Neighborhood News

Changes to employment documentation based on new Wage Theft law

Holland and Knight event on March 17th

DDOT meeting on 16th Street Transit study - March 31

TAM Training Available on March 17th

MINT is organizing another MINT Condition Day - June 6th

Changes to employment documentation based on new Wage Theft law

The Wage Theft law went into affect on February 26th. DC Employers now have new requirements to meet for each employee. See the end of this article for information on how to find out about the specific new requirements. For example, there is a new 2 page form that needs to be completed for every employee.

Since the passage of the Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2014 last summer, the DC Council has passed two amendments to the legislation. These amending bills were only passsed on a temporary basis and now require permanent legislation. The Wage Theft Prevention Clarification and Overtime Fairness Act of 2015 includes permanent replacements for expiring provisions from the temporary amendments. The bill will:

1) Allow employers to pay professional, administrative, and executive employees once per month rather than twice per month as under prior D.C.law

2) Modify the requirement that employers keep precise records of time worked for employees to exempt professional, administrative and executive employees who are exempt from overtime rules.

3) Where the original legislation requires employers to furnish forms and notices to employees in the employee’s primary language, the amendment requires the mayor to translate the form into the languages covered by the Language Acess Act.

4) Clarify that employers will only have to provide these translated forms to employees and will not translate forms themselves into their employees primary languages.

5) Authorize the mayor to issue regulations to implement DC’S wage payment law

6) Place maximum caps on criminal fines authorized by the original law

7) Clarify that the wage Theft Prevention Act of 2014 applies as of February 26,2015

8) Clarify how long employers must retain employment records

9) Clarify that the mayor should post information on the law that on DOES’s website.

In addition to these permanent versions of the prior temporary amendments, the Wage Theft Prevention Clarification and Overtime Fairness Act of 2015 will also do:

1) Clarify that the DC Court of Appeals will hear appeals from agency decisions, as is already the case for appeals from DC agency decisions.

2) Clarify that when employers show that their violation of the minimum wage was a result of a good faith mistake, they are eligible for smaller liquidated damage awards.

3) Clarify that the organizations that can sue on behalf of their members are employee associations, not other memberships groups unrelated to employment.

4) Provide greater flexibility for subcontractors to specify in their contracts whether they will reimburse general contractors for damages associated with their wage and hour violations when they are held jointly liable for violations.

5) Allow parking lot attendants to access the remedies offered by the new D.C. lay when their overtime pay is illegally withheld by amending District overtime law to reflect existing federal requirements that parking lot attendants are paid overtime.

6) Clarify that the same legal remedies are available for violations of the minimum wage act as unpaid wages.

7) Where employers are required to prove that they have furnished forms to and employee, allow employers to present emails from the employee acknowledging receipt of the forms in lieu of a copy of the form signed by the employee.

The DC Department of Employment Services is offering webinar/conference calls to enable DC employers to know the new requirements.

To find out about these, please contact them:

Office of Wage-Hour

4058 Minnesota Avenue, NE

4th floor

Washington, DC 20019

phone 202-671-1880

email: owh.ask@dc.gov

website: http://does.dc.gov/service/wage-and-hour-compliance

Holland and Knight event on March 17th

You are cordially invited to attend...

2013 DC Construction Codes: One Year Later

At this special event, Holland & Knight will host Chief Building Official

for the District of Columbia in the DC Department of Consumer and

Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) Rabbiah "Robbie" Sabbakhan for an in-depth

conversation with Partner David Briggs concerning DCRA’s experiences

with the 2013 District of Columbia Construction Codes and its

implementation, one year after these Codes became effective on

March 28, 2014.

This conversation will explore a wide range of topics regarding the Codes

implementation and will afford ample opportunity for questions from the

audience. Mr. Sabbakhan will also be giving a glimpse into what the user

can expect as the Construction Code Coordinating Board begins its

consideration of the 2015 International Codes for adoption by the District.

In part, the conversation will review:

• changes to the Codes that have been adopted by the Construction Code Coordinating Board since adoption of the 2013 Construction Codes
• concerns that have arisen regarding provisions of the 2013 Construction Codes and how they have been addressed
• the use of administrative bulletins to provide interpretative guidance for certain Code provisions
• procedural guidelines implemented to expedite DCRA permit processing under the 2013 Codes
• Project Dox implementation
• Green Code implementation
• significant enforcement actions

EVENT DETAILS

Date/Time

Tuesday, March 17, 2015
8:30 - 10:00 a.m.

Location

Holland & Knight

800 17th Street N.W.

Suite 1100

Washington, DC  20006

Click here to register.

DDOT Public Meeting on 16th Street Transit Study - March 31

Getting to the Meeting

Be sure to check out www.goDCgo.com to learn about transportation options for getting to the meeting.

Can't Make the Meeting?

Materials from this meeting will be available at:

http://ddot.dc.gov/page/16th-street-nw-transit-priority-planning-study within 24 hours of the meeting's conclusion. Those who

would like to leave a comment about the study can do so at this by

emailing megan.kanagy@dc.gov .

Do You Need Assistance to Participate?

Mint is organizing another MINT CONDITION Day - June 6th

2nd Annual MINT CONDITION DAY! #MCD 2015

MINT CONDITION DAY VIDEO!!!!! (<----- Watch it!)

Hello MINTy Friends!!

MINT has reserved the Marie Reed Recreation Center Soccer field for Saturday June 6th 2015!

2014 was a GREAT experience with hundreds of people coming through and enjoying a day of fun and fitness.

Thank you to our collaborators from 2014 such as Relay foods, City Bikes, Glen's Garden Market and many more! We hope to have more Adams Morgan businesses participating this year.

We are in the beginning stages of coordinating this event and I would love to schedule meetings with businesses to discuss their involvement!

Best,

--

Gabe Oran

General Manager

Program Director

Master Trainer- NPTI-CPT, Certified Nutritionist, Certified in Pre/post Natal Training

W: 202-470-5237

M: 301-367-8444

gabe@mintdc.com