WA Employment Security Dept. wants to hire nearly 100 workers as paid leave applications skyrocket

Staff at the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) have been overwhelmed with applications for the Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave program. Therefore, ESD wants to hire more staff, costing roughly $23 million, according to The Washington State Standard.

The media outlet stated the program started paying out benefits in 2020 but has been experiencing low staffing and financial shortfalls.

SPEEA union president: ‘We stand with the machinists,’ ‘We don’t do furloughs’

According to a legislative report by ESD in September, the paid leave program has received more than one million applications, with over 830,000 approved, paying out more than $5 billion in benefits by the end of the year.

“Paid Family and Medical Leave is a benefit for Washington workers,” stated the program’s website. “It’s here for you when a serious health condition prevents you from working or when you need time to care for a family member, bond with a new child or spend time with a family member preparing for military service overseas.”

To apply, a person must first find out how paid leave is taken at their place of work and then they can apply on the program’s website. People can apply for themselves, for a family member or for their business. People who are self-employed can also apply.

After someone applies, they have to file a claim every week to get paid.

ESD said the annual growth rate of claim applications has been around 15% over the last two fiscal years and it expects the demand will only go up.

“While improvements have been made in claim application processing times, additional staffing is necessary to maintain the increasing volume of applications and to reduce hold times for customers reaching out by phone,” the legislative report stated.

The report added the funding would help the program build statewide outreach, community engagement and a community-based organization partnership program. It would also help ESD to hire more employees, meaning more people to do administrative work.

Other news: Washington Department of Transportation ramps up traffic projects

In the meantime, according to The Washington State Standard, the department will focus on streamlining a process to make sure people don’t receive both unemployment insurance and paid family leave in the same week and working out a way to allow tribes to apply to the program.

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.