Department of Labor & Industries v. American Adventures, Inc.

We hold that the Department of Labor and Industries may not assess employers, self-insured under RCW 51.14, for self-insured program administrative costs attributable to years before the employers came into the program.

The employers here, 14 in all, became self-insured in 1984. Although they paid other costs incident to their entry into the program, they balked at having to pay a portion of previously unrecovered administrative costs for 1982 and 1983. These costs were not recovered in 1982 and 1983 because the Department had underestimated the costs for those years, and had not collected…