In 2018, when the DC Council overturned Initiative 77, they included a requirement that all businesses paying the tipped minimum wage report wages and tips to the DC Department of Employment Services (DOES). Four years later, we have discovered widespread noncompliance.
We were forced to use the Freedom of Information Act to finally gain access to the information DOES collects. After reviewing the data from April 2021 - March 2022, we were able to see how many restaurants actually followed the law and filed quarterly reports. What we found was most restaurants do not. Nearly two out of every three DC restaurants (65%) never submitted their wages over the course of a year.
What is most disheartening is the lack of reporting by some of DC's biggest names. We did not find the Hamilton, Le Diplomate, or any of Jose Andres' restaurants in the reports. These multi-million dollar companies rely on tipped workers for their success, but fail to even provide the transparency required by law.
The restaurant industry is rampant with wage theft. If restaurants and other businesses continue to break the law, there is no way to know that tipped workers are actually making the wages they are owed. DC workers and consumers deserve better.
DC JWJ wants to thank our partner ROC-DC in the creation of this report, as well as our pro bono council Christopher Bangs and Murphy Anderson PLLC who helped secure the answers to our FOIA requests. Without them, this work would not be possible. ?
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