Labor Day Report: Helping District Workers Receive the Fair Wages & Benefits They Earned
On Labor Day, we celebrate the thousands of hardworking people in the District and across the country who help keep our communities running and give our city life. This holiday was created in the late 19th century, at a time when workers were often taken advantage of, not paid enough, and overworked. Many of them faced unsafe working conditions. In the past century, we have made many critical improvements to our laws to stand up for workers.
In the District, we have some of the strongest workers’ rights laws in the country. But the mistreatment of workers — especially low-wage workers — by employers is still all too prevalent.
I’m proud of the work the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has done over the past nearly eight years to use lawsuits and legal actions to hold employers accountable. And, we have made big investments to boost our ability to protect District workers.
· In 2017, the Council gave OAG enforcement authority to hold employers accountable when they mistreat workers, and OAG put industry on notice that we will go after them if they do not follow workers’ rights laws.
· Last year, with support from the Council, we established the Workers’ Rights and Antifraud Section at OAG, which is a team of attorneys and investigators who are dedicated to fighting wage theft. Wage theft is the illegal practice of denying workers the wages or benefits they earned.
Since 2017, we have launched more than 75 workers’ rights investigations and recovered over $7 million for workers and the District by bringing investigations and lawsuits against employers that violate the law.
OAG will continue to be a leader on workers’ rights issues in the District, and serve as model for other state Attorney General offices to emulate by ensuring workers receive the fair wages and benefits they earned.
This report highlights some key rights you have as a District worker and OAG’s work to advance those rights.
How OAG Is Standing Up For You
1. Knowing the Basics: Minimum Wage, Overtime, and Paid Sick Leave. The District has some of the strongest workers’ rights laws in the country. These laws include:
· Minimum Wage. The District’s minimum wage is $16.10/hour. Tipped employees can be paid $5.35/hour, but their tips received must bring them up to at least the regular minimum wage.
· Overtime. District law requires that most hourly employees be paid 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked above 40 in a week.
· Paid Sick Leave. District law requires most employers to provide employees with paid sick leave, which is accrued based on hours worked.
Case Highlights: OAG fights to protect these basic wage-and-hour rights by filing lawsuits against employers that violate the law.
For example, we filed a lawsuit against MJ Flooring, a local cleaning services company and its owner for failing to pay the required minimum wage to employees who mopped, swept floors, and disinfected surfaces.
We also filed a lawsuit against Azure Healthcare Services, a local health care services provider that operated supported-living facilities, for denying frontline health care workers the wages they were due after working extended hours for patients during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Fighting Tip Theft. Tips belong to workers, period. OAG frequently receives complaints regarding tip theft, especially from restaurant and gig workers whose employers don’t pay them the tips they earned. We have taken decisive action to make clear to employers that tip theft won’t be tolerated in the District. Tip theft is a form of wage theft which occurs any time an employer fails to pay wages, tips, or benefits owed to their employees.
Case Highlight: OAG settled a lawsuit against DoorDash, Inc., a food delivery company, for pocketing customer tips intended for delivery workers. DoorDash agreed to pay $2.25 million in restitution to workers and in penalties to the District.
3. Stopping “Pay to Work” Schemes. Businesses are not generally permitted to shift their costs to their workers. That means workers should not pay for tools and equipment necessary to perform their jobs, nor should they pay costs associated with job training. And we hold employers accountable that push those costs onto workers.
Case Highlight: OAG sued Jan-Pro, a janitorial company for employing a “pay to work” scheme. Our lawsuit alleges that Jan-Pro pulled a “bait and switch” by charging janitors thousands of dollars in initial fees just to begin working and, after that, numerous recurring fees for cleaning supplies and equipment. Our lawsuit seeks to recover these fees, which illegally forced workers to shoulder the burden of Jan-Pro’s business costs.
4. Recovering Pay for “Off-Clock” Work. It’s illegal for employers to require a worker to perform “off-clock” they aren’t paid for. For example, an employer might ask an employee to underreport their hours or even go so far as to doctor their timesheets. OAG has opened several investigations into “off-clock” practices and we are seeking to recover the compensation those workers are rightfully due.
5. Ensuring Workers are Paid On Time. District law protects workers who are leaving a job to ensure they are provided with their last paycheck in a timely manner. Workers who are terminated must be paid no later than one working day after their termination. Workers who resign must be paid no later than the next regular payday or within seven days of resignation, whichever is earlier.
Case Highlight: OAG recovered over $462,000 for District workers after CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield failed to provide final paychecks to workers on time.
6. Understanding Your Remedies. The District’s wage-and-hour laws provide strong remedies for workers victimized by wage theft. District law not only entitles workers to back pay — but also provides for additional damages up to triple the amount of back pay due. My office always seeks additional damages in our cases to provide workers with the restitution they are entitled under District law and deter employers from violating the law in the first place.
What Is Worker Misclassification?
OAG has seen that worker misclassification is particularly prevalent in industries such as construction and the gig economy.
According to an OAG report, District construction companies that misclassify workers unlawfully avoid at least 16.7% in labor costs compared to companies that operate legally. If these companies are engaged in other forms of wage theft, their savings at the expense of workers can exceed 40%.
What is Worker Misclassification and Why Does Misclassification Matter? A worker is typically classified as either an employee or an independent contractor. The District’s worker protection laws generally apply to employees, but not independent contractors. That means a broad set of rights turns on a worker’s classification. If they’re an employee, they get the full suite of the District’s legal protections. But if they’re an independent contractor, they don’t get any.
Case Highlight: We sued Power Design, a national electrical contractor, for misclassifying more than 500 electrical workers as independent contractors to cut labor costs and cheating workers of wages and benefits. Power Design settled our lawsuit, agreed to change its practices, and pay $2.75 million to workers and the District, and to support apprenticeships, job training, or workforce development programs. OAG then sued Power Design again for continued wage theft and failing to comply with the terms of that settlement.
Case Highlight: OAG has also seen gig economy employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors to deny them this broad set of rights. For example, we sued Comcast — a telecommunications company — and Arise Virtual Solutions — a customer service company that depends on gig workers — for misclassifying their customer service agents as independent contractors and failing to pay them minimum wage, overtime, and paid sick leave. Agents also underwent hours of uncompensated training and were forced to pay costs for computer equipment that should have been borne by their employer.
How do I tell if I’m misclassified? Whether you are an employee or independent contractor depends on the nature of your work. In general, the more control the employer has over the worker, the more likely it is that the worker should be classified as an employee.
Click here to view a more comprehensive list of OAG’s legal victories standing up for workers’ rights.
How to Contact OAG About Workers’ Rights Violations or Complaints
If you’re a District worker whose rights were violated, we want to hear from you. You can reach us by email at workers@dc.gov or trabajadores@dc.gov, or by phone at 202–442–9828.
Tips from workers help us build cases. For example, a worker tip led us to bring a lawsuit against Executive Security Services, a local security company, for failing to pay its security guards minimum wage, overtime, and paid sick leave. We settled this lawsuit which resulted in the company paying $275,000 in restitution to workers and penalties to the District.
Workers’ Rights Mediation Program
OAG recently rolled out a mediation process designed to resolve smaller-value workers’ rights claims from residents. Our goal is for this mediation process to supplement our core work of bringing large-scale lawsuits that target systemic wage-and-hour violations that affect numerous employees.
The mediation process is more informal than our typical cases, which are brought in court. Through this mediation process, an OAG mediator will connect with both the claimant and the employer to discuss whether an expeditious resolution of the claim is possible. While mediation is not always successful, we have had promising results. So far, we have recovered over $50,000 through this mediation process.
The Team
OAG’s top-notch worker protection team includes Assistant Attorneys General Randy Chen, Mickey Haywood, Palmer Heenan, Jason Jones, Sarah Levine, Jessica Micciolo, Charlie Sinks, and Nicole Tortoriello; Investigators Amelie Clemot and Jonathan Thervil; Paralegal Timothy Thomas; Staff Assistant Conny Tello; and Section Chief Graham Lake.
