Employer agents

Employer agents

What is an employer agent?

An employer agent or third-party administrator has an agreement with one or more clients to manage their Paid Leave and WA Cares reporting, premium payments, benefit claims or other related tasks. The employer is still responsible for ensuring all employer requirements are met by their agent.

Do employer agents need a power of attorney (POA) to report and pay on behalf of clients? 

As an agent, you may file reports, amendments and pay premiums for clients while waiting for a POA request to be accepted. You’ll need a completed POA before we can provide you with any information about your client’s account, including reports or employee-level data. You’ll also need a POA to represent your client in audits or appeals. 

If you need a POA for your clients, you can submit a request electronically in your Paid Leave employer agent account, or you can accept a request your client has submitted. Your client will need full access to their account to accept or submit a POA request.

To submit a Power of Attorney (POA) request as an employer to your agent or administrator:

  1. From your employer homepage, click Manage Account in the top menu bar then Manage Linked Agents. 
  2. From this agent maintenance page, click Link to an Employer Agent. 
  3. On the “Search for an Agent” page, enter your third-party’s agent ID. 
  4. Fill in all required fields and complete the Employer Certification on the “Link to an Agent” page then click Next. 
  5. Verify the information on the “Review Your POA Request” page then Submit. 

You and your third party will receive an email about a pending POA request with directions on how your third-party can Accept or Decline the request. 

You cannot make changes to a pending POA request, but you can withdraw your request by clicking View POA on a pending request then Withdraw. You can also update the Effective End Date on an Active POA by clicking View POA on an active POA. 

If you are an employer agent and need to connect to a client, create an employer agent account

Before you continue: the person who completes this process becomes the account administrator and will need to add additional users to the account before anyone else can have access. Learn more about adding users. 

You’ll need an active SAW account and will need to add Paid Family and Medical Leave to your SAW services. Once you’ve done this, you can log in and establish your account. You’ll then use the same SAW account to access your account. 

  1. On the “Create an Account” page, click Create an Account to the right of “Employer Agents.” 
  1. Enter your business’s legal entity name, EIN and UBI then click Next. 
  1. On the “Enter Contact Information” screen, complete all required fields then click Next. 
  1. Confirm the information displayed is correct by clicking Submit. If you made any mistakes or need to change anything, click Previous to go back and make changes. 
  1. After submission, you’ll go to the “Employer Agent Registration Confirmation” page. 

To accept or decline a POA request from a client: 

  1. Log in to your employer agent account. 
  1. Click Manage Clients in the top menu bar then click on Manage Linked Clients. 
  1. In the “Pending Power of Attorney (POA) Requests” table, locate your client’s pending POA and click Review POA. 
  1. Review the information on the “Pending Power of Attorney (POA) Request” screen, complete the Employer Agent Certification then Accept or Decline the POA. 

To submit a POA request to link to your client’s account: 

  1. Log in to your employer agent account. 
  1. Click Manage Clients in the top menu bar then click on Link to a Client. 
  1. Search for your client using their ID. Their ID will be one of the following: 
  • The nine-digit Unified Business Identifier (UBI) number assigned to business by Washington State’s Department of Revenue and used by all state agencies to identify a business entity or 
  • A nine-digit alphanumeric Employer Account ID assigned to your client by the Employment Security Department that starts with ER. 

Note: If you see a message indicating your client’s account cannot be found, and you’ve verified the ID is correct, your client will need to register and create their employer account. 

  1. Enter the required information for your request then submit for your client to respond. You and your client will receive an email indicating there’s a pending POA awaiting a response. 

While a POA is pending, an employer agent may:

Bulk file or amend reports for clients with an ICESA file. Paid Leave and WA Cares have different bulk filing specifications than other state agencies. 

ICESA specifications

Report or amend for individual client accounts using a .CSV file upload or manual entry. 

.CSV specifications

.CSV template

Bulk pay using ACH credit (to get the instructions for ACH credit payments, email paidleave@esd.wa.gov with “Request: Bulk Payment Instructions” as the subject. 

Pay for individual clients by credit or debit card, ACH debit or check/money order.