D.C. Worker Labor and Anti-Discrimination Rights

Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act
The Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act, which went into effect in 2018, establishes additional public education requirements, trainings, wage reporting requirements, and support for tipped wage workers surrounding wage rights, workplace discrimination, and sexual harassment. The Office of Wage-Hour and Office of Human Rights are here to support workers in understanding their rights as tipped workers. We have collaborated to provide an overview of the Office of Wage-Hour, the Office of Human Rights, and the Office of Workers’ Compensation and information where workers can file claims if their rights are violated.

TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
Employers with employees that are paid the tip credit must adhere to training requirements.

Mandatory workplace sexual harassment training
Owners and Managers: in-person training once every 2 years
Employees: in-person or online no more than 90 days after hire

Mandatory wages and workplace fraud training
Owners and Managers: in-person training once a year
Employees: Offered in-person or online training once a year

The Office of Wage-Hour conducts compliance audits and works to recover unpaid wages for employees who have not been paid pursuant to DC wage laws, either administratively or through court action. Wage-Hour compliance involves ensuring adherence to the wage laws of the District of Columbia by holding employers accountable to the laws.

WEBSITE INFO: Office of Wage-Hour
PHONE NUMBER: 202-671-1880

POSTER NOTICE REQUIREMENTS
Employers must provide wage law posters in a visible location at the worksite.

Employers must post the below Labor Law Universal Notice Poster in a conspicuous place accessible to all employees in or about the premises of the employer. The employer must post the poster at each breakroom or time clock on the premises.

Other wage law posters can be found HERE.

HOW TO FILE A WAGE-HOUR CLAIM
If your wage rights are violated, you have a right to file a claim for the Office of Wage-Hour to investigate and take action on your behalf. To file a claim for Wage Payment, Retaliation, Minimum Wage, Unpaid Overtime, Accrued Sick and Safe Leave, and/or Living Wage, please select the links below that correspond to your complaint.

Electronic PDF Submission

Currently, OWH receives various claims that are accessible below as a fillable pdf that can be delivered, mailed or emailed to the office.

Be sure to fill out the claim form completely and accurately while providing as much of the requested information as possible.

If you want to file a claim for wage payment, retaliation, minimum wage, unpaid overtime, accrued sick and safe leave, and/or living wage, please scroll down to read about and download the applicable claim form for your situation. You may contact the Office of Wage-Hour with specific questions at (202) 671-1880.

By Mail Office of Wage-Hour: 4058 Minnesota Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20019
Via E-mail: [email protected]
By Phone: (202)671-1880

THE OFFICE OF WAGE-HOUR ENFORCES:

DOMESTIC WORKER EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS AMENDMENT ACT
The Domestic Worker Employment Rights Amendment Act of 2022 requires employers who hire domestic workers such as nannies, caretakers of an elderly or disabled person, house cleaners, cooks, and gardeners to create a written agreement outlining the terms and conditions of employment. The act also ensures that domestic workers receive online resources, public education, and outreach to help them understand their rights.

HOW TO FILE A DOMESTIC WORKER CONTRACT CLAIM
To file a claim for the Domestic Worker Contract Claim, please select the link below and complete the form.

Electronic PDF Submission
• Domestic Worker Services Contract Claim

Currently, OWH receives various claims that are accessible as a fillable pdf that can be delivered, mailed or emailed to the office.

By Mail
Office of Wage-Hour
4058 Minnesota Ave. NE,
Washington, D.C. 20019

Via E-mail: [email protected]
By Phone: (202) 671-1880

Tipped Wages Workers Fairness Amendment Act, 2018

Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Compliance
Got tips? Got Rights!
Know Your Rights in the District of Columbia

The Council of the District of Columbia and Mayor Bowser worked together to pass the Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act of 2018. Under this law, OHR has several functions to support workers who receive tips as wages and their employers, which includes enforcing several employment laws and providing sexual harassment prevention training to employers and staff.

OFFICE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
The Office of Human Rights (OHR) was established to eradicate discrimination, increase equal opportunity, and protect human rights for persons who live in, work, or visit the District of Columbia. To that end, OHR provides administrative relief for violations of human rights laws that occur in the District of Columbia.

Aside from OHR’s enforcement arm, the agency also offers public education laws, regulations, and human rights policies that the agency enforces. These tools are provided to assist both individuals and businesses in the District of Columbia.

OHR – Awareness, Public Education, and Enforcement
As part of its mission to eradicate discrimination in the District of Columbia, the Office of Human Rights has launched numerous awareness campaigns aimed at preventing discrimination and encouraging people to report discrimination when it happens.

You can find more useful Fact Sheets for OHR programs and laws the agency enforces here. OHR has also issued multiple Enforcement Guidance documents on various legal topics.

OHR LAWS
Under the Tipped Workers Fairness Act, OHR Enforces These Rights

To be free from discrimination in the workplace based on the protected traits under the DC Human Rights Act;

To request and use unpaid family and medical leave if eligible and qualified, and working for a covered employer with 20 or more employees;

To be provided with reasonable accommodation in the workplace for religious reasons, a disability or for medical conditions related to pregnancy;

To file a complaint for violation of workplace human rights with the Office of Human Rights (OHR) go to ohr.dc.gov or call (202) 727-4559
You can also visit HERE.

Got tips? Got Rights!
Some worker related laws enforced by the D.C. Office of Human Rights provide the right to:

To be free from workplace harassment, including sexual harassment under the Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act of 2018

The purpose of the TWWFA is to establish standards on how employers who hire individuals who receive tips as wages in the District of Columbia: (1) present information to employees regarding their employment rights and benefits, (2) create a safer environment for all by providing sexual harassment prevention policies and training, and (3) present information on how to report claims if employees believe any of their rights have been violated.

The Law
Under the TWWFA employers are required to provide to their employees a more detailed paystub, and to maintain notices of employees’ rights and benefits in a visible location where all employees have access, such as a breakroom. The law includes a prohibition of retaliation and harassment in any way, including sexual harassment in the workplace, mandates that sexual harassment policies to be made available and distributed to all employees, and mandates employers to provide a sexual harassment prevention training for employees and management. and information on how to file a sexual harassment complaint with OHR.

Businesses must also submit to OHR, via a user-friendly online platform, a copy of their anti-sexual harassment policies explaining how employees can make a claim to management and to OHR, as well as individual training information completed, and an annual report with the number of claims received by management, including the identity of the alleged harasser (whether the alleged harasser was a manager, owner, operator, a non-managerial employee, or a customer). Make a CLAIM HERE.

OHR’s Role
Under the Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Act program, OHR’s role includes making sexual harassment prevention training available to employees and management of businesses that employ tipped wage employees, to certify a group of training providers to implement the training, to create and deploy an online platform to collect a copy of their anti-sexual harassment policies, copies of the individual training certifications completed, and to collect end-of-year annual data on sexual harassment claims made to managers. OHR will also track sexual harassment claims made directly to OHR as they relate to the TWWF program.

OHR will investigate individual complaints of discrimination filed with the Agency. Where probable cause is found, OHR will enforce the finding through a merits public hearing before an administrative law judge.

How to File a Sexual Harassment complaint with the Office of Human Rights (OHR)
To file a sexual harassment complaint related to your place of employment in the private sector, including a sexual harassment complaint, with the Office of Human Rights (OHR), simply complete an intake questionnaire under the specific category, like employment, and submit it to OHR HERE.

For inquiries regarding employment discrimination including sexual harassment at work, email OHR at [email protected] , or to submit an anonymous tip email [email protected] .

OFFICE OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
The Workers' Compensation Program processes claims and monitors the payment of benefits to injured private-sector employees in the District of Columbia. Disputes between claimants and employers (or their insurance carriers) are mediated and employers are monitored to ensure compliance with insurance coverage requirements. The program administers the special/second injury fund, which provides benefits in cases of uninsured employers or in instances where an injury combines with a pre-existing disability to cause a substantially greater disability. Also, the program approves lump-sum settlements, assesses penalties and fines for non-compliance with the law and monitors vocational rehabilitation.

Workers’ compensation is a benefit provided by the employer at no cost to the employee. If you are injured on your job, or become ill because of conditions on your job, the D.C. Workers’ Compensation Act of 1979 (as amended), DC Law 3-77, entitles you to full medical care for your work-related injury or illness and provides replacement for lost wages. If death occurs, benefits are paid to the surviving spouse and dependent(s).

Workers’ compensation coverage is required for all private employers in the District of Columbia. Benefits are provided either through your employer’s insurance company or directly through an employer self-insured program approved by the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services, Office of Workers’ Compensation (OWC).

WHO IS COVERED
Employers are required to provide workers’ compensation coverage for all of their employees in the District of Columbia. Nearly every District employee working in the private sector is protected by workers’ compensation; however, there are a few exceptions, such as independent contractors and unpaid volunteers. Employees of the Federal or District Government are covered by similar but different laws. A domestic worker or employees who work a combined 240 hours per 13-week calendar quarter (approximately 19 hours per week) for an employer are covered.

WHAT IS COVERED
Any work-related injury or illness is covered by workers’ compensation, no matter how serious or minor the injury. Workers’ compensation protection begins the first minute you start your job in the District.

HOW TO FILE A CLAIM
If you are injured on the job or incur a job-related illness, promptly report the incident to your employer.

You are required to report your injury or illness, in writing, to OWC within thirty (30) days of its occurrence or within thirty (30) days of awareness of the relationship between your employment and occupational injury or illness. Complete DCWC Form 7, Employee’s Notice of Accidental Injury or Occupational Disease; and DCWC Form 7A, Employee’s Claim Application, which may be obtained from your employer, the employer’s insurance carrier, or OWC.

Keep a copy of the completed forms for your records, send a copy of each form to your employer, and send the original forms to OWC. DCWC Form 7A must be filed within one (1) year after injury or death, or if payment of compensation has been made without an award within one (1) year after the date of the last payment. This will preserve your rights to current and future workers’ compensation benefits.

DC employees must be paid at least the D.C. minimum wage rate.
Tipped Employees must be paid at least the full minimum wage hourly from a combination of the tipped minimum wage rate and tips received.
If a tipped employee’s tipped minimum wage and tips do not meet the full hourly minimum wage rate, then the employer must make up the difference.

Beginning July 1, 2023, the minimum wage in the District of Columbia will increase from $16.10 per hour to $17.00 per hour.
Beginning July 1, 2023, the base minimum wage for tipped employees has increased from $6.00 per hour to $8.00.

Beginning in 2021, the minimum wage will increase during each successive year pursuant to the Consumer Price Index for both employees who do not receive gratuities and employees who receive gratuities. Visit the Department of Employment Services website at www.does.dc.gov for the yearly minimum wage rates.

Effective January 1, 2019, DC security officers must be paid a minimum wage that is a combination of minimum wage rate and fringe benefits rate.

Overtime Pay
D.C. workers are entitled to at least 1 ½ times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek.

Notice of Hire Requirements
All D.C. Employees should receive a document when they start work for a company. This document should contain:

Employee’s rate of pay and basis of that rate, including by hour, hour, shift, day, week, salary, piece, commission, any allowances claimed as part of the minimum wage, including tip, meal, or lodging allowances, or overtime rate of pay, exemptions from overtime pay, living wage, exemptions from the living wage, and the applicable prevailing wages

This Notice of Hire document must be signed and dated by the employee and updated if information changes. If this document is available in another language, employees may receive the document in their primary language.

HOW TO FILE A MINIMUM WAGE/OVERTIME CLAIM
To file a claim for Minimum Wage or Unpaid Overtime, please select the link below and complete the form.

Currently, OWH receives various claims that are accessible as a fillable pdf that can be delivered, mailed or emailed to the office.

Be sure to fill out the claim form completely and accurately while providing as much of the requested information as possible.
You may contact the Office of Wage-Hour with specific questions at (202) 671-1880.

All recipients of contracts in the amount of $100,000 or more, and all subcontractors that receive $15,000 or more from the funds received by the recipient from the District of Columbia, and

All recipients of government assistance in the amount of $100,000 or more, and all subcontractors of these recipients that receive $50,000 or more from the government assistance received by the recipient from the District of Columbia.

Recipients of new contracts or government assistance shall pay affiliated employees and subcontractors who perform services under the contracts no less than the current living wage.

HOW TO FILE A LIVING WAGE CLAIM
To file a claim for Living Wage, please select the link below and complete the form, then return it to our office.

Currently, OWH receives various claims that are accessible below as a fillable pdf that can be delivered, mailed or emailed to the office:

Be sure to fill out the claim form completely and accurately while providing as much of the requested information as possible.
You may contact the Office of Wage-Hour with specific questions at (202) 671-1880.

All D.C. employees have the right to a certain number of paid leave days depending on the size of their employer.

Leave Purpose
The Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act enables all full-time and part-time employees, who spend 50% or more of their time working in D.C., to receive paid leave for:

Absence to care for a child, parent, spouse, domestic partner or any family member needing diagnosis or care for a medical diagnosis, medical condition, injury, or mental illness.

If the employee is a victim of stalking, domestic violence, or sexual abuse and the employee needs to: