DC Wage Law: Minimum Wage, Overtime, Sick Leave, and Pay Rules

DC wage law sets a higher floor than federal rules on nearly every point that matters to a paycheck: a $17.95 hourly minimum wage rising to $18.40 on July 1, 2026, overtime after 40 hours in a week, paid sick leave that workers earn as they go, paid family leave funded by an employer payroll tax, and strict deadlines for final paychecks backed by triple damages when employers pay late. The D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES) Office of Wage-Hour investigates complaints, and workers have three years from the violation to file.

The Minimum Wage and Who It Covers

The standard minimum wage in the District is $17.95 per hour as of July 1, 2025, and increases to $18.40 per hour on July 1, 2026.¹ The rate adjusts every July 1 based on the prior year’s change in the Consumer Price Index for the Washington metro area, rounded to the nearest five cents. DOES publishes the new figure at least 30 days before it takes effect.²

Coverage reaches further than many workers assume. You are covered if you regularly spend more than half your working time in D.C., or if your employment is based in D.C. and you don’t spend more than half your time in any single other state.² A worker based in a D.C. office who splits the rest of the week between Virginia and Maryland is generally covered, as long as neither state accounts for more than half the hours.

Tipped Workers

Initiative 82, passed by voters in 2022, is phasing out the lower base wage for tipped employees. The D.C. Council amended the law in July 2025 to slow the schedule, so the tipped base will reach 75% of the standard minimum wage by 2034 rather than full parity.²

Through July 1, 2026, the tipped base wage stays at $10.00 per hour. After that, it moves to a percentage of the standard rate:

July 1, 2026: 56% of the standard minimum wage
July 1, 2028: 60%
July 1, 2030: 65%
July 1, 2032: 70%
July 1, 2034: 75%

If tips plus base pay don’t reach the full minimum wage in any pay period, the employer must cover the shortfall.² The obligation runs pay period by pay period, not averaged across a month or quarter.

Overtime

D.C. follows the federal Fair Labor Standards Act standard: non-exempt employees earn at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours past 40 in a workweek.³ The regular rate includes commissions and nondiscretionary bonuses, not just base pay. Each seven-day workweek stands on its own; employers can’t average two weeks together to avoid the threshold.

Executive, administrative, and professional employees may be exempt if they pass both a duties test and a salary test. For 2026, the federal salary floor stays at $684 per week ($35,568 annually). Anyone paid less than that is entitled to overtime no matter what their title says. Misclassification is a common violation, and the remedy includes back pay plus liquidated damages.

Paid Sick and Safe Leave

Every employer in the District must provide paid leave that workers accrue as they work. The rate depends on employer size:⁴

100 or more employees: one hour per 37 hours worked, up to 7 days per year
25 to 99 employees: one hour per 43 hours worked, up to 5 days per year
24 or fewer employees: one hour per 87 hours worked, up to 3 days per year

Leave can be used for your own illness, medical appointments, preventive care, or to care for a sick family member. The “safe leave” portion covers time off to handle domestic violence, stalking, or sexual abuse, including seeking legal help, relocating, or attending court. Unused hours carry over year to year, though employers don’t have to pay them out at separation. Willful violations draw fines of $1,000 for the first offense, $1,500 for the second, and $2,000 for each one after that, and retaliation for using leave is prohibited.⁵

Paid Family Leave

D.C.’s Universal Paid Family Leave program is funded by an employer payroll tax, not employee contributions, and pays wage replacement up to a current maximum of $1,153 per week.⁶ In any 52-week period, eligible workers can receive up to:⁷

12 weeks of parental leave to bond with a new child by birth, adoption, or foster placement
12 weeks of family leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition
12 weeks of medical leave for the worker’s own serious health condition
2 weeks of prenatal leave

Workers apply through the DOES Office of Paid Family Leave with documentation such as a birth certificate or medical certification. The program runs alongside federal FMLA, which provides unpaid, job-protected leave at employers with 50 or more workers. Eligibility for one program doesn’t automatically mean eligibility for the other.

When Your Paycheck Is Due

Most D.C. employers must pay workers at least twice per month on pre-announced paydays, with no more than 10 working days between the end of a pay period and payday. Executive, administrative, and professional employees can be paid monthly.⁸

Final paycheck deadlines are tight. If you’re fired, all earned wages are due by the next business day. If you resign without a written employment contract longer than 30 days, the employer must pay by the next regular payday or within 7 days, whichever comes first. A narrow exception gives employers 4 days to verify accounts when the employee handled employer funds.⁹

Late final paychecks trigger liquidated damages of 10% of the unpaid amount for each working day the delay continues, capped at triple the unpaid wages.¹⁰ The daily accrual is why these disputes are among the most common claims DOES processes.

Pay Ranges in Job Postings

D.C.’s Wage Transparency law requires employers to include a minimum and maximum salary or hourly pay range in every job listing, promotion posting, and transfer opportunity. The range must reflect what the employer genuinely expects to pay at the time of posting. Employers also have to tell applicants about available healthcare benefits before the first interview.¹¹

The law doesn’t force employers to disclose current employees’ pay in response to coworker questions, and it doesn’t force employees to share their own. Separately, D.C. law prohibits retaliation against workers who choose to discuss wages with each other.

Penalties for Wage Theft

An employer who underpays the minimum wage or fails to pay proper overtime owes liquidated damages of triple the unpaid wages.¹² A court can reduce the multiplier, but never below the full amount of the unpaid wages, and only when the employer proves all three of these: the violation was in good faith, the employer had reasonable grounds to believe it was compliant, and the employer promptly paid the full amount after discovering the error. Meeting all three is difficult, so the good-faith defense rarely succeeds in practice.

Late final paychecks follow the 10%-per-day or triple-wages formula above.⁹ Sick leave violations carry the escalating fine schedule. Successful wage claims also recover attorney’s fees, which makes smaller cases practical to bring.

Filing a Wage Complaint

Complaints go to the DOES Office of Wage-Hour, which handles claims for unpaid wages, overtime, minimum wage shortfalls, denied sick leave, and retaliation. You can file by email at owh.ask@dc.gov, by phone at (202) 671-1880, or by mail at 4058 Minnesota Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20019.¹³

The statute of limitations is three years from the date of the violation.¹⁴ File sooner rather than later. Collect pay stubs, time records, and written communications about your pay before you submit. One boundary worth knowing: if you work in Maryland or Virginia for an employer headquartered in D.C., you file with those states’ labor departments, not with DOES.

1
D.C. Department of Employment Services. District of Columbia Minimum Wage Increase Notice
2
D.C. Law Library. DC Code 32-1003 – Requirements
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Overtime Pay
4
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 32-531.02
5
D.C. Department of Employment Services. Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act Fact Sheet
6
D.C. Department of Employment Services. Workers – Office of Paid Family Leave
7
D.C. Law Library. DC Code 32-541.04 – Duration and Amount of Benefits
8
D.C. Law Library. DC Code 32-1302 – When Wages Must Be Paid; Exceptions
9
D.C. Law Library. DC Code 32-1303 – Payment of Wages Upon Discharge or Resignation
10
D.C. Law Library. Subchapter I – Payment and Collection of Wages
11
D.C. Law Library. Chapter 14A – Wage Transparency
12
D.C. Law Library. DC Code 32-1012 – Civil Actions
13
D.C. Department of Employment Services. Office of Wage-Hour for Employees
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D.C. Department of Employment Services. Office of Wage-Hour Frequently Asked Questions