2023 District of Columbia Code › Title 32 - Labor › Chapter 1C - Public Information Regarding District Labor Laws › § 32–162. Public awareness campaign and violation tip line

§ 32–162. Public awareness campaign and violation tip line.
(a)(1) No later than 180 days after October 1, 2020, the Mayor shall launch a public-education campaign to raise awareness and educate the public about the rights of tipped workers pursuant to subchapter I of Chapter 10 of this title, Chapter 13 of this title, and subchapter III of Chapter 5 of this title.
(6) All materials prepared and distributed in accordance with this subsection must contain a telephone number and internet website address for the Department of Employment Services and the Office of the Attorney General where an employee can obtain additional information about the employee's workplace rights or file a complaint.
(2) The campaign shall include the preparation of written materials, available in concise physical format, that state in plain language the rights of tipped workers under the laws identified in paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(3) The campaign shall place particular emphasis on communities that are most at risk for wage and labor violations and shall publicize resources available to tipped workers to protect against wage theft.
(4) The Mayor shall distribute such materials to all workplaces that employ employees paid pursuant to § 32-1003(f), and employers shall distribute the materials to all employees.
(5) The campaign shall comply with subchapter II of Chapter 19 of Title 2.
(b)(1) The Mayor shall create a reporting system that permits the public to report violations of subchapter X-A of Chapter 2 of Title 2, subchapter III of Chapter 5 of this title, subchapter I of Chapter 10 of this title, and Chapter 13 of this title.
(2) The reporting system shall:
(A) Be accessible to the public by the Internet and telephone 24 hours each day and 7 days each week for the entire calendar year;
(B) For the telephone component:
(i) Have live staff available to take complaints, answer basic questions, and provide resources during business hours; and
(ii) During non-business hours, have a voice-messaging system available on which an individual may leave his or her contact information so that his or her message can be returned;
(B-i) For the Internet component:
(i) Be user-friendly, including the ability to be accessed and viewed via mobile devices such as smartphones, to enable an employee to easily report an alleged violation of the laws identified in paragraph (1) of this subsection; and
(ii) Include video tutorials on how to report alleged violations of the laws identified in paragraph (1) of this subsection;
(C) Comply with subchapter II of Chapter 19 of Title 2; and
(D) Allow for anonymous reporting.
(3) The Mayor shall review all reports collected on the reporting system on a weekly basis.
(4) The Mayor may investigate whether violations reported through the reporting system established by this subsection have occurred.
(Dec. 13, 2018, D.C. Law 22-196, § 4, 65 DCR 12049; Sept. 11, 2019, D.C. Law 23-16, § 2102(c), 66 DCR 8621; July 12, 2022, D.C. Law 24-147, § 160, 69 DCR 003386.)
Applicability
Section 7065 of D.C. Law 23-149 amended section 8 of D.C. Law 22-196 removing the applicability provision impacting this section. Therefore, the creation of this section by section 4 of Law 22-196 has been implemented.
D.C. Law 23-16, § 2102(c), amended this section which is subject to appropriations pursuant to § 8 of D.C. Law 22-196. Therefore the amendment made by D.C. Law 23-16 has not been implemented.
Applicability of D.C. Law 22-196: § 8 of D.C. Law 22-196 provided that the creation of this section by § 4 of D.C. Law 22-196 is subject to the inclusion of the law’s fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan. Therefore that amendment has not been implemented.
Emergency Legislation
For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 2102(c)(2) of Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2019 (D.C. Act 23-112, Sept. 4, 2019, 66 DCR 11964).
For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 2102(c)(2) of Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2019 (D.C. Act 23-91, July 22, 2019, 66 DCR 8497).