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Previous Updates
The increase, originally set for July 1, 2025, was paused until October 1, 2025.
- All job postings in the DC must include the minimum and maximum salary or hourly wage for the position, regardless of where the posting appears (online, print, etc.)
- Employers must inform job candidates about available healthcare benefits before the first interview
- Employers cannot seek or rely on a candidate’s prior wage history during hiring decisions
- Employees are protected from retaliation or discrimination for inquiring about, disclosing, comparing, or discussing their compensation with coworkers
- Employers may not block or retaliate against an employee for filing a complaint under the Act or for participating in protected activities.
- A visible notice informing employees of their rights under the Wage Transparency Act must be posted in the workplace---a example template has not been released yet by this office. Employers can create their own to include: A clear statement that employees have the right to discuss their compensation (including salary and benefits) freely, wage-history inquiries are prohibited, and the requirement to disclose salary ranges and existence of healthcare benefits in job postings - the Jackson Lewis law firm has a sample that can be used until one is released: DC Wage Transparency Law Sample Notice.pdf
Employer Information » DOES Office of Paid Family Leave
- Businesses that owned (and continue to own) their parking before October 1, 2020
- Businesses that are under a current parking lease that began before October 1, 2020, are exempt until the lease terms are up (regardless of possible extensions)
- Hospitals and universities with pre-existing Campus Plans (with two key exceptions: if hospitals or universities build outside of an existing campus plan, such construction will have to comply with the law. Additionally, upon the expiration of their campus plan, universities and hospitals will have to implement compliance measures).
- Businesses that do not offer free or reduced parking to their employees.
Sexual Harassment Policy and Training Requirements (frankcrum.com)
- Any business that has moved away from the tip credit and now pays its employees the D.C. minimum hourly wage (currently $17.00 an hour) is no longer covered by the Act and, therefore, is not required to provide the training and submit sexual harassment policy and reporting information online. However, a business is encouraged to continue to do so as a best practice.
- The Business Self-Service Form’s reference to the “total number of employees and managers” seeks the total number of people who worked in the business in 2023, regardless of whether they were employed for the entire year or as of December 31, 2023.
- Employers may verify a new hire’s prior training and compliance with the Act by emailing DCOHR at tipsdc@dc.gov.
- Once a business submits its form, it receives an automated email acknowledging receipt and a code to access the system. Within two weeks, the business will receive a message that the submission was either approved or denied or that corrections are needed. If a business has not received anything after 30 days, it should send DCOHR an email at tipsdc@dc.gov.
- (1) “individuals working or seeking work as an independent contractor,” are now protected under the law;
- (2) “homeless status,” is a new protected characteristic and;
- (3) harassing conduct is no longer required to be “severe or pervasive,” but rather may depend on the “totality of the circumstances.” The law provides that “no specific number of incidents or specific level of egregiousness is required.”
Learn more about the Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Act here.
Also, last November DC voters passed Initiative 82 which will gradually phase out the tip credit by 2027. The first two changes start this year. As of May 1st the maximum tip credit will be $10.10 and on July 1st the maximum tip credit will be $8.10.
As part of the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Support Act of 2022, the District of Columbia Council has voted to amend the DC Universal Paid Leave Act (UPLA).
For UPLA claims filed on or after October 1, 2022, employees may take up to 12 weeks each of parental leave (up from six), family leave (up from six) and medical leave (up from eight), and up to two weeks of prenatal leave (prenatal leave was set to end by October 1, 2022), within a 52-workweek-period.
The one-week waiting period before an employee can collect paid family and medical leave benefits does not apply to claims filed on or after July 25, 2022. You can learn more here.
The District of Columbia’s law banning non-compete agreements has been delayed to October 1, 2022. The law prohibits employers from requesting or requiring an employee to agree to a non-compete agreement or policy, with exceptions.
Due to a surplus in the leave fund, the number of weeks of paid leave available to D.C. workers under D.C.’s Universal Paid Leave Act (UPLA) will significantly increase on July 1, 2022.
Currently, the law provides for a maximum of:
- 8 workweeks of parental leave;
- 6 workweeks of family leave;
- 6 workweeks of medical leave; and
- 2 workweeks of pre-natal leave.
Starting on July 1, these maximums will increase to:
- 12 workweeks of parental leave;
- 12 workweeks of family leave;
- 12 workweeks of medical leave; and
- 2 workweeks of pre-natal leave.
There will be an overall cap of 12 weeks of UPLA leave available to each eligible D.C. employee per year and the employer payroll tax used to fund this leave is being decreased from 0.62% to 0.26% as of July 1, 2022.
Learn more about this paid leave here.
D.C. has updated its Voting Leave Poster for the primary on June 21, 2022.
The District of Columbia's law banning non-compete agreements applies to employers as of April 1, 2022. Previously, the law was projected to become applicable to employers on the date of inclusion of its fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan.
The law prohibits employers operating in the District of Columbia from requesting or requiring an employee who works there to agree to a noncompete agreement or policy, with specific exceptions.
The District of Columbia has released an updated poster on Covid-19 leave available under the DC Family and Medical Leave Act, and employers with 20 or more employees in Washington, DC, are required to display the poster in a conspicuous area in the workplace. They also are encouraged to post it electronically, such as on the intranet or in a shared folder, for their remote employees.
Updated guidance has also been issued. Click here for the poster and here for the updated guidance.
The Paid Family Leave (PFL) Employee Notice has been updated. Employers are required to post the updated notice at their worksite on or before February 1, 2022. Please post and maintain the notice at each of your worksites in a conspicuous place. Additionally, please send the notice to your remote employees for their individual worksites.
In addition to posting the notice, employers are required to provide the paid family leave notice to employees at the following times:
- To an individual employee within thirty (30) days of the employee's hiring;
- Annually to all employees; and
- To an individual employee at the time you receive direct notice from that employee that leave for a qualifying event is needed.
The PFL Employee Notice can be downloaded here.
The Mayor has signed legislation requiring leave for vaccinations & boosters for employees, as well as leave for employees to have their child vaccinated. An employer must offer paid leave to any employee who commenced work for the employer at least 15 days before the request for leave.
Employers are to provide up to four hours of paid leave (two hours per dose) for employees who are receiving the COVID-19 vaccination or are accompanying their children to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Employers also must provide up to eight hours of paid leave per injection during the 24-hour period following the two-hour vaccination leave period for employees experiencing side effects or whose child is experiencing side effects and requires care. However, employers are not required to provide more than 48 hours of leave in total in a year starting on the effective date of the Act.
COVID Vaccination Leave Emergency Amendment Act of 2021:
https://lims.dccouncil.us/downloads/LIMS/47928/Signed_Act/B24-0404-Signed_Act.pdf
In addition, the Public Health Emergency Leave has been extended to February 16, 2022:
- All D.C. employers must provide employees who have been employed for at least 30 days with up to 16 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave if the employee is unable to work due to specified reasons due to COVID-19. For a refresher click below:
https://ohr.dc.gov/page/updated-covid-19-leave-under-dcfmla
- D.C. employers with between 50 and 499 employees must also continue to provide up to 80 hours of paid sick leave to employees employed for at least 15 days. For a refresher click below:
https://code.dccouncil.us/us/dc/council/code/sections/32-531.02a.html
Following on from the June FranklyHR update, the District of Columbia's law banning noncompete agreements applies to employers as of April 1, 2022. Previously, the law was projected to become applicable to employers on the date of inclusion of its fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan.
The law prohibits employers operating in the District of Columbia from requesting or requiring an employee who works there to agree to a noncompete agreement or policy, with specific exceptions.
Beginning October 1, 2021, the definition of an employee under the District of Columbia Family and Medical Leave Act (DC FMLA) is amended to cover:
- An individual who has:
- Been employed by the same employer for at least 12 consecutive or nonconsecutive months (previously, the law required the employee to work for the same employer for one year without a break in service), and;
- Worked at least 1,000 hours for the employer during the 12-month period preceding the date on which the period of family or medical leave is to begin (previously, the law specified the 12-month period immediately preceding the request for leave).
- For COVID-19 reasons, an employee who was employed by the employer for at least 30 days prior to the leave request.
Amendments to the Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act which apply beginning October 1, 2021, include the following:
- Medical leave may be taken for stillbirths and miscarriages.
- Employees may receive up to six workweeks of qualifying medical leave (up from two weeks) for claims filed between October 1, 2021, and October 1, 2022.
- Employees may take prenatal leave prior to childbirth (e.g., for prenatal check-ups, ultrasounds, physical therapy, bedrest) only between October 1, 2021, and October 1, 2022. The two weeks of prenatal leave is in addition to the eight weeks of leave for other reasons.
- For claims filed after October 1, 2021, and before the 365th day after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency:
- Average weekly wage is defined differently, and
- The one-week waiting period to receive benefits does not apply.
Also beginning October 1, 2021, the one-year statute of limitations for filing a civil action is tolled while a DC FMLA claim is pending administrative review.
Note: These amendments are made under the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Support Temporary Amendment Act, which is effective until November 21, 2021. It is not yet known if the effectiveness of these amendments will be extended or made permanent.
- All D.C. employers must provide employees who have been employed for at least 30 days with up to 16 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave if the employee is unable to work due to specified reasons due to COVID-19. Click here for further information and click here for the updated posting.
- D.C. employers with between 50 and 499 employees must also continue to provide up to 80 hours of paid sick leave to employees employed for at least 15 days. Click here for further information.
Ban on Non-Compete Agreements
In passing the Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendments Act, Washington D.C. joins a handful of other states in prohibiting virtually all non-competes. The Act officially took effect in March; however, the applicability date – the date the ban begins to apply – is not yet certain. The Act will not apply until it is included in an approved budget and financial plan, which is anticipated to be later this fall.
The Act prohibits any D.C. employer from entering into an agreement or maintaining a policy that restricts any covered D.C. employee from simultaneously or subsequently being employed by a third party, providing paid services to a third party, or operating their own business, whether such activities are competitive or not. The Act prohibits the restriction of any covered D.C. employee from performing other work while employed, whether or not such other work is competitive, and regardless of the employee position or access to their employer’s confidential or proprietary information.
The Act does not invalidate non-compete provisions in agreements entered into prior to the Act’s applicability date. The Act does permit otherwise lawful provisions that restrict employees from disclosing their employers’ confidential, proprietary, or sensitive information; for example, a client list or trade secret. The Act does not mention non-solicitation provisions. When the applicability of this Act is determined, employers must provide notice to all covered D.C. employees.
January 2021
Displaced Workers Right to Reinstatement and Retention Amendment Act
Effective February 1, 2021, the District of Columbia will provide expanded reinstatement and retention rights for eligible employees displaced by COVID-19 once their employer starts rehiring after the pandemic. The new law - the Displaced Workers Right to Reinstatement and Retention Amendment Act - also allows for reinstatement and retention if there is a change in the employer's ownership, controlling interest or identity.
The Act's anti-retaliation and enforcement provisions expire on June 20, 2024. All other provisions expire on June 30, 2023. Learn more here.
June 2020
Paid Family Leave
On July 1, 2019, the district began the collection of taxes from employers, and on July 1, 2020, the district will begin administering paid leave benefits. All employers covered by the Paid Family Leave (PFL) law must post the employee notice in their worksites. The notice must also be provided in electronic or physical form to:
- Individual employees when the employer receives direct notice of the employee’s need for leave that could qualify for PFL benefits
- All new employees within 30 days of hire
- All employees annually
For an employer toolkit, click here.
