Amend the Minimum Wage Law of the District of Columbia

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., in room 445-A, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Abraham J. Multer (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Multer and Springer.

Also present: James T. Clark, clerk; Donald Tubridy, minority clerk; and Leonard O. Hilder, investigator.

Mr. MULTER. Good morning.

We have met this morning to consider H.R. 8423, a bill to amend the District of Columbia minimum wage law to provide broader coverage, improved standards of minimum wage and overtime compensation protection, and improved means of enforcement.

(H.R. 8423 follows:)

[H.R. 8423, 88th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To amend the District of Columbia minimum wage law to provide broader coverage, improved standards of minimum wage and overtime compensation protection, and improved means of enforcement

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the District of Columbia minimum-wage law, approved September 19, 1918 (40 Stat. 960), as amended, is amended (except to the extent provided in section 3 of this Act) by striking out sections 1 through 23, inclusive, immediately following the designation "TITLE I-MINIMUM WAGES" and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"FINDING AND DECLARATION OF POLICY

"SECTION 1. (a) The Congress hereby finds that there are persons employed in some occupations in the District of Columbia at wages insufficient to provide adequate maintenance and to protect health. Such employment impairs the health, efficiency, and well-being of the persons so employed, constitutes unfair competition against other employers and their employees, threatens the stability of industry, reduces the purchasing power of employees, and requires, in many instances, that their wages be supplemented by the payment of public moneys for relief or other public and private assistance. Employment of persons at these insufficient rates of pay threatens the health and well-being of the people of the District of Columbia and injures the overall economy.

“(b) It is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act to correct and as rapidly as practicable to eliminate the conditions referred to herein above.

"SEC. 2. As used in this Act

"DEFINITIONS

"(a) 'Board' means the Minimum Wage and Industrial Safety Board established by Reorganization Order Numbered 36 promulgated on June 16, 1953, pursuant to Reorganization Plan Numbered 5 of 1952;

"(b) 'Wage' means compensation due to an employee by reason of his employment, payable in legal tender of the United States or checks on banks convertible into cash on demand at full face value, including such allowances as may be permitted by any order or regulation issued under section 3, 5, 6, or 7;

"(c) 'Employ' includes to suffer or permit to work;

"(d) 'Employer' includes any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or any person or group of persons, acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, but shall not include the United States or the District of Columbia;

"(e) 'Employee' includes any individual employed by an employer but shall not include any (1) individual who, without payment and without expectation of any gain, directly or indirectly, volunteers to engage in the activities of an educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization, or (2) lay member elected or appointed to office within the discipline of any religious organization and engaged in religious functions;

(f) 'Occupation' means any occupation, service, trade, business, industry, or branch or group of occupations or industries, or employment or class of employment, in which employees are gainfully employed;

"(g) "Gratuities' means voluntary monetary contributions received by an employee from a guest, patron, or customer for services rendered.

'MINIMUM WAGE OVERTIME COMPENSATION

"SEC. 3. (a) Every employer (except as otherwise provided in this Act) shall pay to each of his employees wages at a rate of not less than $1.25 an hour or such higher rate or rates applicable under a wage order issued pursuant to this Act.

"(b) No employer shall employ any of his employees for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed.

"(c) The minimum wage orders issued by the Board prior to the effective date of the amendments made by the Minimum Wage Amendments Act of 1963 shall remain in full force and effect, except that they shall, subject to the provisions of section 3 of that Act, be modified, effective on such effective date, as follows:

"(1) any such order which does not provide for minimum wages at a rate of at least $1.25 an hour shall be modified by order of the Board to provide for the payment of wages at a rate of not less than $1.25 an hour (except as otherwise provided in this Act);

"(2) all such orders shall be modified by order of the Board to provide for the payment of overtime compensation as prescribed in subsection (b) of this section; and

"(3) all such orders shall be modified by order of the Board to apply to all employees without regard to the sex of any employee (except as otherwise provided in this Act).

"(d) For those occupations with respect to which, on the date of the enactment of the Minimum Wage Amendments Act of 1963, there is no existing minimum wage order, the Board shall issue an order, effective on the effective date of the amendments made by such Act, providing for minimum wages at a rate of not less than $1.25 an hour and for the payment of overtime compensation as prescribed in subsection (b) of this section.

"(e) The minimum wage orders issued by the Board prior to the date of the enactment of the Minimum Wage Amendments Act of 1963 shall be modified by the Board on or after the effective date of the amendments made by such Act in order to accommodate, as the Board deems necessary, the definitions and regulations of such orders to carry out the purposes of this Act, to prevent the circumyention or evasion thereof, and to safeguard the minimum wage rates and overtime provisions established therein. The wage orders containing such revisions of definitions and regulations shall take effect upon the expiration of thirty days after the date on which they were made by the Board.

"(f) For those occupations with respect to which on the date of the enactment of the Minimum Wage Amendments Act of 1963 there is no existing minimum wage order, the Board shall, with or without reference to an ad hoc advisory committee as specified in section 5(a), make one or more wage orders which may include unrelated occupations. Such order or orders shall include the minimum wage and overtime provisions as prescribed in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, and include such definitions and regulations as prescribed in section 7 as the Board deems necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act, to prevent the circumvention or evasion thereof, and to safeguard the minimum wage rates and over

time provisions established therein. The Board shall publish a notice once a week, for four successive weeks, in a newspaper of general circulation printed in the District of Columbia, stating that it will, on a date and at a place named in the notice, hold a public hearing on such order or orders at which all interested persons will be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard. Such notice shall contain a summary of the major provisions of such order or orders. Within thirty days after such hearing, the Board may make such order or orders as may be proper or necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Act. Notice of such order or orders shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation printed in the District of Columbia and such order or orders shall take effect upon the expiration of sixty days after the date on which such order or orders were made by the Board.

"POWERS AND DUTIES OF BOARD

"SEC. 4. (a) The Minimum Wage and Industrial Safety Board established by Reorganization Order Numbered 36 promulgated on June 16, 1953, pursuant to Reorganization Plan Numbered 5 of 1952 shall continue in existence. The Board shall be subject to all of the provisions set forth in Reorganization Order Numbered 36 and shall have the authority vested in it by such reorganization order and by the provisions of this Act.

"(b) The Board or its authorized representative shall, in addition to the foregoing authority, have authority

"(1) to investigate and ascertain the wages of persons employed in any occupation in the District of Columbia;

"(2) to enter and inspect the place of business or employment of any employer in the District of Columbia for the purpose of examining and inspecting any or all books, registers, payrolls, and other records of any such employer that in any way relate to or have a bearing upon the wages, hours, and other conditions of employment of any employees; to copy any or all of such books, registers, payrolls, and other records as the Board or its authorized representative may deem necessary or appropriate, and question such employee for the purpose of ascertaining whether the provisions of this Act and the orders and regulations issued thereunder have been and are being complied with; and

"(3) to require from any such employer full and correct statements in writing, including sworn statements, with respect to wages, hours, names, addresses, and such other information pertaining to the employment of his employees as the Board or its authorized representative may deem necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Act.

"REVISION OF WAGE ORDERS

"SEC. 5. (a) At any time after a wage order has been in effect for one year the Board may on its own motion, or on the petition of fifty or more residents of the District of Columbia, reconsider the wage rates set therein. If, after investigation, the Board is of the opinion that any substantial number of workers in the occupation covered by such wage order are receiving wages insufficient to provide adequate maintenance and to protect health it may convene an ad hoc advisory committee for the purpose of considering and inquiring into and reporting to the Board on the subject investigated by the Board and submitted by it to such committee.

"(b) The committee shall be composed of not more than three persons representing the employers in such occupation, of an equal number representing the employees in such occupation, of not more than three persons representing the public, and one or more members of the Board. The Board shall name and appoint all the members of the committee and designate the chairman thereof. Two-thirds of the members of the committee shall constitute a quorum and the decision or recommendation or report of the committee on such subject submitted to it shall require an affirmative vote of not less than a majority of all its members. "(c) The Board shall present to the committee the information relating to the subject it submitted to the committee, and may cause to be brought before the committee any witnesses whose testimony the Board considers material.

"(d) Within sixty days after the convening of the committee by the Board, the committee shall make and transmit to the Board a report containing its findings and recommendations on the subject submitted to it by the Board including recommendations as to minimum wages for employees in the occupation which will effectuate the purposes of this Act, taking into consideration the amount of wages sufficient to provide adequate maintenance and to protect

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Amend the Minimum Wage Law of the District of Columbia: Hearing...88-1 ...