Articles written by Mark Harmsworth
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OPINION
The annual Ernst and Young report to the Council on State Taxation (COST) continues to illustrate the struggle business owners in Washington State are having to meet the ever-increasing tax burden...
OPINION
Due to the federal government changing the unemployment benefit eligibility rules mid-pandemic, some Washington residents, who have been receiving unemployment benefits, will now have repay the...
OPINION
Update October 4, 2021: The Cares Website continues to experience problems and periods of long downtime. After last year’s abject failure to deliver an unemployment benefit system capable of...
OPINION
By Mark Harmsworth New COVID workplace restrictions, issued by Washington State Labor and Industries (L&I) late Friday (May 21), require employers to check employee vaccine documents before allowing...
Guest Commentary
New COVID workplace restrictions, issued by Washington State Labor and Industries (L&I) late last Friday, May 21st, require employers to check employee vaccine documents before allowing relaxation of...
OPINION
The 2021 legislative session produced a mixed bag of results for small business owners. Lawmakers attempted to solve some of the systemic problems with unemployment benefits, taxation policy and...
OPINION
A recent study by the State Policy Network illustrates hospitality industry job losses from January 2020 to January 2021 and, unfortunately, Washington State has some of the highest number of jobs...
OPINION
OLYMPIA–Washington State House and Senate Republicans announced their Washington ‘Open Safe and Open Now’ plan earlier this month. The plan recommended re-opening Washington immediately...
OPINION
On Sunday morning Governor Jay Inslee announced additional restrictions on businesses in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The majority of the restrictions go into effect midnight on...
OPINION
OLYMPIA–On Sunday morning Governor Jay Inslee announced additional restrictions on businesses in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The majority of the restrictions went into effect...
OPINION
Recent information exposed by whistleblowers at the State Employment Security Department (ESD) have re-enforced the need to improve transparency in the process and the criteria used to approve...
Is the Governor going to roll the state back to Phase 1 shutdown?
The majority of counties in Washington are now in Phase 2 of the COVID-19 reopening plan, allowing most businesses to operate and letting people go back to work. Recent comments from local and state...
OPINION
One thing is sure, work will look different in a post COVID-19 world. Many employers who sent employees home to work remotely during the crisis, are reconsidering work at home policies after the...