Washington Revised Code Title 50. Unemployment Compensation § 50.29.063. Predecessor or successor employers--Transfer to obtain reduced array calculation factor rate--Evasion of successor provisions--Penalties

(a) If the successor was an employer at the time of the transfer, then the experience rating accounts of the employers involved shall be combined into a single account and the employers assigned the higher of the predecessor or successor array calculation factor rate to take effect as of the date of the transfer.

(b) If the successor was not an employer at the time of the transfer, then the experience rating account of the acquired business must not be transferred and, instead, the sum of the rate determined by the commissioner under RCW 50.29.025(1)(d) and 50.29.041, if applicable, shall be assigned.

(a) The commissioner shall, for the rate year in which the commissioner makes the determination under this subsection and for each of the three consecutive rate years following that rate year, assign to the employer or business the total rate, which is the sum of the recalculated array calculation factor rate and a civil penalty assessment rate, calculated as follows:

(b) The employer or business may be prosecuted under the penalties prescribed in RCW 50.36.020; and

(c) The employer or business must pay for the employment security department's reasonable expenses of auditing the employer's or business's books and collecting the civil penalty assessment.

(a) “Knowingly” means having actual knowledge of or acting with deliberate ignorance or reckless disregard for the prohibition involved and includes, but is not limited to, intent to evade, misrepresentation, or willful nondisclosure.

(b) “Person” means and includes an individual, a trust, estate, partnership, association, company, or corporation.

(c) “Transfer of a business” includes the transfer or acquisition of substantially all or a portion of the operating assets, which may include the employer's workforce.