/>iThe District of Columbia’s Wage Theft Prevention Amendment Act of 2014, which became effective on February 26, 2015, requires in part that employers provide written wage notices to their D.C.-based employees. Employers have until May 27, 2015 to satisfy this requirement with respect to their employees who were employed as of the Act’s effective date of February 26, 2015.
Specifically, the law requires written wage notices as follows:
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New Employees: Employers are required to provide a written wage notice, both in English and in the employee’s primary language, to all new employees at the time of hiring (with receipt of the notice to be acknowledged in writing by the employee and a copy retained by the employer);
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Current Employees: Employers are required to provide a written wage notice, both in English and in the employee’s primary language, to all current employees (who were employed as of February 26, 2015) by May 27, 2015 (with receipt of the notice to be acknowledged in writing by the employee and a copy retained by the employer);
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Upon Change: Employers are required to provide a written wage notice, both in English and in the employee’s primary language, whenever there is a change to any information on the wage notice (with the notice to be acknowledged by the employee and a copy retained by the employer).
The D.C. Mayor released a wage notice template [pdf] in English and a wage notice template [pdf] in Spanish, which employers may use, but are not required to use as long as they include all of the required information in their own self-prepared wage notice. The D.C. Mayor released a different wage notice template [pdf] in English and a wage notice template[pdf] in Spanish for use by temporary staffing firms. Also, the D.C. Mayor released a notice[pdf] that D.C. employers must post in their workplaces in a conspicuous and accessible location, usually where other required legal notices are posted.
If you are an employer of D.C.-based employees and if you have not yet provided written wage notices to your current employees as required by the Wage Theft Prevention Amendment Act, then you will want to take action soon in order to have sufficient time before the May 27, 2015 compliance date to prepare, distribute, and obtain signed copies from your employees, which you will need to retain. Further, self‑prepared notices should be reviewed to confirm full compliance with the requirements of the Act.
