District of Columbia labor laws, including District of Columbia labor laws 2025, impact the daily lives of employees and employers in District of Columbia. Residents of District of Columbia have many questions that affect them every day regarding District of Columbia labor laws from minimum wage rates, overtime, wage payments, vacation and sick leave, child labor, meal and rest breaks, and more.
In addition to District of Columbia labor laws, employer must also comply with federal labor laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and many other federal laws. And when federal laws are different from state District of Columbia labor laws, usually companies must comply with the law that provides their workers the best protection.
Below we provide comprehensive information and resources regarding your more pressing District of Columbia labor law questions to help you answer the question and help you make the right decision about you and your employment.
Minimum Wage
The current minimum wage in the District of Columbia is $17.50. All employers must pay their staff at this rate unless they are exempt from federal and state laws.
Tipped employees in the state have a minimum wage of $10.00 per hour, as long as tipped employees earn tips. They must earn the standard minimum wage when their tipped wages and tips are combined.
If not, employers are responsible for accommodating the difference to meet the standard minimum wage. In some situations, employers could be allowed to pay their employees a subminimum wage.Visit our District of Columbia minimum wage information page to learn more about the minimum wage in the District of Columbia.
Related topics covered on other pages include:
Overtime
District of Columbia labor laws require employers to pay employees 1½ times their regular rate for all hours worked in a workweek in excess of forty (40) hours. D.C. Code 32-1003. Some exceptions apply. An employer must also comply with federal overtime laws. See FLSA. Federal law will apply in cases where it benefits employees more, otherwise, District of Columbia law applies.
Prevailing Wages
Under certain circumstances, employers in DC may be required to pay residents wage rates established by the federal prevailing wage rates and rules. The prevailing wage rates may be different from the city’s standard minimum wage rates. Employees may be eligible for prevailing wages if they work on federal or government-funded construction projects or perform certain federal government services. See the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA), and Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act (PCA) for more information about prevailing wages.
Meals and Breaks
District of Columbia labor laws do not have any meal or break requirements for employers, thus the federal rules apply. The federal rule does not require an employer to provide either a meal (lunch) period or breaks. However, if an employer chooses to do so, breaks, usually of the type lasting less than twenty (20) minutes, must be paid. Meal or lunch periods (usually thirty (30) minutes or more) do not need to be paid, so long as the employee is free to do as they wish during the meal or lunch period. DOL: Breaks and Meal Periods.
Nursing Mother Breaks
The District of Columbia labor laws require employers to provide employees who are nursing mothers with reasonable breaks times to express breast milk unless doing so would create an undue hardship on the operations of the employer. Employers may request employees who are nursing to take breaks to express milk when possible at the same time as other paid break periods. Employers are not required to pay employees for breaks to express milk if the breaks do not coincide with other paid breaks.
Employers must make reasonable efforts to provide nursing mother employees with private locations where nursing mothers may express breast milk. The locations must be in close proximity to the nursing mothers’ work areas. Toilet stalls and bathrooms do not meet the minimum standards for the nursing mothers location.
Reasonable efforts to provide the minimum requirements for nursing mother locations may not impose an undue hardship on the employer’s business. Whether an employer will suffer an undue hardship involves how significant the difficulty or expense of meeting the legal standard for nursing mother breaks will be related to such factors as:
- the size of the business
- its financial resources
- the nature and structure of its operation
Vacation Leave
District of Columbia employers aren’t required to give their employees unpaid or paid vacation leave. However, if employers have private policies, they must follow the guidelines outlined in their employment contracts.
Additionally, employers are required to pay their employees accrued vacation leave upon termination of employment. The only instances where employers can deny payment for accrued vacation is if the employment contract says so.
Also, employers cannot cap accrued vacation time unless the employee’s contract states as much. Employers also have the responsibility to review vacation policies alongside their employees. Employees can agree to limited vacation leave policies if they know the guidelines before performing work.Visit our District of Columbia vacation leave information page to learn more about vacation leave in the District of Columbia.
Sick Leave
Employers in the District of Columbia must provide employees with paid sick leave. They could also be required to provide unpaid leave due to the District of Columbia’s Family and Medical Leave Act. There could also be federal guidelines for employers to provide unpaid sick leave.
Employers who allow employees to accrue sick leave benefits might have to pay for accrued benefits upon employment termination. One exception is if employees knowingly agree to forfeit paid sick leave benefits in their employment contract. Employees must also be advised if there is a cap on accrued sick leave before starting work.
Visit our District of Columbia sick leave information page to learn more about sick leave in the District of Columbia.
Holiday Leave
There’s only one law in the District of Columbia regarding unpaid or paid time off for holiday leave. Employers must allow employees to take April 16th (District of Columbia Emancipation Day) off unless it disrupts the daily operations.
Employees must also notify their employers 10 days in advance that they will be taking the holiday. Otherwise, employers in the state aren’t required to provide unpaid or paid holiday leave.
Employers can require employees to work on holidays at their standard wage rate. This could change if an employee’s hours contribute to overtime, in which case, they will receive a premium pay rate. In these instances, employers must abide by overtime laws when adjusting an employee’s pay rate.
Visit our District of Columbia holiday leave information page to learn more about holiday leave in the District of Columbia.
Jury Duty Leave
District of Columbia employers must provide leave to employees responding to a jury summons. There aren’t any laws that specify employees must be paid for their time off. However, employers cannot terminate, threaten, or coerce their employees for responding to jury duty.
Employers who do any of the above could be found guilty of criminal contempt. The penalties for such a crime include a $300 fine and 30 days in jail. Employees terminated for attending jury duty may file a claim in civil court within nine months of the offense.
Visit our District of Columbia jury duty leave information page to learn more about jury duty leave in the District of Columbia.
Voting Leave
Currently, there aren’t any laws that require employers to provide employees with unpaid or paid time off to vote.
Visit our District of Columbia voting leave information page to learn more about voting leave in the District of Columbia.
Severance Pay
District of Columbia labor laws do not have any laws requiring an employer to pay severance pay to an employee. If an employer chooses to provide severance benefits, it must comply with the terms of its established policy or employment contract.
Unemployment
In the District of Columbia, workers can apply for unemployment benefits while seeking another job. However, there are specific eligibility requirements that must be met, including:
- Applicants must have made at least $1,950 in wages for their entire base period.
- Applicants must be unemployed through no fault of their own.
- Applicants must be available for work.
- Applicants must be physically able to work.
- Applicants must actively seek work while receiving benefits.
- Applicants cannot be receiving unemployment benefits from another state.
Visit District of Columbia’s unemployment information page to learn more about unemployment benefits in the District of Columbia.
Other District of Columbia Labor Laws Topics and Resources
There are several other District of Columbia labor laws governing the employers and their workplaces. Below are those topics and resources:
- Washington, DC, child labor laws for children 17 years of age and younger including topics including work during school hours and summer hours, school days and non-school days, summer days of employment (usually June 1 to Labor Day), hour restrictions, work permits, and hazardous occupations.
- The DC Commission on Human Rights enforces and protects employees workplace civil rights and against discrimination and retaliation. Employees are also protected by federal discrimination laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The state and federal discrimination laws offer employees protections and violations based on the following:
| Disability (a mental or physical impairment) | Sex, including sexual harassment | Gender expression | National Origin |
| Race | Sexual orientation | Religion | Ancestry |
| Creed | Gender identity | Age (40+) | Pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions |
| Color | Genetic information | Marital status | Family responsibilities |
| Matriculation | Political affiliation | Domestic violence, sexual offense, or stalking victim status of employee or employee’s family member | Credit informaiton |
| Homeless status |
- District of Columbia labor laws regarding wage payment laws including covering frequency and manner of wage payments, regular paydays, payday, pay periods, deductions, direct deposit and payroll cards, wage statement, record keeping, final paychecks, and notice requirements.
- District of Columbia labor laws regarding minimum wage and overtime exemptions covering non-exempt employees and exempt employees.
- Washington, DC labor law regarding hours worked including rest breaks, meal breaks, on-call, waiting, travel, sleeping, and meeting times.
- The DC Office of Workers’ Compensation helps employer comply with laws and regulations regarding workplace safety and health. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) which covers federal workplace safety and health requirements.
- Active duty employees, including those in the national guard, and veterans may also be eligible for military leave under the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
- The DC Office of Workers’ Compensation manages workers’ compensation in the District of Columbia and worker compensation insurance claims and enforcement. Employees who are injured on the job may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits that minimizes the financial impact on the employee.
- Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, employers in Washington, DC, are required to provide 60-day advanced notice to any employees that may be impacted by a business closing or mass layoff if 50 or more employees will be impacted.
- If Washington, DC employers provide employees health insurance benefits, they must comply with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) that provides health coverage protections to employees under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in the hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce, and other life events.
- Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, employers must provide applicants and employees prior notice before conducting background checks involving credit reports. Other rules and limitation may also apply.
