The director or the director's designee is hereby authorized to issue to any person, firm, corporation, municipal corporation, political subdivision of the state, a public corporation, or any agency of the state, a notice and order to withhold and deliver property of any kind whatsoever when he or she has reason to believe that there is in the possession of such person, firm, corporation, municipal corporation, political subdivision of the state, public corporation, or any agency of the state, property which is or shall become due, owing, or belonging to any employer upon whom a notice of assessment has been served by the department for payments due to the state fund. The effect of a notice and order to withhold and deliver shall be continuous from the date such notice and order to withhold and deliver is first made until the liability out of which such notice and order to withhold and deliver arose is satisfied or becomes unenforceable because of lapse of time. The department shall release the notice and order to withhold and deliver when the liability out of which the notice and order to withhold and deliver arose is satisfied or becomes unenforceable by reason of lapse of time and shall notify the person against whom the notice and order to withhold and deliver was made that such notice and order to withhold and deliver has been released.

     The notice and order to withhold and deliver shall be served by the sheriff of the county or by the sheriff's deputy, by a method for which receipt can be confirmed or tracked, or by any duly authorized representatives of the director. Any person, firm, corporation, municipal corporation, political subdivision of the state, public corporation or any agency of the state upon whom service has been made is hereby required to answer the notice within twenty days exclusive of the day of service, under oath and in writing, and shall make true answers to the matters inquired of in the notice and order to withhold and deliver. In the event there is in the possession of the party named and served with a notice and order to withhold and deliver, any property which may be subject to the claim of the department, such property shall be delivered forthwith to the director or the director's duly authorized representative upon service of the notice to withhold and deliver which will be held in trust by the director for application on the employer's indebtedness to the department, or for return without interest, in accordance with a final determination of a petition for review, or in the alternative such party shall furnish a good and sufficient surety bond satisfactory to the director conditioned upon final determination of liability. Should any party served and named in the notice to withhold and deliver fail to make answer to such notice and order to withhold and deliver, within the time prescribed herein, it shall be lawful for the court, after the time to answer such order has expired, to render judgment by default against the party named in the notice to withhold and deliver for the full amount claimed by the director in the notice to withhold and deliver together with costs. In the event that a notice to withhold and deliver is served upon an employer and the property found to be subject thereto is wages, then the employer shall be entitled to assert in the answer to all exemptions provided for by chapter 6.27 RCW to which the wage earner may be entitled.

[2011 c 290 § 8; 1995 c 160 § 6; 1987 c 442 § 1119; 1986 c 9 § 11; 1972 ex.s. c 43 § 35.]