BIAW Requests Information and Submits Public Records Requests Regarding ESD Fraud

October 5, 2020

BIAW filed a public record request on Oct. 5, 2020, to Washington Employment Security Department (ESD) regarding the unemployment fraud that occurred earlier this year. BIAW represents nearly 8,000 members in the home building industry who have been directly affected by the fraudulent claims, process delays, and security breaches at ESD. The confirmed theft of $650 million from the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund is 100% employer-paid, directly impacting our membership.

BIAW is also alarmed by recent reports that ESD plans to restore funding depleted from the accounts, partly from the fraud enabled by ESD, which could increase the unemployment insurance taxes nearly six-fold. Asking businesses attempting to claw their way out of the economic devastation wrought by COVID, including multiple government-mandated shutdowns and restrictions on businesses, to pay thousands more in taxes per employee is not only unjust but egregious economic policy.

BIAW will be working with partners in the business community to avoid tax increases that force businesses to pay for government missteps and blunders. The records request is an essential first step in the process and addresses concerns that ESD has failed to perform its fiduciary duty to protect the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.

For more information about the ESD fraud, please read ‘Your Employment Security Department (ESD) Fraud Questions Answered.’

To view BIAW’s public records request, click here >>