District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser recently signed the “Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act of 2018” (the Act). The Act repeals Initiative 77, which would have increased the District’s minimum wage for tipped workers. Consequently, the minimum wage for tipped workers will remain $3.89 per hour, but will increase to $4.45 per hour on July 1, 2019 and $5.00 per hour on July 1, 2020. Importantly, the Act also imposes notice, training and reporting requirements regarding tipped workers and sexual harassment in the workplace.
The Act requires the Mayor to initiate a public education campaign addressing the employment rights of tipped workers. Additionally, the Mayor must establish a website detailing the District’s wage and hour and anti-discrimination laws and create an internet and telephone reporting system for violation of these laws. The Act also imposes requirements on all employers of tipped workers, including:
- Offering employees the opportunity to complete annual training on the District’s wage-theft laws provided by the D.C. Office of Human Rights (OHR) or an OHR-certified provider.
- All owners, operators and managers of businesses with tipped works must receive annual training on the District’s wage-theft laws provided by OHR or an OHR-certified provider.
- Providing each tipped employee with a “tip out” sheet each payday identifying the percentage and amount of tips received.
- Posting the District’s poster(s) outlining tipped workers’ rights and any tip-sharing policies.
- Beginning in 2020, all employers of tipped workers, except hotels, must use a third-party payroll administrator to prepare their employee payrolls. Additionally, the third-party payroll administrators and hotels with tipped employees must submit quarterly reports to the Department of Employment Services (DOES) certifying each tipped employee was paid at least the minimum wage and include the employer’s tip-out policy.
Importantly, the Act imposes various requirements regarding sexual harassment, including:
- New employees must receive in-person or online harassment training within 90 days of hire, unless the employee was previously trained within the past two years.
- Current employees must receive in-person or online training within two years of the Act’s effective date.
- Managers must receive in-person harassment training at least every two years.
- All business owners and Operators must receive in-person or online harassment training at least every two years.
- All employers must submit a sexual harassment policy to the OHR for certification within 30 days of completion of all required harassment training.
- By July 1, 2019, all employers must submit a policy detailing the ways employees can report harassment and information about the distribution and conspicuous posting in the workplace of the employer’s policy.
- Beginning on July 1, 2019, all employers must annually report any and all reported instances of sexual harassment to the OHR.
- By December 31st of each year, all employers must submit certification to the DOES that all training, documenting and filing requirements have been met.
If you have any questions regarding the requirements of the Act or the steps that you need to take to comply, please do not hesitate to ask us for help.
CONTACT
Gregory D. Grant
Meredith “Merry” Campbell
Joy C. Einstein
MORE INFORMATION
The contents of this Alert are for informational purposes only, and do not constitute legal advice. If you have any questions about this Alert, please contact the Shulman Rogers attorney with whom you regularly work or a member of the Shulman Rogers Employment and Labor Law Group.
