Unemployment Insurance

Washington State Employment Security
Status Unit of the Unemployment
Insurance Division, Olympia
Contact: Brenda Westfall
Phone: (360) 902-9373
Fax: (360) 902-9264

Production companies that hire local citizens to work solely in this state must report the local worker's wages for unemployment insurance. Out-of-state employees, who are brought to Washington to work for a short period with the intent of returning to their original state of employment, are not reportable to this state. Their work is considered incidental to their work in the state of origin.

Washington uses a 40-class tax rate schedule, which replaced the 20-class schedule and now includes social cost factors. Your tax rate is still based on your experience with unemployment. To determine your rate class in the new schedule, we divide the total cost of all unemployment benefits charged to you in the past four years by your total taxable payroll for that same period. The resulting percentage is your benefit ratio. This determines your rate class and your array calculation factor.

For 2008 the taxable wage base is $34,000.
For 2009 the taxable wage base is $35,700.

Employment Administration Fund (EAF):
New employers and those employers in rate class 40 pay .02%.
Employers in rate classes 1-39 and any others pay .03%.

For tax rate information, call:

Experience Rating Unit of the Unemployment Insurance Tax Administration
Phone: (360) 902-9670

or

Status Unit of the Unemployment Insurance Division, Olympia
Phone: (360) 902-9360