WA Cares Fund: Four New Exemptions and FAQs Added

Washington recently passed a new law (House Bill 1733) that added four additional groups that may apply for an exemption from the WA Cares Fund premium assessment.

The WA Cares Fund is the state’s mandatory long-term care (LTC) insurance program. Employers are required to collect WA Cares premiums of $0.58 per $100 of earnings for employees whose work is localized in Washington starting July 1, 2023. The benefit will be available to eligible employees beginning January 1, 2025. (See the articles on the background of this subject in the December 23, 2021, January 6, 2022, and February 3, 2022, editions of Compliance Corner.)

Effective January 1, 2023, employees can apply for the following exemptions if they meet the criteria.

• Living out of state – An employee who is employed by an employer in Washington but has a permanent address and primary residence outside of the state can apply for the exemption. If an employee changes his or her primary residence to Washington, the employee will no longer qualify for the exemption.
• Temporarily working in Washington with a nonimmigrant visa – A temporary worker who holds a nonimmigrant visa can apply for this exemption. If an employee’s nonimmigrant visa status changes and they become a permanent resident or citizen employed in Washington, the employee will no longer qualify for the exemption.
• A spouse or registered domestic partner of an active-duty military member – An employee must be married to or have a registered domestic partnership with an active-duty service member in the US armed forces to qualify for this exemption. The employee will lose qualification if the employee’s spouse or domestic partner is discharged or separated from military service or upon dissolution of the marriage or registered domestic partnership.
• A veteran of the US military with a 70% or greater service-connected disability – An employee must be rated by the US Department of Veterans Affairs as having a service-connected disability of 70% or greater to be qualified for this exemption. Once approved, this is a permanent exemption.

The Employment Security Department will be developing rules and providing information about what documents are required for these new exemption groups in the future.

The existing exemption for employees with private LTC insurance remains a one-time exemption and application period. Specifically, employees who purchased private insurance by November 1, 2021, and apply for an exemption by December 31, 2022, may be exempted from the WA LTC Cares mandate. Therefore, employers need to retain the copies of approved exemptions received from the employees.

The newly added FAQs state that employees must apply for exemptions on their own; employers cannot apply on behalf of the employees. Moreover, employers will collect WA Cares premiums from the same employees that premiums are collected for the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program. Although the PFML program sets a wage base cap on the premium contribution, WA Cares premiums do not have a wage base cap on its premium.

Employers should be aware of the new guidance and additional groups who may be eligible to apply for an exemption to the premium assessment.

House Bill 1733 »
WA Cares Fund – Main Site »
WA Cares Fund – Exemptions Site »