Billing statements and late fees

Billing statements help businesses stay ahead of upcoming late fees

On August 1, 2026, Paid Leave will begin applying penalties to past due reports and interest to overdue premium balances. To help businesses stay on top of payments and avoid unnecessary charges, we will start mailing monthly billing statements in May.

Billing statements

Each month, starting in May, Paid Leave will mail billing statements to employers who owe $5 or more in past-due premiums. Employers who owe less than $5 will not receive a billing statement.

You can also check your billing status, including any amount owed, by logging in to your account.

Overdue premiums not resolved within 90 days will be referred to collections.

Late fees

Starting August 1, 2026:

A one percent (1%) monthly interest charge will be applied to overdue premium balances.
Penalties will be assessed on late reports.

Penalty schedule:

First late report = Warning notice
Second late report = $75 penalty
Third late report = $150 penalty
Additional late reports = $250 penalty

Visit our Employer Reporting page for more information about reporting and premium deadlines.

How to pay your premiums

Log in to your employer account
Select $ Payments in the top menu bar then Make Payments.
On the Pay Your Premiums screen, you have the option to:
Pay Paid Leave Premiums or
Pay WA Cares Premiums

Premium payments for Paid Leave and WA Cares are separate because they must be paid to the appropriate program accounts.

Accepted payment methods

We offer three methods to pay premiums:

Pay by ACH: You will be taken to a secure third-party payment processor. It’s important that you do not close your browser during the payment process. Once your payment is complete, click Exit to return to your account.

Pay by card: You will be taken to a secure third-party payment processor. It’s important that you do not close your browser during the payment process. Once your payment is complete, click Exit to return to your account. Note: You will be charged a 2.9% convenience fee with this option.

Pay by check/money order: Download and print the payment coupon for the program you’re paying premiums for. Attach your payment and mail it to the address on that form. Processing times will be longer than 3-5 business days. We do not accept foreign currency.

Payments can take several days to post to your account depending on your payment method.

Delayed payment posting

Some common reasons for delays in payment posting include:

Not enclosing the correct program payment coupon when mailing your payment
Postdating your payment to a date later in the month
Sending your payment to the wrong program
Not including your customer ID or UBI on your payment
If it’s been more than a week since you made your payment online and your balance isn’t updated, please contact us at paidleave@esd.wa.gov.

Payment plans

We will begin offering payment plan options in late June, providing added flexibility for those who need it. If you’d like to submit your request now, you’re welcome to do so.

The quickest way to get this request to our team is to email paidleave@esd.wa.gov and use “Premium Payment Options” in the subject line. In the body of your email, please include:

UBI: Your unified business identification number
Amount: The dollar amount you would like to pay
Months: The number of months (up to 12) over which you would like to pay
Requester Name: The legal name of the person requesting the payment plan
Phone: A current phone number for the requestor
Date: The date you email us your request

In the meantime, you can continue making partial payments through your employer account.