Washington Trucking Ass'n v. Employment Security Department

¶1 The Washington Trucking Association (WTA) and six Washington based trucking carriers (the Carriers) appeal the trial court’s dismissal under CR 12(b)(6) or CR 12(c) of their lawsuit against the Washington Employment Security Department (ESD) and various ESD employees. The lawsuit arose from a series of audits of the Carriers (and other WTA members) that ESD conducted, after which ESD determined that “owner/operators” of trucking equipment leased by the Carriers were the Carriers’ employees. This determination resulted in additional unemployment tax assessments. WTA and the Carriers allege…