you may not work at all

Off-duty work is prohibited outright while on probation — though exceptions can be made for Phase 4 and lateral deputies with precinct commander approval, and the bar does not apply to promotions. It is also prohibited on light duty, during a leave of absence paid or unpaid unless the Undersheriff approves, while absent without leave, while suspended, and any time the permit is unapproved, revoked or canceled.

Two more are worth reading closely. A performance review rating of “improvement needed” in any category stops off-duty work, and it may only resume once the member receives a subsequent satisfactory review. Newport News makes eligibility contingent on standing in a similar way; Baltimore goes the other direction and protects the income from unrelated discipline.

And the sick leave rule is defined by someone else. An off-duty job may not be worked on a workday that sick or disability leave is taken — where “workday” means what the current collective bargaining agreements say it means. Family sick leave blocks off-duty work during normal working hours.

That makes it the only sick-leave clock in this section that sends the reader to a different document to find out how long it runs. Elsewhere the policy states it: 24 hours from the start of the missed shift at Clayton County, 24 hours from the end of it at Newport News, eight hours at UT System, the whole 24-hour period at St. Mary's County.

Flexing, splitting and the 16-hour ceiling

Off-duty work must not conflict with the member's regular department schedule, and members may not split a shift to fit an off-duty job in.

Flex schedules get their own rule. A member on a flex schedule must submit comp time or vacation time if any part of the off-duty work falls in what would have been normal, un-flexed working hours. Where the hours were flexed to suit department needs, a supervisor may make an exception case by case.

The ceiling is 16 consecutive hours in any rolling 24-hour period, counting regular duty, overtime and off-duty employment together. Supervisors may authorise more based on the needs of the community, the department and public safety.

Rolling is the word doing the work, and it is the same design as Fairfax County's sliding frame. There is no midnight reset to hide a long night behind.

Conflicts of interest, and the employers behind them

The policy defines a conflict of interest four ways: anything that appears to compromise the integrity, character, efficiency or decency of the department; any violation of a current collective bargaining agreement; any violation of federal, state or local law; and any violation of the King County Code of Ethics.

Gambling or the sale of alcohol as the primary business is out — with sensible exceptions where the cocktail lounge or gambling is a secondary service, hotels and bowling alleys being the named examples, and for gatherings where liquor is sold under a banquet permit.

Barred as owner, manager or employee: civil process service, repossessions, bail bonds, bill collection, ambulance services, vehicle towing, private detective, private security or investigation businesses, and merchant patrol. Police and uniform equipment suppliers are on the same list, which few agencies think to include. So are dating services, massage parlours and topless or adult-only entertainment.

Work is also prohibited where the employer is involved in a labor dispute, or where one is likely, and for any employer the Sheriff deems inappropriate.

Sworn members wearing the department uniform on off-duty work follow the same uniform-of-the-day order that applies on shift.

The cases you cannot touch

No member may assist in investigation, case preparation, presentation or testimony involving criminal cases, or civil cases until any related criminal charges have been adjudicated.

The civil bar is wider than most. It covers any civil case in which a political division or subdivision of Washington — a county, city, agency or board — is or could be a defendant. It covers cases where another King County deputy may or will be called as a fact witness. It covers cases arising inside unincorporated King County or anywhere in the Sheriff's jurisdiction, and any case the member was involved in in any official capacity.

It also bars the use of county resources — time, equipment, services or information — and representing yourself in any official capacity.

The fact-witness clause is the interesting one. It means a case can be closed to you because of who else might be called, not because of anything you did. Orange County in California reaches similarly wide by barring civil suits against any public entity; Columbus permits expert work in non-criminal cases not adverse to another agency.

Where the work can be, and who arranges it

Members may only work off-duty jobs located within the KCSO service area — the unincorporated parts of King County and the contract cities the office polices.

Then five named exceptions: T-Mobile Park, Lumen Field, Husky Stadium, Sound Transit worksites and the King County Courthouse. Naming individual venues in a policy is rare; most agencies draw a boundary and leave it there.

Coordinating off-duty employment is itself off-duty employment under this policy's definition, which sweeps the coordinator into the same permit system as everyone else.

No on-duty time or department facilities may be used to arrange off-duty work without a division commander or the Undersheriff. Requests arriving at a county work site, or reaching on-duty personnel, are forwarded to the appropriate labor organisation for the class of employee wanted — requests from other county agencies excepted.

And one separation of duties found nowhere else: whoever organises the security plan for a King County event should not also be responsible for obtaining the off-duty deputies for that event.

Who sets the rate, and the tax

The off-duty hourly rate for deputies and sergeants is established by the King County Police Officer's Guild. For captains it is set by the Puget Sound Police Managers Association.

So the price of off-duty work here is set by the unions rather than the department. Columbus sets a floor by rank, Seattle sets one at the top step of the officer or sergeant scale, Lexington lets the Chief set what vendors are charged, and UT System leaves officer and employer to negotiate privately.

On tax the policy is plain: members either complete a W-4 or tell the employer they need a 1099, and in all cases they are responsible for their own federal income tax and FICA liability on off-duty earnings. If you are working 1099 details, our page on 1099 off-duty jobs covers what that means for record-keeping.

Logging on, and clearing 585

Members working off duty log into the secondary employment database and complete its employment log, including the CAD number.

They also notify the closest area dispatcher, by radio or through CAD, of the location of the work, the employer's name, and the times they started and finished — commute time excluded from both.

While working, members are expected to monitor the nearest dispatch frequency where it suits the assignment, and to offer assistance to on-duty personnel when appropriate. When the job is done, they clear with the communications center using the code 585.

If an arrest happens during off-duty work, the member contacts the local agency to file the report if they are in another jurisdiction — though where the Sheriff's Office has authority to act and circumstances allow, it is the member's discretion to handle it without involving the local agency. In unincorporated King County or a contract city they write the incident report themselves, and secure the prisoner for transport if required.

One document, several dates

This chapter carries a date on each section rather than one date on the front, which is worth knowing before you rely on any single paragraph.

The definitions, the application process, the stipulations and the vehicle reimbursement section are all dated 05/24 — May 2024, and the substance of this page rests on them. The authorized employers and notification sections are dated 02/16, the compensation section 11/13, and the opening policy statement 04/01.

So the operative rules are recent, but the sections on who sets the rate and how you notify dispatch have not been revised in some years. Read them at the link below before relying on them.