Overtime Pay Law Summaries

9-1100District of Columbia, Overtime Pay Law Summaries

The District of Columbia's overtime pay law is codified in the District of Columbia Code Annotated at Title 36, Chapter 2, Subchapter I. The full text of this law is available beginning at Wages-Hours 9-41,001.

DEFINITIONS

"Employer" includes any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, but does not include the United States or the District of Columbia (Sec. 36-220.1).

A person is "employed in the District" when the person regularly spends more than 50 percent of his or her working time in the District of Columbia, or the person's employment is based in the District and the person regularly spends a substantial amount of working time in the District of Columbia and not more than 50 percent of his or her working time in any particular state (Sec. 36-220.2).

"Employee" includes any individual employed by an employer, except (Sec. 36-220.1):

(1) individuals who, without payment and without expectation of any gain, directly or indirectly volunteer to engage in the activities of an educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization;

(2) lay members elected or appointed to office within any religious organization and engaged in religious functions; or

(3) individuals employed as casual babysitters, in or about the residence of the employer.

"Regular rate" means all remuneration for employment paid to, or on behalf of, the employee, but does not include gifts, occasional periods when no work is performed, bonuses, payments to profit-sharing and retirement plans, or premium rate payments. However, extra compensation paid as premium rate payments are creditable toward overtime compensation (Sec. 36-220.1).

"Working time" means all the time an employee is required to be at the workplace, on duty, or at a prescribed place; is permitted to work; is required to travel in connection with the business of the employer; or waits on the employer's premises for work. All interpretations of what constitutes working time will be made in accordance with federal regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act, but references to interpretations of the Portal-to-Portal Act have no force and effect (Sec. 36-220.1).

"Washington metropolitan region" means the area consisting of the District of Columbia, Montgomery, and Prince George's Counties in Maryland, Arlington and Fairfax Counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church in Virginia (Sec. 36-220.1).

COVERAGE

The District of Columbia's overtime pay law covers all private employees, except volunteers, lay members working in religious organizations, and casual babysitters (Sec. 36-220.1).

EXCEPTIONS

The District of Columbia's overtime pay law does not apply to public employers, volunteers, lay members working in religious organizations, and casual babysitters (Sec. 36-220.1).

The overtime pay provisions also do not apply to (Sec. 36-220.3):

(1) executive, administrative, or professional employees;

(2) outside salespersons;

(3) employees engaged in the home delivery of newspapers;

(4) seamen;

(5) railroad employees;

(6) salespersons, partspersons, or mechanics primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trailers, or trucks, if employed by a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling these vehicles to ultimate purchasers;

(7) employees employed primarily to wash automobiles by an employer whose annual dollar volume of sales is derived by more than 50 percent from washing automobiles, and for the employee's employment in excess of 160 hours over a period of four consecutive workweeks, the employee receives compensation at a rate of one and one-half times or more of the regular rate at which he or she is employed;

(8) parking lot or parking garage attendants; or

(9) employees employed by an air carrier who voluntarily exchanges workdays with another employee for the primary purpose of using available air travel benefits.

Additionally, the District's overtime pay provisions do not apply with respect to an individual (DC MunRegs, Sec. 902.5):

(1) employed as a private household worker who lives on the premises of the employer.

(2) employed as a companion for the aged or infirm.

WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO

No employer may employ any employee for a workweek that is longer than 40 hours, unless the employee receives compensation for employment in excess of 40 hours at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which the employee is employed (Sec. 36-220.2).

Retail or service establishments. --Retail or service establishment employers do not violate the overtime pay provisions if the retail and service establishment employees' regular rate of pay is in excess of one and one-half times the minimum hourly rate applicable to the employee under the District of Columbia's minimum wage law and more than one-half of the employees' compensation for a representative period (not less than one month) represents commissions on goods or services (Sec. 36-220.2).

Collective bargaining. --Nothing in the overtime pay law may interfere with, impede, or in any way diminish the right of employees to bargain collectively with their employers through representatives of their own choosing in order to establish wages or other conditions of work in excess of the standards applicable under the provisions of the overtime pay law (Sec. 36-220.13).

NOTICE

Every employer that is subject to the overtime pay law or any regulation issued under the law must keep a copy or summary of the law and applicable regulations in a form prescribed or approved by the Mayor posted in a conspicuous and accessible place in or about the workplace. Employers will be furnished copies or summaries of this law by the Mayor on request without charge (Sec. 36-220.8).

ENFORCEMENT

Investigative authority. --The Mayor or an authorized representative has the authority to investigate and ascertain the wages of persons employed in any occupation in the District; or to enter and inspect workplaces in the District in order to examine, inspect, and copy records or question employees to determine whether the employer is in compliance with the overtime pay law. Employers may be required to submit full and correct statements in writing, including sworn statements, with respect to wages, hours, names, addresses, and any other information that pertains to the employment of the employees as the Mayor or an authorized representative may deem necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of the overtime pay law (Sec. 36-220.4).

Court actions. --At the written request of any employee who is paid less than the employee is entitled under the overtime pay law or regulations, the Mayor may take an assignment of the wage claim in trust for the assigning employee and may bring any legal action necessary to collect the claim. In an action of this type, the defendant will be required to pay the costs and reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court (Sec. 36-220.11).

Employee's remedies. --Any employer who pays an employee less than the wage to which that employee is entitled under the overtime pay law will be liable to the employee in the amount of the unpaid wages, and an additional amount as liquidated damages. Liquidated damages may not be available if the employer shows to the satisfaction of the court that the act or omission that gave rise to the action was in good faith and that the employer had reasonable grounds for the belief that the act or omission was not a violation of the law (Sec. 36-220.11).

The court in which the action is brought must allow for reasonable attorney's fees and costs to be paid by the defendant to the prevailing party (Sec. 36-220.11).

Any agreement between an employer and employee in which the employee agrees to work for less than the wages to which the employee is entitled is not a defense to any action to recover unpaid wages or liquidated damages (Sec. 36-220.11).

Any action for unpaid wages or liquidated damages under the overtime pay law must be started within three years after the cause of action accrued or it will be barred (Sec. 36-220.12).

WHO TO CONTACT

Contact the Deputy Director of Labor Standards, Employment Services Department, 1200 Upshur St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20011. Telephone: (202) 576-7100.

RECORDKEEPING

Every employer subject to the provisions of the overtime pay law or any overtime pay regulation must make, keep, and preserve for a period of not less than three years a record of (Sec. 36-220.7):

(1) the name, address, and occupation of each employee;

(2) a record of the date of birth of any employee under 19 years of age;

(3) the rate of pay and the amount paid each pay period to each employee;

(4) the hours worked each day and each workweek by each employee; and

(5) any other records or information required by regulation issued under the overtime pay law.

Open records. --All records required under the overtime pay law must be open and available for inspection or transcription by the Mayor or an authorized representative at any reasonable time. Every employer must furnish the Mayor or an authorized representative on demand a sworn statement of records and information upon forms prescribed or approved by the Mayor (Sec. 36-220.7).

POSTING

Every employer that is subject to the overtime pay law or any regulation issued under the law must keep a copy or summary of the law and applicable regulations, in a form prescribed or approved by the Mayor, posted in a conspicuous and accessible place in or about the workplace. Employers will be furnished copies or summaries of this law by the Mayor on request without charge (Sec. 36-220.8).

PENALTIES

Wage violations. --It is unlawful for any employer to violate any provision of the overtime pay law or regulation (Sec. 36-220.9).

Any person who willfully violates the provisions of the overtime pay law will, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000, or to imprisonment of not more than six months, or both (Sec. 36-220.10).

No person will be imprisoned for an offense committed unless that person has been convicted on a prior offense (Sec. 36-220.10).

Records violations. --Employers may not violate any recordkeeping, posting, or open records provisions, including making false statements of a material matter on any record (Sec. 36-220.9).

No person will be imprisoned for an offense committed unless that person has been convicted on a prior offense (Sec.36-220.10).

Interference with enforcement. --Employers may not hinder or delay the Mayor or an authorized representative in the enforcement of the overtime pay law or refuse to admit the Mayor or an authorized representative to any place of employment upon demand. Nor may an employer refuse to make available any required record under the overtime pay law to the Mayor or an authorized agent, or fail to post a summary or copy of the overtime pay law or regulation (Sec. 36-220.9).

No person will be imprisoned for an offense committed unless that person has been convicted on a prior offense (Sec. 36-220.10).

Discrimination. --It is unlawful for any employer to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against an employee because that employee filed a complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under, or related to, the overtime pay law, or testified or is about to testify in any proceeding (Sec. 36-220.9).

No person will be imprisoned for an offense committed unless that person has been convicted on a prior offense (Sec.36-220.10).