Earlier this year, Employment Security replaced our old 1970s-era unemployment tax management system because it could no longer adapt to changing employment law; it was inefficient to use and maintain; and it lacked modern security features. The task required converting 200 gigabytes of historical data and writing two million lines of code.

Despite extensive user testing, we experienced some initial bugs that are common in major IT projects. Our primary contractor (Hewlett-Packard) is making steady progress addressing those bugs and has already resolved 80 percent of them. We won’t make final payment to the contractor until the system performs according to specifications.

Although most employers haven’t been affected by bugs, we regret the inconvenience to those who have, and we’re working proactively to resolve their issues. We will know which employers were incorrectly assessed penalties and will adjust their accounts automatically. We’re happy to answer any questions at 855 TAX WAGE or OlympiaAMC@esd.wa.gov.