Updates

2024 Paid Family & Medical Leave Premiums

Premiums, collected from employees and employers through quarterly reporting, fund the Paid Leave program. By law, we recalculate the Paid Leave premium rate annually in October. We adjust the premium rate based on premiums contributed and benefits paid during the previous year.

Starting Jan. 1, 2024:

• The total premium rate will decrease to 0.74%.
• Employers will pay 28.57% of the total premium and employees will pay 71.43%.
• Businesses classified by the Employment Security Department as having fewer than 50 employees for the 2024 calendar year are not required to pay the employer portion of the premium. However, you must still collect the employee premium or pay employees’ premiums on their behalf.

Next steps for employers

• Notify your employees that you will begin collecting the new rate on Jan. 1, 2024. An updated employer toolkit, mandatory poster and paycheck insert are available in the Help Center.
• On Jan. 1, 2024, start collecting the new premium rate each pay period from your employees’ total gross wages, not including tips. Once an employee meets the Social Security cap, you need to stop collecting premiums but continue to report their wages. The Social Security cap for the 2024 calendar year will increase to $168,600.
• First quarter premiums using the new rate are due by the end of April 2024. Remember: You cannot retroactively withhold premiums from employees.

Learn more

In early November, we’re sending letters to employers as an additional notification about this upcoming change — and before the end of the year, we’ll have more resources available on our website, including:

• An updated premium estimator.
• Premium rate calculations.
• More reporting information.

Stay tuned!

Changes to employer reporting begin Oct. 1, 2023

Beginning Q3 2023, employers will report employee hours and wages for both Paid Leave and WA Cares with one report. Learn more about requirements and specifications below.

New reporting requirements

1. You’ll now file a report every quarter, including quarters in which you had no payroll.
   • To file a no payroll report, select the quarter and the “I have NO payroll to report.” option on the quarterly reporting screen in your employer account.
2. On your report, you’ll include the date of birth and WA Cares exemption status for each of your employees.

Download the reporting checklist for the full list of required information.

New wage file specifications

Employers who file via CSV upload and employer agents who file via CSV or ICESA must use new file specifications for all quarters.

• .CSV File Specifications (v8)
• .CSV Template (v8)
• ICESA file specifications (v8)
  
  

Premium payments

While the wage report for both programs is combined, you’ll need to make two separate payments, one for Paid Leave and one for WA Cares, to ensure your premiums are credited to the correct fund.

Instructions are on the payment screen in your employer account.