Unregistered contractors are a threat to both consumers and legitimate contractors. L&I wants to help combat this underground economy.

We have created this one-stop reporting tool for the public, and industry professionals, to report suspicious activities such as the following:

• Unregistered contractors bidding or working in Washington.
• Contractors that are not properly paying for workers' comp insurance.
• Contractors that are not paying prevailing wages.
• Contractors that are not paying agreed upon wages and overtime when required.

Use our Verify tool to see if a business you want to contract with has an active contractor registration, and an active and paid-to-date workers' compensation account covering any employees. At the same time, you can check for safety violations, lawsuits against their surety bond, and more.

It's a red flag if an employer...

• Is operating a business without the proper license or registration and has workers.
• Pays workers in cash and doesn't give them any kind of payroll stub.
• Submits bids on jobs well below the industry standard.
• Has a large number of corporate officers listed for the firm, and all work at the firm.
• Does not maintain or report complete and accurate employee payroll information.
• Pays workers on a piece work bases and does not record hours.
• Requires employees to work long hours but turns in fewer hours than they actually worked.
• Has a worker who gets injured on the job, and the employer promises to pay the doctor and medical bills rather than report the accident to L&I.
• Has workers who find they do not qualify for unemployment insurance because the employer under-reported their hours.
• Has several "corporate officers" who do not exercise control of the business operations.

File a report

Report a fraudulent or unregistered contractor in Washington State, online or call the Report-a-Fraud line at 1-888-811-5974.