Employment Security Department Newsletter – March 2023
WA Cares: Find the resources you need
Newly published toolkit now available
WA Cares has designed a new toolkit to help you prepare your employees for the launch of the WA Cares Fund in July 2023. Your workers may reach out to you with a range of questions, and this toolkit equips you with the answers.
The toolkit contains information you can include in staff messages each month between now and July. It also includes graphics, videos, FAQs and even a calendar that recommends how and when to use the materials.
Want more WA Cares information sent straight to your email? Sign up for our mailing list!
Paid Leave: What to know in 2023
Updated resources now available
We’ve updated tools and documents on Paid Leave’s website to keep up with the changes implemented in January. Our website is home to a wide range of resources that you can use to become familiar with your role as an employer, the benefits available to your employees and grants available to small businesses.
Here are just a few of the resources available in the Help Center:
- Employer toolkit
- Voluntary plan guide
- CSV wage report template
- Paycheck insert
- Mandatory poster
Many other resources are available in the Help Center and on our employer pages, including a premium calculator and information and tools in Spanish.
Unemployment Insurance (UI): We're changing the way we use SSNs
If necessary, update your files or software
We’re changing the way we use Social Security numbers in emails, letters and other correspondence.
This change will start by July 1. In most cases, ESD will use the last four digits of a Social Security number to identify an employee or customer.
The change comes as result of House Bill 1455, which requires ESD to use other personal identifiers in its correspondence to prevent identify theft. We will still collect Social Security numbers – the law changes only how we share them.
If you think this change might affect your business processes, forms, files or software, please make the necessary updates. You do not need to contact us.
To learn more about how Employment Security Department manages information, check out our privacy statement.
New training videos for EAMS now available
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.
If you’re new to EAMS, get started here.
