WA Cares premium collection began July 1

July 2023 | Issue 37

What you need to know about premiums, exemptions, and more

As of July 1, 2023, you must collect WA Cares premiums from your employees’ wages and report their wages and hours at the end of each quarter—much like you do now for Paid Leave. Reporting will begin Oct. 1, 2023, and will follow the same reporting process as Paid Leave. There is no employer share of WA Cares Fund premiums.

For more info about your responsibilities as an employer as well as resources you can use to communicate with employees and answer questions about the program, please visit wacaresfund.wa.gov/employers.

Calculating premiums 

Calculate the total premium amount for each of your employees. The premium is 0.58% of an employee’s gross wages, so: Gross wages x .0058 = total premium for employee.

Note that unlike Paid Leave, premium contributions are not capped at the taxable maximum for social security. Need help determining premium amounts for WA Cares and Paid Leave? Check out our premium calculator at paidleave.wa.gov/estimate-your-paid-leave-payments.

Employee exemptions

Some employees may choose to apply for an exemption from WA Cares coverage. It’s their responsibility to apply and — if approved — to notify you and give you a copy of their approval letter from ESD.

Once notified, you must:

  • Not deduct WA Cares premiums from the wages of employees who give you an ESD exemption approval letter. Note: this letter will list the date the employee’s exemption takes effect.

  • Keep a copy of your employees’ approval letters on file.

ESD is currently processing a high volume of exemption applications. We are doing our best to process applications as quickly as possible but we will not be able to address all applications before you are required to begin withholding premiums on July 1.

Approved exemptions from workers who submitted their applications before July 1 will have an effective exemption date of July 1, 2023, regardless of when their application is approved. In some cases, this may mean you will be deducting premiums from workers' wages before they are able to provide you a copy of their exemption approval letter. Once they provide their exemption approval letter, we encourage you to return their deductions at your earliest convenience since ESD will not assess premiums for these workers for any part of Q3.

Workers who submit exemption applications on or after July 1, and are approved, will be issued an effective exemption date starting the quarter following the date the exemption was approved, and will be assessed premiums for all of Q3.

For conditional exemptions, it is the employee’s responsibility to notify you and ESD within 90 days of any changes to their exemption status. Failure to do so can result in employees having to pay past premiums and additional penalties.

For employees who previously applied for a private insurance exemption and received an approval letter from ESD, their exemption is still valid.

For more information on employee exemptions, visit wacaresfund.wa.gov/exemptions.

Near retirees

Are you getting questions from workers near-retirement? Anyone born before Jan. 1, 1968 will now earn 10% of the full benefit amount ($36,500, adjusted for inflation) for each year they contribute. To earn a qualifying year, a worker must contribute based on 500+ hours of work (just under 10 hours per week on average). Learn more here: https://wacaresfund.wa.gov/news/benefits-near-retirees.

Paid Leave: Employer accounts

Add more points of contact

If you have full access to your employer account, you can now add more points of contact for your business.

All employer accounts have a primary contact, but now you can also add contacts for wage reporting, payments and refunds, and benefits.

To add or edit points of contact:

  • Log in to your employer account.

  • Click ‘Manage Account’

  • Add the name, job title, phone number, email address and mailing address for each new contact. We will use your primary contact information if you have not designated other points of contact for specific areas of your business.

Keeping this information up to date ensures timely communication with the correct folks at your business if we need to reach out about reporting or benefits. These points of contact will receive letters and notifications from us but will not have access to your employer account unless you also add them as account users.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about completing the PIN process and adding, updating or removing points of contact.

Paid Leave and WA Cares: Employer webinars

Join us for a live webinar

There’s plenty to know about Paid Leave and WA Cares, and we’re committed to making your experience as easy as possible with helpful info and resources. Join us for an employer-focused webinar, where we'll cover Paid Leave and WA Cares employer responsibilities, premium collection, quarterly reporting, payments, and more!

  • Thursday, July 20, 11 a.m. to noon — Register now
    This webinar is limited to 200 participants, so don’t delay in registering!

Are you looking for more in depth conversations around Paid Leave and WA Cares Premium Calculations? Join us for  employer-focused webinars, where we will cover specific topics more in depth. Topics will include calculating premiums, withholding premiums, social security cap, what to do when you are over or under withholding, using online resources such as our premium calculator.

  • Thursday, July 27, 11 a.m. to noon — Register now
    This webinar is limited to 200 participants, so don’t delay in registering!

More to come!

We will be hosting employer webinar opportunities throughout the year so be sure to stay up to date with our employer newsletter for upcoming dates and topics.

Unemployment Insurance (UI): New resources available

New training videos for EAMS

We have uploaded 11 short videos about how to use our upgraded Employer Account Management Services system. Topics include using EAMS, how to add and remove an employer in EAMS, how to import wage data from a spreadsheet and more! Employers and others use EAMS to file quarterly wage reports and pay unemployment taxes. The upgraded EAMS is designed to perform better and improve your experience. 

Each person in your business who requires access to EAMS must create their own username and password using SecureAccess Washington.

Business owners, governing persons and EAMS locked services

Does someone else file reports or make payments for your business? If so, a registered business owner needs to set up your account in EAMS to approve other users’ requests. This gives business owners more control over who has access to their business information in EAMS.

Business owners will need to request locked services, which grants the following benefits:

  • Copy data from one quarter to the next.

  • Save, view and amend reports.

  • Auto-calculate excess wages.

  • View payment history.

  • Cancel pending payments.

  • View account activity.

  • Control user accounts.

Access to locked services is not required to file or pay quarterly reports.

If you’re new to EAMS, get started here. 

Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues & Employment (GCDE) employer awards

Submit nominations by July 28

GCDE is seeking nominations for the 2023 Washington state Governor’s employer awards. These awards recognize excellence in recruiting, hiring and advancing employees with disabilities. Small, medium and large private, nonprofit and public employers are eligible.

For nomination instructions and information about the nomination process, check out the 2023 GCDE Employer Awards nomination information packet. Fill out a nomination form by July 28 for your own organization, other employers or leaders in your communities. Questions or to request an application in alternate formats – email GCDEAwards@esd.wa.gov.

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