News Release – DC Office of the Attorney General
Jan. 2, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) resolved two wage theft enforcement actions against two District employers that require them to pay nearly $500,000 in relief to harmed workers and penalties to the District. In a settlement with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), Rock Spring Contracting, LLC, a construction company, is required to pay over $280,000 for allegedly misclassifying workers as independent contractors and depriving them of legally-mandated paid sick leave and overtime pay. …
Under the District’s Workplace Fraud Act, which applies to the construction industry, companies are required to classify most workers as employees and those who fail to do so can face significant penalties. …
OAG’s Increased Efforts to Fight Wage Theft
In 2017, OAG worked with the Council of the District of Columbia to grant the agency independent authority to investigate and bring wage theft cases, and to increase penalties on employers who violate the District’s wage and hour laws. Since then, OAG has launched more than 30 investigations into wage theft and payroll fraud and has taken action against a home health care provider, a national electrical contracting firm, KFC franchises, a cell phone store, a cafe chain, and other businesses that harmed District workers. AG Racine also recently testified before Congress and highlighted findings from an OAG report about how worker misclassification-a type of payroll fraud-hurts workers, undercuts law-abiding businesses, and cheats taxpayers. Read our latest factsheet on OAG’s work to protect District workers.