Rafn Co. v. Department of Labor & Industries
Rafn Co. v. Department of Labor & Industries
Opinion of the Court
Rafn Company appeals the trial court’s determination on summary judgment that RCW 51.16.060 is constitutional. Because the statute, which requires employers to pay the industrial insurance premiums of temporary workers when the temporary help company fails to pay, violates neither procedural nor substantive due process, we affirm.
FACTS
Rafn Company (Rafn) is a general contractor engaged in large commercial construction contracts. On occasion, Rafn
On September 16, 1997, and January 2, 1998, Rafn learned from the Department of Labor and Industries (L & I) that Madden and Quik Labor had not paid industrial insurance premiums for workers hired out to Rafn in the last two quarters of 1996 and the first two quarters of 1997. L & I tried to collect the premiums from Rafn under RCW 51.16.060. Rafn requested reconsideration, which was denied, and then sought declaratory and injunctive relief in the superior court.
Rafn alleged that the fifth proviso of RCW 51.16.060
ANALYSIS
Chapter 51 RCW governs all aspects of a worker’s remedy against his or her employer for injuries sustained in the course of employment. RCW 51.04.010. Generally, other than self-insurers, all employers must pay quarterly premiums into the state industrial insurance fund. RCW
The Legislature added the fourth
Wash. Const, art. I, § 3
Rafn first contends that the fifth proviso violates article I, section 3 of the Washington Constitution. But Rafn fails to show how applying an independent state constitutional analysis allows for a treatment different than that the federal constitution affords. See State v.
Procedural Due Process
Rafn further contends that the fifth proviso is unconstitutional because it arbitrarily imposes liability on employers for the debts of others. A party challenging a statute as unconstitutional bears the burden of proving the statute is unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt. Erickson & Assocs. v. McLerran, 123 Wn.2d 864, 869, 872 P.2d 1090 (1994). If we can conceive of any set of facts that would sustain a legislative enactment as constitutional, we assume that set of facts existed when the Legislature passed the statute. See Williamson v. Lee Optical of Okla., Inc., 348 U.S. 483, 487, 75 S. Ct. 461, 99 L. Ed. 563 (1955) (upholding statute based upon entirely hypothetical facts); see also Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Wash. Life & Disability Ins. Guar. Ass’n, 83 Wn.2d 523, 528, 520 P.2d 162 (1974) (declaring “[e]very state of facts sufficient to sustain a classification which reasonably can be conceived of as having existed when the law was adopted will be assumed.”).
To show that the fifth proviso of RCW 51.16.060 is arbitrary, Rafn relies upon a 54-year-old case in which the Supreme Court struck down a statute that subordinated all preexisting liens to those of the state if an employer defaulted on paying its unemployment taxes. State v. Lawton, 25 Wn.2d 750, 172 P.2d 465 (1946). The state levied
The statute in Lawton tried to impose a lien on the property of persons not statutorily liable for a tax. Here, RCW 51.16.060 makes employers statutorily liable for the industrial insurance premiums of temporary workers. Under the statute, the employer’s liability is secondary to that of the temporary help company. The fifth proviso does not impose “a lien on property of one not liable for a tax.” Lawton, 25 Wn.2d at 764. Rather, it imposes a lien on the property of one secondarily and statutorily liable for a tax. The statute is not arbitrary in the manner seen in Lawton.
Substantive Due Process
Rafn also challenges RCW 51.16.060 on economic substantive due process grounds. It argues that although the ends the state seeks to effect are permissible, the means used are unduly oppressive and not reasonably necessary.
Rafn tries to fit the economic regulation of RCW 51.16.060 into the three-prong-land-use-regulation-substantive-due-process test outlined in Presbytery of Seattle v. King County, 114 Wn.2d 320, 330, 787 P.2d 907, cert. denied, 498 U.S. 911 (1990). Conceding that the statute meets the first prong, (it is aimed at achieving a legitimate public purpose), Rafn asks this court to decide whether it uses means reasonably necessary to achieve that purpose and whether it is unduly oppressive on “ ‘the landowner.’ ” Br. of Appellant at 8-9 (citing Guimont v. Clarke, 121 Wn.2d 586, 854 P.2d 1 (1993) (quoting Presbytery, 114 Wn.2d at 330)), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1176 (1994).
Rafn argues a better alternative for achieving the goal of RCW 51.16.060 would be for L & I to require all temporary
Having lost on appeal, Rafn is not entitled to the attorney fees it requests.
Affirmed.
Hunt, A.C.J., and Bridgewater, J., concur.
Review denied at 144 Wn.2d 1006 (2001).
“PROVIDED, That the employer shall be hable for paying premiums and assessments, should the temporary help company fail to pay the premiums and assessments under this title.” RCW 51.16.060.
“PROVIDED FURTHER, That a temporary help company which provides workers on a temporary basis to its customers shall be considered the employer for purposes of reporting and paying premiums and assessments under this title according to the appropriate rate classifications as determined by the department!.]”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Rafn Company v. The Department of Labor and Industries
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published