The Employment Security Department’s (ESD) Paid Family and Medical Leave division has put together the top five tips to help with troubleshooting any issues with reporting. As a reminder,  the Q1 and Q2 reporting deadline was pushed back to Aug. 31. Click here to log in and report your premiums.

Employers have been reporting and paying Paid Family and Medical Leave premiums since July 1. While the Employment Security Department estimates that about 85 percent of reports have been successfully processed, some employers and employer agents (third party administrators) have experienced challenges.

Here are the top five tips to help:

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  1. Your UBI was not recognized: Some employers have come in to report and their Unified Business Identifier (UBI) number is not in the system. The ESD tech team has resolved this for a large number of businesses, so if your UBI was previously unrecognized please try again. If you find it is still not recognized, please email to let them know and include your UBI number.
  2. No paper reporting: There is currently no paper reporting process for Paid Family and Medical Leave. If you are unable to report electronically, please call or email our Customer Care Team at 833-717-2273 or .
  3. Power of attorney forms for employer agents: If you are a third party administrator and report for other businesses you likely need to submit a signed power of attorney form to report on their behalf. Please go to paidleave.wa.gov/employer-agents to download the form and get more information.
  4. Amount owed does not appear immediately after filing: Once you submit your report, the balance due does not appear immediately and won’t be available until your report is processed. Depending on the reporting method you choose and system traffic, the balance may not update on the same day you report. Go to paidleave.wa.gov/reporting for more information.
  5. Self-employed? You can opt-in! To learn more about when to elect coverage and why, go to paidleave.wa.gov/elective-coverage.

Please let ESD know if you continue to experience challenges with reporting. They will not assess penalties or interest associated with late Q1 and Q2 reporting at this time, but the Customer Care Team is available to assist by phone at 833-717-2273 or by email at .

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