§ 32-1011 — Penalties; prosecution.

(a) Any person who willfully or negligently violates any of the provisions of § 32-1010 shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000, or to imprisonment of not more than 6 months, or both.

(b) No person shall be imprisoned under this section except for an offense committed willfully or after the conviction of that person for a prior offense under this section.

(c) Prosecutions for violations of this subchapter shall be in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and shall be conducted by the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

(1) In addition to and apart from the penalties or remedies provided for in this section or § 32-1012 , the Mayor shall assess and collect administrative penalties as follows:

(A) For the first violation of § 32-1003 , $50 for each employee or person whose rights under this subchapter are violated for each day that the violation occurred or continued;

(B) For any subsequent violation of § 32-1003 , $100 for each employee or person whose rights under this subchapter are violated for each day that the violation occurred or continued;

(C) $500 for each failure to maintain payroll records or to retain payroll records for 3 years or the prevailing federal standard at the time the record is created, which shall be identified in rules issued pursuant to this chapter , whichever is greater, for each violation as required by § 32-1008(a)(1) ;

(D) $500 for each failure to allow the Mayor to inspect payroll records or perform any other investigation pursuant to § 32-1008(a)(2) or § 32-1010(a)(4) ;

(E) $500 for each failure to provide each employee an itemized wage statement or the written notice as required by § 32-1008(b) and (c); and

(E-i) $500 against an employer for each failure to timely submit the quarterly wage report required pursuant to § 32-1009.01 , in its entirety, unless the employer proves that it used a third-party payroll business to process the relevant quarter's payroll for the employer.

(F) $100 for each day that the employer fails to post notice as required under § 32-1009(a) .

(2) The Mayor may assess more than one administrative penalty against an employer for the same adversely affected employee if the employer has violated more than one statutory provision of this subchapter, subchapter X-A of Chapter 2 of Title 2 [ § 2-220.01 et seq.], or Chapter 1A of this title [ § 32-131.01 et seq.].

(e) Repealed.

(f) The fine set forth in this section shall not be limited by § 22-3571.01 .

(g) The administrative fines and penalties collected under this section shall be deposited into the Wage Theft Prevention Fund, established by § 32-1308.01 .

Legislative History

Mar. 25, 1993, D.C. Law 9-248, § 12, 40 DCR 761; Apr. 3, 2001, D.C. Law 13-245, § 2, 48 DCR 647; June 11, 2013, D.C. Law 19-317, § 112(d), 60 DCR 2064; Feb. 26, 2015, D.C. Law 20-157, § 3(g), 61 DCR 10157