Explaining “Cross-Program Payment Allocation” in Simple Terms
The Employment Security Department (ESD) in Washington State manages three important programs that benefit workers:
- State Unemployment Insurance: Provides temporary financial help to workers who lose their jobs.
- WA Cares: A program to help pay for long-term care services.
- Paid Family and Medical Leave: Allows workers to take paid time off for personal or family health reasons.
Employers are required to make payments to the ESD to fund these programs. Sometimes, however, the payments that employers send in don’t clearly state which program the money is meant for. In these cases, if the ESD can’t get in touch with the employer to clarify, they need a way to fairly distribute the payment across the three programs.
To handle this, new rules were created and are now part of Washington’s official regulations. These rules explain how the ESD will allocate payments that aren’t clearly labeled. The goal is to ensure that each program gets its fair share of the money.
Washington Administrative Code, WAC 192-03-010 and WAC 192-03-020 (view the CR 103P and final rules).These new rules will come into effect on September 7, 2024.
