An Act to amend the District of Columbia minimum wage law to provide broader coverage, improved standards of minimum wage and overtime compensation protection, and improved means of enforcement
PL 89-684 (H.R.8126), enacted 10/15/1966

80 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-684-OCT. 15, 1966 
961 
Public Law 89-684 
AN ACT 
October 15, 1966 
To amend the District of Columbia minimum wage law to provide broader 
[H. R. 8126] 
coverage, improved standards of minimum wage and overtime compensation 
protection, and improved means of enforcement. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemoled. 
lumbia^Minimum' 
Wage Amendments 
AMENDMENT TO DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA MINIMUM WAGE LAW 
^"^^ °^ ^^^''• 
SECTION 1. Title I of the Act of September 19, 1918 (D.C. Code, 
sees. 36-401—36-422), is amended to read as follows: 
"TITLE I—MINIMUM WAGES 
" F I N D I N G 
AND 
D E C L A R A T I O N OF POLICY 
"SECTION 1. (a) The Congress hereby finds that there are persons 
employed in some occupations in the District of Columbia at wages 
insufficient to provide adequate maintenance and to protect health. 
Such employment impairs the health, efficiency, and well-being of the 
persons so employed, constitutes unfair competition against other 
employers and their employees, threatens the stability of industry, 
reduces the purchasing power of employees, and requires, in many 
instances, that their wages be supplemented by the payment of public 
moneys for relief or other public and private assistance. 
Employment 
of persons at these insufficient rates of pay threatens the health and 
well-being of the people of the District of Columbia and injures the 
overall economy. 
"(b) It is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act to correct and 
as rapidly as practicable to eliminate the conditions referred to above. 
"DEFINITIONS 
"SEC. 2. As used in this Act— 
"(1) The term 'Commissioners' means the Board of Commissioners 
of the District of Columbia or their designated agent or representative. 
"(2) The term 'wage' means compensation due to an employee by 
reason of his employment, payable in legal tender of the United States 
or checks on banks convertible into cash on demand at full face value, 
including such allowances as may be permitted by any order or regu-
lation issued under section 3, 6, 7, or 8. 
"(3) The term 'employ' includes to suffer or permit to work. 
"(4) The term 'employer' includes any individual, partnership, as-
sociation, corporation, business trust, or any person or group of per-
sons, acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in 
relation to an employee, but shall not include the United States or 
the District of Columbia. 
"(5) The term 'employee' includes any individual employed by an 
employer, except that such term shall not include—-
" (A) any individual who, without payment.and without expec-
tation of any gain, directly or indirectly, volunteers to engage in 
the activities of an educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit 
organization; 
"(B) any lay member elected or appointed to office within the 
discij)line of any religious organization and engaged in religious 
functions; or 
"(C) any individual employed in domestic service or otherwise 
employed, in or about the residence of the employer. 
40 Stat. 960; 
55 Stat. 738. 
962 
PUBLIC LAW 89.684-OCT. 15, 1966 
[80 STAT. 
"(6) The term 'occupation' means any occupation, service, trade, 
business, industry, or branch or group of occupations or industries, or 
employment or class of employment, in which employees are gainfully 
employed. 
" (7) The term 'gratuities' means voluntary monetary contributions 
received by an employee from a guest, patron, or customer for services 
rendered. 
"MINIMUM WAGE AND OVERTIME COMPENSATION 
"SEC. 3. (a)(1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2), 
every employer shall pay to each of his employees (A) the wage estab-
lished for each such employee in a wage order issued under this Act, 
or (B) wages at the following rates: 
"(i) not less than $1.25 an hour during the year beginning 
February 1, 1967, 
"(ii) not less than $1.40 an hour during the year beginning 
February 1, 1968, and 
"(iii) not less than $1.60 an hour thereafter, 
whichever is higher. 
" (2) Every employer shall pay to each of his employees whose wage 
rates are governed by Minimum Wage Order Numbered 10 (effec-
tive August 15, 1964), as revised under subsection (c) (2) of this sec-
tion, wages at the following rates: 
"(A) not less than $1.25 an hour during the year beginning 
August 1, 1967, 
"(B) not less than $1.40 an hour during the year beginning 
August 1, 1968, and 
"(C) not less than $1.60 an hour thereafter. 
"(b)(1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2), no em-
ployer shall employ any of his employees— 
" (A) for a workweek longer than forty-two hours during the six 
month period beginning six months after the date of enactment of 
this subsection, or 
"(B) for a workweek longer than forty hours thereafter, 
unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in ex-
cess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-
half times the regular rate at which he is employed. 
"(2) In the case of an employer whose employees' wage rates are 
governed by Minimum Wage Order Numbered 10 (effective August 
15, 1964), as revised under subsection (c) (2) of this section, during 
the period beginning on the date of enactment of this paragraph and 
ending August 14, 1968, such employer shall compensate each svich 
employee for employment in excess of forty hours in any workweek at 
the rate specified in such Wage Order. 
Beginning August 15, 1968, 
such employer shall compensate such employees for employment in 
excess of forty hours in any workweek at the rate established by the 
Commissioners after public hearinjr, which rate may be established 
without regard to the rate specified in paragraph (1). 
"(3) No employer shall be deemed to have violated subsection 
(b) (1) by employing any employee of a retail or service establishment 
for a workweek in excess of the applicable workweek specified therein, 
if (A) the regular rate of pay of such employee is in excess of one and 
one-half times the minimum hourly rate applicable to him under sec-
tion 3(a)(1), and (B) more than half his compensation for a 
representative period (not less than one month) represents commis-
sions on goods or services. In determining the proportion of compen-
sation representing commissions, all earnings resulting from the 
application of a bona fide commission rate shall be deemed commis-
80 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-684-OCT. 15, 1966 
963 
sions on goods or services without regard to whether the computed 
commissions exceed the draw or guarantee. 
"(c)(1) Each minimum wage order issued prior to February 1, 
1967, shall remain in full force and effect. 
Except as provided in 
paragraph (2), the Commissioners shall by order revise each such 
Avage order as follows: 
" (A) Effective February 1,1967, each such wage order shall be 
revised to make it applicable to men as w^ell as women employees. 
"(B) Effective February 1, 1967, each such wage order which 
provides for the payment of minimum wages below those pre-
scribed in subsection (a)(1) of this section shall be revised to 
provide for the payment of minimum wages in accordance with 
such subsection. 
"(C) Effective six months from the date of enactment of the 
District of Columbia Minimum Wage Amendments Act of 1966, 
each such wage order which does not provide for the payment of 
overtime compensation, or which does not require the payment to 
an employee of at least one and one-half his regular rate for his 
employment in excess of forty-tAvo hours in a workweek, shall be 
revised to provide for the payment of overtime compensation in 
accordance with subsection (b) (1) of this section. 
" (2) The Commissioners shall modify Minimum Wage Order Num-
bered 10 (effective August 15, 1964), effective February 1, 1967, to 
apply to men as well as women employees. The Commissioners shall 
further modify such Wage Order to provide for the payment of min-
imum wages and overtime compensation in accordance with paragraph 
(2) of subsection (a) of this section and paragraph (2) of subsection 
(b) of this section. 
"(d) (1) For those occupations with respect to which, on the date of 
enactment of the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Amendments 
Act of 1966, there is no existing minimum wage order, the Commis-
sioners shall issue an order, effective February 1, 1967, providing for 
the payment of minimum wages as prescribed by subsection (a) (1) of 
this section and for the payment of overtime compensation as 
prescribed in subsection (b) (1) of this section. 
" (2) For those occupations with respect to which on the date of the 
enactment of the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Amendments 
Act of 1966 there is no existing minimum wage order, the Commis-
sioners shall, with or without reference to an ad hoc advisory com-
mittee, make one or more wage orders which may include unrelated 
occupations. 
Such a wage order shall include (A) the minimum wage 
and overtime provisions prescribed in subsections (a) (1) and (b) (1) 
of this section, and (B) such definitions and regulations as the Com-
missioners may prescribe, in accordance with section 8, to prevent the 
circumvention or evasion of such order and to safeguard the minimum 
wage rates and overtime provisions established in this Act. 
The Com-
missioners shall publish a notice once a w^eek, for four successive weeks, 
in a newspaper of general circulation printed in the District of Colum-
bia, stating that they will, on a date and at a place named in the notice, 
hold a public hearing on such order at which all interested persons wall 
be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard. 
Such notice shall con-
tain a summary of the major provisions of such order. Within thirty 
days after such hearing, the Commissioners may issue such wage order 
as may be proper or necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Act. 
Notice of such order shall be published in a newspaper of general 
circulation printed in the District of Columbia and such order shall 
take effect upon the expiration of sixty days after the date on w4iich 
such order w^as issued by the Commissioners, but not before February 
1,1967. 
^ 
964 
PUBLIC LAW 89-684-OCT. 15, 1966 
[80 STAT. 
"(e) The minimum wage orders issued by the Commissioners prior 
to February 1, 1967, shall be modified by the Commissioners on or 
after such date in order to include such regulations as the Commis-
sioners may prescribe in accordance with section 8. Such regulations 
shall take effect upon the expiration of thirty days after the date on 
which they were made by the Commissioners, but not before Febru-
ary 1, 1967. 
"EXEMPTIONS 
"SEC. 4. (a) The minimum wage and overtime provisions of section 
3 shall not apply with respect to— 
"(1) any employee employed in a bona fide executive, adminis-
trative, or professional capacity, or in the capacity of outside 
salesman (as such terms are defined by the Secretary of I^abor 
52 Stat. 1060. 
uudcr the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938) ; or 
" (2) any employee engaged in the delivery of newspapers to the 
home of the consumer. 
"(b) The overtime provisions of section 3(b) (1) shall not apply with 
respect to— 
"(1) any employee employed as a seaman; 
"(2) any employee employed by a railroad; 
"(3) any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged 
in selling or servicing automobiles, trailers, or trucks if employed 
by a nonmanufactunng establishment primarily engaged in the 
business of selling such vehicles to ultimate purchasers; 
" (4) any employee employed primarily to wash automobiles by 
an employer, more than 50 percent of whose annual dollar volume 
of sales IS derived from washing automobiles, if for such em-
ployee's employment in excess of one hundred and sixty hours in 
a period of four consecutive workweeks, such employee receives 
compensation at a rate not less than one and one-half times the 
reguliar rate at which he is employed; or 
"(5) any employee employed as an attendant at a parking lot 
or parking garage. 
"POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMISSIONERS 
"SEC. 5. The Commissioners or their authorized representative shall 
have authority— 
" (1) to investigate and ascertain the wages of persons employed 
in any occupation in the District of Columbia; 
"(2) to enter and inspect the place of business or employment 
of any employer in the District of Columbia for the purpose of 
(A) examining and inspecting any or all books, registers, payrolls, 
and other records of any such employer that in any way relate to 
or have a bearing upon the wages, hours, and other conditions of 
employment of any employees, (B) copying any or all of such 
books, registers, payrolls, and other records as the Commissioners 
or their authorized representative may deem necessary or appro-
priate, and (C) questioning such employee for the purpose of 
ascertaining whether the provisions of this Act and the orders and 
reflations issued thereunder have been and are being complied 
with; and 
"(3) to require from any such employer full and correct state-
ments in writing, including sworn statements, with respect to 
wages, hours, names, addresses, and such other information per-
taining to the employment of his employees as the Commissioners 
or their authorized representative may deem necessary or appro-
priate to carry out the purposes of this Act. 
80 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-684-0CT. 15, 1966 
965 
REVISION OF WAGE ORDERS 
"SEC. 6. (a) At any time after a wage order lias been in effect for 
one year the Commissioners may on their own motion reconsider the 
wage rates set in such wage order. 
If, after investigation, the Com-
missioners are of the opinion that any substantial number of workers 
in the occupation covered by such wage order are receiving wages 
insufficient to provide adequate maintenance and to protect health they 
may convene an ad hoc advisory committee for the purpose of con-
sidering and inquiring into and reporting to the Commissioners on the 
subject investigated by the Commissioners and submitted by them to 
such committee. 
"(b) The committee shall be composed of not more than three 
persons representing the employers in such occupation, of an equal 
number representing the employees in such occupation, of not more 
than three persons representing the public, and one or more representa-
tives of the agency designated by the Commissioners to administer 
this Act. Such agency shall name and appoint all the members of the 
committee and designate its chainnan. 
Two-thirds of the members 
of the committee shall constitute a quorum, and any decision, recom-
mendation, or report of the committee on the subject submitted to it 
shall require an affinnative vote of not less than a majority of all its 
members. 
"(c) The Commissioners shall present to the committee sucli infor-
mation as they might have relating to the subject they submitted to 
the committee, and may cause to be brought before the committee any 
witnesses whose testimony the Commissioners consider material. 
"(d) Within sixty days after the convening of the committee by 
the Commissioners, the committee shall make and transmit to the 
(Commissioners a report containing its findings and recommendations 
on the subject submitted to it by the Commissioners. 
"(e) The committee report shall include a recommendation for 
minimum wages for the employees in the occupation under considera-
tion, but the minimum wage rates recommended shall not be less 
than those prescribed in subsection (a) (1) of section 3. In making 
such recommendation the committee shall take into consideration (1) 
the amount of wages sufficient to provide adequate maintenance and 
to protect health, (2) the fair and reasonable value of the work per-
formed, and (3) the wages paid in the District of Columbia by fair 
employers for work of like or comparable character. 
The committee 
report shall also include recommendations for reasonable allowances 
for board, lodging, or other facilities or services, customarily fur-
nished by the employer to the employees, or reasonable allowances for 
gratuities customarily received by employees in any occupation in 
which gratuities have customarily and usually constituted and have 
been recognized as a part of the remuneration for hiring purposes. 
The committee report may also recommend suitable minimum wages 
for learners and apprentices in the occupation under consideration, 
where it appears proper or necessary, and may recommend the maxi-
mum length of time any such employee may be kept at such wages 
as a learner or apprentice. 
The minimum wages recommended for 
learners and apprentices may be less than the mniimum wages recom-
mended for other employees in such occupation. 
The committee may 
make a separate inquiry into and report on any branch of any occupa-
tion and may recommend different minimum wages for such branch 
of employment in the same occupation. 
"(f) If such committee fails to submit a report to the Commissioners 
within the period specified in subsection (d), the Commissioners may 
(1) discharge such committee from further consideration of the subject 
Advisory com-
mittee. 
Membership of 
committee. 
Committee report. 
966 
PUBLIC LAW 89-684-OCT. 15, 1966 
[80 STAT. 
submitted to it and convene a new committee for the purpose of con-
sidering such subject, or (2) consider the subject without the recom-
mendations of an ad hoc advisory committee and prepare and publish 
a revised wage order for the occupation in accordance with the pro-
cedure specified in section 7. 
"ISSUANCE OF REVISED WAGE ORDERS 
"SEC. 7. (a) Upon receipt of the report from the ad hoc advisory 
committee, or upon the discharge of such committee, in .accordance 
with section 6(f), the Commissioners may prepare a proposed revised 
w^age order for the occupation, giving due consideration to any rec-
ommendations contained in the report of such committee. 
In such 
order the Commissioners shall provide, among other things, such 
allowances as xtre recommended in the report. 
The Commissioners 
shall publish a notice once a w^eek, for four successive weeks, in a 
newspaper of general circulation printed in the District of Columbia, 
stating that they w^ill, on a date and at a place named in the notice, 
hold a public hearing at which all interested persons will be given a 
reasonable opportunity to be heard. 
Such notice shall contain a sum-
mary of the major provisions of the proposed revised w^age order. 
" (b) Within thirty days after such hearing, the Commissioners may 
make such an order as may be proper or necessary to effectuate the 
purposes of this Act. 
Notice of such order shall be published in a 
newspaper of general circulation printed in the District of Columbia 
and such order shall take effect upon the expiration of sixty days after 
the date on which such order was made by the Commissioners. 
"(c) A wage order issued under this section shall define the occupa-
tion and classifications to which it is to apply, and shall contain such 
terms and conditions as the Commissioners find necessary to (1) carry 
out the purposes of such order, (2) to prevent the circumvention or 
evasion of it, and (3) to safeguard the minimum wage rates and 
overtime compensation established in it. 
"(d) Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to authorize the 
Commissioners to establish a minimum weekly wage which would 
require an employer to pay an employee in any week an amount 
greater than the amount such employer w^ould have to pay such 
employee under section 3 for the hours worked in such week. 
"REGULATIONS 
"SEC, 8. (a) The Commissioners shall make and revise such regula-
tions, including definitions of terms, as they may deem appropriate to 
carry out the purposes of this Act or necessary to prevent its circum-
vention or evasion and to safeguard the m'nimum wage rates and the 
overtime provisions established in this Act. 
"(b) The Commissioners shall make regulations— 
"(1) providing reasonable allowances for board, lodging, or 
services customarily furnished by employers to employees, 
"(2) providing reasonable allowances for gratuities in any 
occupation in which gratuities have customarily and usually con-
stituted and have been recognized as part of the remuneration for 
hiring purposes, and 
"(3) providing allowances for such other special conditions or 
circumstances which may be usual in a particular employer-
employee relationship. 
"(c) The Commissioners may make regulations— 
"(1) defining and governing the employment of handicapped 
workers and workers under the age of 18 and providing minimum 
80 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-684-OCT. 15, 1966 
967 
wages for such workers at a rate lower tlian that specified hi sec-
tion 3(a)(1) of this Act, 
"(2) governing piece rates, bonuses, and commissions in rela-
tion to time rates, 
"(3) governing part-time rates, 
"(4) governing minimum daily wages, 
"(5) relating to wage provisions governing split shift and 
excessive spread of hours, and 
"(6) governing uniforms, tools, travel, and other items of 
expense mcurred by employees as a condition of employment. 
"(d) Kegulations or revisions thereof issued by the Commissioneis 
pursuant to this section shall be made only after a public hearing by 
the Commissioners, subsequent to publication of a notice of the hearing 
at which interested persons may be heard. 
Such regulations or revi-
sions shall, except as may otherwise be provided by the Cpmmissioners, 
take effect upon the expiration of thirty days after the date on whicii 
such regulations and revisions were made by the Commissioners. 
"JUDICIAL REVIEW 
"SEC. 9. (a) Any person aggrieved by an order of the Commissioners 
issued under this Act may obtain a review of such order in the District 
of Columbia Court of Appeals by filing in such court, within sixty 
days after the issuance of such order, a wfitten petition praying that 
the order of the Commissioners be modified or set aside in whole or 
in part. 
A copy of such petition shall forthwith be transmitted by 
the clerk of the court to the Commissioners, and thereupon the Com-
missioners shall file in the court the record upon which the order com-
plained of was entered. 
Upon the filing of such petition such court 
shall have exclusive jurisdiction to affirm, modify, or set aside such 
order in whole or in part, so far as it is applicable to the petitioner. 
The review by the court shall be limited to questions of law, and find-
ings of fact by the Commissioners when supported by substantial 
evidence shall be conclusive. 
No objection to the order of the Com-
missioners shall be considered by the court unless such objection was 
presented to the Commissioners, except w^here there were reasonable 
grounds for failure to present such objections to the Commissioners. 
If application is made to the court for leave to offer additional evi-
dence, and it is shown to the satisfaction of the court that such addi-
tional evidence may materially affect the result of the proceeding and 
that there were reasonable grounds for failure to offer such evidence 
in the proceedings before the Commissioners, the court may order such 
additional evidence to be taken by the Commissioners in such manner 
and upon such terms and conditions as the court may prescribe. 
The 
Commissioners may modify the initial findings by reason of the addi-
tional evidence so taken, and shall file with the court such modified 
or new findings which, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be 
conclusive, and shall also file their recommendation, if any, for the 
modification or setting aside of the original order. 
"(b) The commencement of proceedings under subsection (a) shall 
not, unless specifically ordered by the court, operate as a stay of the 
Commissioners' order. 
The court shall not grant any stay of the 
order unless the person complaining of such order shall file in court 
an undertaking with a surety or sureties, satisfactory to the court, 
for the payment to the employees affected by the order, in the event 
such order is affirmed, of the amount by which the compensation such 
employees are entitled to receive under the order exceeas the compen-
sation they actually receive while such stay is in effect. 
968 
PUBLIC LAW 89-684-OCT. 15, 1966 
[80 STAT. 
"AUTHORITY TO TAKE TESTIMONY AND ISSUE SUBPENAS 
"SEC. 10. The Commissioners shall have power to administer oaths 
and require by subpena the attendance and testimony of witnesses, the 
production of all books, registers, and other evidence relative to any 
matters under investigation, at any public hearing or at any meeting of 
any committee or for the use of the Commissioners in securing compli-
ance with this Act. In case of disobedience to a subpena the Commis-
sioners may invoke the aid of the District of Columbia Court of Gen-
eral Sessions in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses 
and the production of documentary evidence. In case of contumacy 
or refusal to obey a subpena the court may issue an order requiring 
appearance before the Commissioners, the production of documentary 
evidence, and the giving of evidence, and any failure to obey such order 
of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof. 
a KEEPING OF RECORDS 
"SEC. 11. (a) Every employer subject to any provision of this Act 
or of any regulation or order issued under tliis Act shall make, keep, 
and preserve for a period of not less than three years a record of (1) 
the name, address, and occupation of each of his employees, (2) a record 
of the date of birth of any employee under nineteen years of age, (3) 
the rate of pay and the amount paid each pay period to each of his 
employees, (4) the hours worked each day and each workweek by each 
of his employees, and (5) such other records or information as the 
Commissioners shall prescribe by regulation as necessary or appro-
priate for the enforcement of the provisions of this Act or of the regu-
lations or orders issued thereunder. Such records shall be open and 
made available for inspection or transcription by the Commissioners 
or their authorized representative at any reasonable time. Every such 
employer shall furnish to the Commissioners or to their authorized 
representative on demand a sworn statement of such records and infor-
mation upon forms prescribed or approved by the Commissioners. 
"(b) Every employer shall furnish to each employee at the time of 
payment of wages an itemized statement showing the date of the wage 
payment, gross wages paid, deductions from and additions to wages, 
net wages paid, hours worked during the pay period, and any other 
information as the Commissioners may prescribe by regulation. 
" P O S T I N G o r LAW AND WAGE ORDERS 
"SEC. 12. Every employer subject to any provision of this Act or of 
any regulation or order issued under this Act shall keep a copy or sum-
mary of this Act and of any applicable wage order and regulation 
issued thereunder, in a form prescribed or approved by the Commis-
sioners, posted in a conspicuous and accessible place in or about the 
premises wherein any employee covered by such regulation or order is 
employed. Employers shall be furnished such copies or summaries by 
the Commissioners on request without charge. 
(( 
PROHIBITED ACTS 
"SEC. 13. It shall be unlawful for any employer— 
"(1) to violate any of the provisions of section 3 or any of 
the provisions of any regulation or order issued under this Act; 
" (2) to violate any of the provisions of section 11 or 12 or any 
regulation made under the provisions of section 8, or to make any 
statement, report, or record filed or kept pursuant to the provisions 
80 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-684-OCT. 15, 1966 
969 
of section 11 or any regulation or order issued under section 8, 
knowing such statement, report, or record to be false in a material 
respect; 
(3) to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against 
any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or 
instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or 
related to this Act, has testified or is about to testify m any such 
proceeding, or has served or is about to serve on any ad hoc 
advisory committee; or 
"(4) to hinder or delay the Commissioners or their authorized 
representative in the performance of their duties in the enforce-
ment of this Act, to refuse to admit the Commissioners or their 
authorized representative to any place of employment, to refuse 
to make available to the Commissioners or their authorized repre-
sentative, upon demand, any record required to be made, kept, or 
preserved under this Act, or to fail to post a summary or copy of 
this Act or of any applicable regulation or order, as required under 
section 12. 
"PENALTIES 
"SEC. 14. Any person who willfully violates any of the provisions 
of section 13 shall upon conviction thereof be subject to a fine of not 
more than $10,000, or to imprisonment of not more than six months, 
or both. 
No person shall be imprisoned under this section except for 
an offense committed after the conviction of such person for a prior 
offense under this section. 
Prosecutions for violations of this Act 
shall be in the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions and 
shall be conducted by the Corporation Counsel of the District of 
Columbia. 
"EMPLOYEE REMEDIES 
"SEC. 15. (a) Any employer who pays any employee less than the 
wage to which such employee is entitled under this Act or any order or 
regulation issued thereunder, shall be liable to such employee in the 
amount of such unpaid wages, and in an additional equal amount as 
liquidated damages, except that if, in any action commenced to recover 
such unpaid wages or liquidated damages, the employer shows to the 
satisfaction of the court that the act or omission giving rise to such 
action was in good faith and that he had reasonable grounds for 
believing that his act or omission was not a ^dolation of this ,Act, the 
court may, in its sound discretion, award no liquidated damages, or 
award any amount thereof not to exceed the amount specified in this 
section. Action to recover such liability may be maintained in any 
court of competent jurisdiction in the District of Columbia by any one 
or more employees for and in behalf of himself or themselves and other 
employees similarly situated. No employee shall be a party plaintiff 
to any such action unless he gives his consent in writing to become such 
a party and such consent is filed in the court in which such action is 
brought. The court in such action shall allow a reasonable attorney's 
fee to be paid by the defendant, and costs of the action. Any agree-
ment between an employer and an employee to work for less than the 
wages to which such employee is entitled under this Act or any order 
or regulation issued tliereunder shall be no defense to any action to 
recover such unpaid wages or liquidated damages. 
"(b) At the written request of any employee paid less than the wage 
to which such employee is entitled under this Act or any order or regu-
lation issued thereunder, the Commissioners may take an assignment 
of such wage claim in trust for tlie assigning employee and may bring 
970 
PUBLIC LAW 89-684-OCT. 15, 1966 
[80 STAT. 
any legal action necessary to collect such claim. In such an action, the 
defendant shall be required to pay the costs and such reasonable attor-
ney's fees as may be allowed by the court. 
' (c) The Commissioners are authorized to supervise the payment of 
the unpaid wages owing to any employee under this Act or .any order 
or regulation issued thereunder, and the agreement of any employee 
to accept such payment shall upon payment in full constitute a waiver 
by such employee of any right he may liave under subsection (a) of 
this section to such unpaid wages and an additional equal amount as 
liquidated damages. 
(( 
STATUTE OF LIMrTATIONS 
"SEC. 16. Any action commenced on or after the effective date of 
the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Amendments Act of 1966 
to enforce any cause of action for unpaid wages or liquidated damages 
under this Act or any order or regulation issued thereunder may be 
commenced within three years after the cause of action accrued, and 
every such action shall be forever barred unless commenced within 
three years after the cause of action accrued. 
(( 
RIGHT OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 
"SEC. 17. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to interfere with, 
impede, or in any way diminish the right of employees to bargain 
collectively with their employers through representatives of their own 
choosing in order to establish wages or other conditions of work in 
excess of the standards applicable under the provisions of this Act. 
li SEPARABILITY OF PROVISIONS 
"SEC. 18, If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof 
to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the 
Act and the application thereof to other persons or circumstances 
sliall not be affected thereby. 
"SHORT TITLE 
"SEC. 19. This Act may be cited as the 'District of Columbia 
Minimum Wage Act'." 
A U T H O R I T Y T O DELEGATE FUNCTIONS 
SEC. 2. No amendments made by this Act shall be construed so as to 
affect the authority vested in the Board of Commissioners of the Dis-
trict of Columbia by Reorganization Plan Numbered 5 of 1952 (66 
D^-c- Code title 
Stat. 824). The performance of any function vested by this Act or 
by amendments made by this Act in the Board of Commissioners or in 
any office or agency under the jurisdiction and control of said Board 
of Commissioners may be delegated by said Board of Commissioners 
in accordance with section 3 of such plan, except the function of mak-
ing and adopting regulations to carry out the purposes of this Act or 
of any amendment made by this Act. 
DISTRICT O F COLUMBIA HOURS LAW 
SEC. 3. The Act entitled "An Act to regulate the hours of employ-
nlent and safeguard the health of females employed in the District of 
38 Stat. 291. 
ColumMa", approved Februar;^ 24, 1914 (D.C. Code, sec. 36-301), is 
amended by adding the following new section: 
1 app 
80 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-685-OCT. 15, 1966 
971 
''SEC. 10. The requirements of sections 1, 3, and 4, and so much of 
section 5 as relates to keeping records of hours Avorked, shall not be 
applicable in the case of a person employed in a bona fide executive, 
administrative, or professional capacity, or in the capacity of an out-
side salesperson, as such terms may from time to time be defined in 
regulations which the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are 
hereby authorized to adopt and promulgate, except that this sentence 
shall not be construed as relieving an employer from keeping records 
relating to tlie compensation paid any such person." 
EFFECTIVE DATE 
SEC. 4. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the amendments 
made by this Act shall take effect February 1,1967. 
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), the authority 
to promulgate necessary rules, regulations, and orders with regard to 
amendments made by this Act may be exercised by the Commissioners 
on and after the date of enactment of this Act. 
SHORT TITLE 
SEC. 6. This Act may be cited as the "District of Columbia Mini-
mum Wage Amendments Act of 1966". 
Approved October 1.5, 1966. 
Public Law 89-685 
AN A C T 
October 15, 1966 
To amend Public Law 89-284 relating to participation of the United States in 
[H. R. 15098] 
the HemisFair 1968 Exposition to be held in San Antonio, Texas, in 1968, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That section 2 of ExpoTiUonl'^Tex. 
Public Law 89-284 (79 Stat. 1026) is hereby amended by adding a new 
u.s. participa-
subsection (c) to read as follows: 
''°"' 
"(c) The President is authorized to appoint, by and with the advice ^ ^oumien\°b'"^' 
and consent of the Senate, a Commissioner for a Federal exhibit at President. 
HemisFair 1968 who shall be in the Department of Commerce and 
receive compensation at the rate prescribed for level V of the Federal 
Executive Salary Schedule. The Commissioner shall perform such 
5^us*c*'22/f' 
duties in the execution of this Act as the Secretary of Commerce may 
assign." 
SEC. 2. Subsection 3(b) of said Act is amended by (a) striking the 
words: "assist the planning staff established under subsection (a)." 
from the end of the first sentence of clause (1) and substituting there-
for the words: "carry out the provisions of this Act." and by striking 
the words "while engaged in the work of such planning staff" and 
"while so engaged" from the second sentence; 
(b) Striking the words: "the members of such planning staff and 
such secretarial, clerical, and other staff assistants as may be neces-
sary to enable such planning staff to perform its functions," from the 
first sentence of clause (2) and substituting therefor the words: "per-
sons, other than consultants and experts, referred to in (b) (1), wdio 
perform functions to carry out the provisions of this Act,";