Last year, the District of Columbia passed the Wage Theft Prevention Amendment Act of 2014 (DC B 671) making significant changes to D.C.’s wage and hour laws. In particular, the act increases employer liability for wage-and-hour violations and changes the administrative procedures for adjudicating wage disputes. The act also increases employers’ notice obligations to employees. The new law is not projected to go into effect until February 26, 2015 and already two subsequent emergency amendments to the act have been passed.
Notice to Employees
An employer’s notice and recordkeeping responsibilities are greatly expanded under the act. Specifically, the act will require employers to provide to each employee written notice of:
- the employer’s name, address, and telephone number;
- the employee’s regular payday, rate of pay and basis of that rate; and
- any other information “as the Mayor considers material and necessary.”
The notice must be provided to each employee within 90 days of the act’s effective date, at the time of hiring, and whenever the required information changes. The notice must be provided in English and in a second language if the employer knows that language to be employee’s primary language, or the employee requests notice in a second language, and the Mayor has made a translation available. The act directs the Mayor to provide a sample template of the notice within 60 days of the 2014 Act’s effective date. Notice requirements for temporary staffing firms are more detailed.
Recordkeeping and Posting
The act also increases an employer’s recordkeeping requirements. Employers must:
- keep a signed acknowledgment of receipt of the notice from each employee;
- keep a record of the “precise time” worked each day by non-exempt employees, not just their “hours worked” (e.g. 8 hours) each day; and
- keep a record of the amount of paid leave taken by each employee.
Records must be maintained for at least three years.
Employers must also post a summary of the act within 60 days of the Act’s effective date, but cannot be held liable if the Mayor fails to make a summary available. The penalty for failure to post is $100 per day. Failing to comply with the notice, recordkeeping, or posting requirements of the act could also extend the filing time limit normally applicable to wage claims.