How to Fill Out and Provide the DC Notice of Hire Form

Every private employer in the District of Columbia must give each new worker a completed DC Notice of Hire form on the first day of work, using the Department of Employment Services template or an equivalent that captures the same pay information. Skipping it costs $500 per employee who never received one.¹ The form is one page, but the fields have to be accurate, because the signed notice becomes the baseline record if the employee ever disputes their wages.

Where to Get the Template

The Department of Employment Services (DOES) publishes downloadable Notice of Hire templates on its Office of Wage-Hour for Employers page, including a multilingual version linked as “Notice of Hire to Employees Template – All Languages.”² You are not required to use the DOES form verbatim. A self-made version works as long as it contains every piece of information the statute requires.³ Most employers use the official template because the fields are already laid out correctly.

Employer Information

The top of the form identifies the business. Complete these fields:

Full legal company name and any DBA or trade name.
Permanent physical address of the main office or principal place of business.
Mailing address, or check “Same as Physical Address” if it matches.
A working phone number where the business can be reached.

If a wage complaint is filed later, investigators contact you at the address and number on this form.⁴ A P.O. box in the physical-address field or a disconnected line will not help your credibility during an audit.

Pay Basis, Rate, and Allowances

This is the section that causes the most trouble when filled out sloppily. You need to record how the employee is paid, how much, and how often.

Select the basis of payment: hourly, shift, daily, weekly, salary, piece rate, or commission. Enter the corresponding dollar amount. If the worker is paid under more than one basis, such as an hourly rate plus commission, list each rate separately.³ The rate cannot fall below the District’s minimum wage, which rises to $18.40 per hour on July 1, 2026.⁵

If you take a tip, meal, or lodging credit toward the minimum wage, check the box and enter the amount. Tipped workers have a base minimum wage of $10.30 per hour beginning July 1, 2026, and the employer must make up the difference if tips do not bring the worker to the full $18.40.⁵ If no allowances apply, check “None.”

Enter the pay frequency: weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly. DC law requires workers to be paid on a regular payday at least twice per month, so a monthly frequency is not compliant for most employees.⁶ Write in the specific payday, such as “every other Friday.” That commits you to a schedule; inconsistent pay after that is a separate violation.

Overtime Status

The form asks whether the employee is eligible for overtime. Non-exempt workers must be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour worked beyond 40 in a workweek. When an employee earns pay under multiple rates, the overtime rate is calculated on the weighted average of those rates for the week.³

If the employee is exempt, state the reason. The DOES form limits the options to the three recognized categories under both DC regulations and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act: bona fide executive, administrative, or professional.³ If you are unsure whether a position qualifies, sort that out before signing the notice. Classifying someone as exempt who should be earning overtime is one of the fastest paths to a wage complaint.

Employee Signature and Language

The employee signs and dates the acknowledgment at the bottom. That signature confirms they received the pay information and identifies their primary language, which is a required field.³

The notice is always provided in English. If the employee’s primary language is one for which DOES publishes a dual-language version, you must also give them the translated notice. DOES currently offers a dual-language English–Spanish template. For any other language, contact the Office of Wage-Hour at 202-671-1880 to ask whether a version is available.³ The acknowledgment has a checkbox for cases where the primary language is not yet offered, so the employee can note that they received the notice in English only.

When to Provide It, and When to Reissue

New employees must receive the completed form at the time of hire, meaning the day work begins, not later in the first week and not after orientation.⁴ The rule applies to every private employer operating in the District, including those hiring domestic workers. Federal and District government employers are excluded.

The obligation does not stop at onboarding. Any time the employee’s pay rate, pay basis, overtime status, or other information on the form changes, you must issue an updated written notice before the change takes effect.⁶ A raise, a switch from hourly to salary, or a change in payday all trigger a new notice. Treating this as a one-time task is the most common mistake employers make with this form.

Recordkeeping

After signing, give the employee a copy and keep the original. DC law requires employers to preserve employment records, including pay rate, hours worked, and amounts paid, for at least three years, or the prevailing federal standard at the time the record is created, whichever is longer.⁷ The signed Notice of Hire falls squarely within this requirement, and it is the first document an auditor asks for during a wage investigation.

Penalties for Skipping It

Failing to provide the Notice of Hire is a $500 penalty for each employee who never received one.¹ An employer who skips the form for 20 workers is looking at $10,000 in administrative penalties before any underlying wage claim is considered. The DC Attorney General can also bring a civil action for restitution, injunctive relief, and statutory penalties, with reasonable attorney’s fees available to prevailing employees.⁸

Other Notices Due at Hire

The Notice of Hire is not the only document a new worker is owed on day one. Under the Universal Paid Leave Act, DC employers must inform employees of their paid family leave rights upon hiring, again annually, and whenever paid leave is needed. Model notices are available from the DC government.⁹

If you classify a worker as an independent contractor or exempt person rather than an employee, a separate written notice is required at hire that explains the implications of that classification and provides contact information for the Mayor’s office. Missing that notice carries its own $500-per-worker penalty and counts as evidence of a knowing misclassification violation.¹⁰ Bundling these notices into a single onboarding packet is the cleanest way to keep up with all of them.

1
D.C. Law Library. DC Code 32-1011 – Penalties; Prosecution
2
District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. Office of Wage-Hour for Employers
3
Department of Employment Services. District of Columbia Notice of Hire Form
4
District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. The Wage Theft Prevention Amendment Act of 2014
5
District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. District of Columbia Minimum Wage Increase
6
Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. Wage and Hour Laws
7
D.C. Law Library. DC Code 32-1306 – Enforcement, Records and Subpoenas
8
D.C. Law Library. DC Law 21-266 – Wage Theft Prevention Clarification and Overtime Fairness Amendment Act of 2016
9
DOES Office of Paid Family Leave. Employers
10
D.C. Law Library. DC Code 32-1331.12 – Employer Record-Keeping Requirements