Amendments to the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Law

shall be no defense to any action to recover such unpaid wages or liquidated damages.

"(b) At the written request of any employee paid less than the wage to which such employee is entitled under this Act or any order or regulation issued there under, the Board may take an assignment of such wage claim in trust for the assigning employee and may bring any legal action necessary to collect such claim. In such an action, the defendant shall be required to pay the costs and such reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court.

"(c) The Board is authorized to supervise the payment of the unpaid wages Owing to any employee under this Act or any order or regulation issued thereuder, and the agreement of any employee to accept such payment shall upon payment in full constitute a waiver by such employee of any right he may have under subsection (a) of this section to such unpaid wages and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages.

"STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

SEC. 16. Any action commenced on or after the effective date of the Minimum Wage Amendments Act of 1963 to enforce any cause of action for unpaid wages or liquidated damages, under this Act or any order or regulation issued thereunder may be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrued, and every such action shall be forever barred unless commenced within three years after the cause of action accrued.

"RIGHT OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

"SEC. 17. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to interfere with, impede, or in any way diminish the right of employees to bargain collectively with their employers through representatives of their own choosing in order to establish wages or other conditions of work in excess of the standards applicable under the provisions of this Act.

"SEPARABILITY OF PROVISIONS

"SEC. 18. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the application thereof to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby."

SEC. 2. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the amendments made by this Act shall take effect upon the expiration of one hundred and eighty days after the date of its enactment.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), the authority to promulgate necessary rules, regualtions, and orders with regard to amendments made by this Act may be exercised by the Board and the Board of Commissioners on and after the date of enactment of this Act. The modifications of existing wage orders and regulations and the issuance of one or more new wage orders and regulations necessary to comply with the provisions of section 3 of the Act of September 19, 1918 (40 Stat. 960), as amended by this Act, shall be effected in advance of the effective date of the amendments made by this Act and shall become operative on such date.

SEC. 3. No amendments made by this Act shall be deemed to amend, rescind, or otherwise affect any provision of law of the District of Columbia or any regulation or order issued thereunder which, on the date immediately prior to the effective date of the amendments made by this Act, prescribes additional or more favorable standards relating to minimum wages, maximum hours, overtime compensation, or other working conditions than those provided for by the amendments made by this Act or by any regulation or order issued thereunder. Any regulation or order preserved by this section may be revised from time to time under the procedures provided for by the amendments made by this Act. The enforcement procedures and penalties for violations prescribed in the amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to violations of any regulation or order preserved by this section.

AUTHORITY TO DELEGATE FUNCTIONS

SEC. 4. No amendments made by this Act shall be construed so as to affect the authority vested in the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia by Reorganization Plan Numbered 5 of 1952 (66 Stat. 824). The performance of any function vested by this Act in the Board of Commissioners or in any office or agency under the jurisdiction and control of said Board of Commissioners may be

delegated by said Board of Commissioners in accordance with section 3 of such Plan.

SEC. 5. This Act may be cited as the "Minimum Wage Amendments Act of 1963".

Senator MORSE. I also rule that there be included at this point in the hearing record a memorandum prepared by the committee staff summarizing the principal provisions of S. 860.

In addition, I request printed in the hearing record at this point a brief summary of the principal provisions of existing law.

(The documents referred to follow :)

SUMMARY OF S. 860, 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 The District minimum wage law is amended to substitute, for the existing minimum wage provisions, the following:

1. Finding and declaration of policy.

2. Minimum wages for practically all employees (without regard to sex) the minimum wage shall be as follows: $1.25 an hour, or a higher minimum wage as set by a wage order.

3. Overtime compensation: For all employees, overtime compensation shall be paid at not less than time and one-half the regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

4. Existing minimum wage orders: The minimum wage orders issued by the Board prior to the enactment of this act shall remain in full force and effect with the following modifications:

(a) Any such order which provides less than $1.25 an hour shall be modified before the effective date of the act to provide the minimum wage and all orders shall be modified to provide the overtime compensation specified in the new law; and

(b) All orders shall be modified to apply without regard to the sex of any employee.

5. Tips: In occupations in which gratuities have customarily and usually constituted and been recognized as a part of the remuneration for hiring purposes, the Minimum Wage Board shall determine the allowance to be made.

6. The Minimum Wage Board: The existing Minimum Wage Board (a tripartite body of three members appointed by the Commissioners for a 3-year term) is continued in effect

(a) to investigate wages and conditions of employment;

(b) to issue and revise regulations including definitions of terms;

(d) to prescribe records to be kept and posted by employers;

(e) to investigate for compliance with the act;

(f) to supervise the payment of any back wages found to be due employees; (g) at the written request of an employee, to institute suit to collect such wages for him in the courts; and

(h) to submit to corporation counsel criminal violations.

7. Wage order procedures: At any time after a wage order has been in effect for 1 year the Board may on its own motion, or on petition of 50 or more residents, reconsider the wage rates set therein. In such case, the Board will do the following:

(a) Make an investigation of the wages paid in the occupation;

(b) Convene an ad hoc advisory tripartite committee to consider and report to the Board on the appropriate wage rates to be established. The committee must report within 90 days or be discharged from consideration of the subject matter;

(d) Within 30 days after such hearing promulgate and publish the order which shall become effective 30 days after publication; and

(e) A streamlined procedure is provided for the modification and initial promulgation of wage orders to increase the new statutory standards.

8. Judicial review: A wage order or regulation issued by the Board may be reviewed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia within 30 days after the publication of the order. In such review—

(a) all findings of fact shall, if supported by evidence, be conclusive upon the court;

(b) if the court determines that such order or regulation is not in accord with the law, it shall remand the case to the Board with directions to modify or revoke the order or regulation;

(c) unless specifically ordered by the court, the commencement of such a review shall not operate as a stay of the wage order or regulation and the court shall not grant a stay unless adequate surety is filed to safeguard the wages that would otherwise be due employees.

9. Penalties:

(a) Any person who willfully violates any provision of the law will be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or both. No person shall be imprisoned except for an offense committed after the conviction for a prior offense.

(b) Discriminatory discharge of any employee because the employee has filed a complaint or instituted any proceedings under the act.

10. Employee remedies:

(a) An employee may collect up to double the amount of back wages illegally withheld plus attorney's fees and court costs; and

(b) The Board may take an assignment of the wage claim and institute legal action to collect the wages illegally withheld, plus attorney's fees and court costs.

11. Other provisions :

(a) An exemption from the minimum wage and overtime is provided for executive, administrative, and professional employees, outside salesmen, as defined by the Board.

(b) Individuals, who gratuitously render services to educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit organizations are not covered.

(d) Newspaper delivery boys who deliver to the homes are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions.

(e) Handicapped workers: The Board may provide by regulation lower minimum wages for individuals whose earning capacity is impaired by age or physical or mental deficiency or injury.

(f) Learners and apprentices: Lower minimum wages may likewise be provided by the Board for learner and apprentices to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment.

12. Effective date: 180 days after enactment.

13. Statute of limitations: Claim for collection of back wages will be 3 years. The provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act apply to the District of Columbia to the same extent as if it were a State. Thus, under existing law, and under S. 860, should it be enacted into law, in any situation where District law or orders of the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Board are more favorable to the employee than Federal law, District of Columbia law would control under section 18 of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

RICHARD JUDD, Professional Staff Member.

PRINCIPAL PROVISIONS OF THE EXISTING MINIMUM WAGE LAW OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

The existing District of Columbia minimum wage laws enacted in 1918 contains the following provisions:

1. Covers all women and minors employed in private industry.

2. Provides for the administration of the law by a three-member lay Board made up of one representative each from employers, employees, and the public. These members are appointed by the Commissioners for a 3-year period.

3. Authorizes the Board to establish minimum wage rates and standards by occupational groups using the following procedures:

(a) Determining if a substantial number of women in the occupation are earning wages inadequate to supply the necessary cost of living.

(b) Appointing a representative tripartite wage conference to study the occupation and living costs and to recommend minimum wage rates and standards that will supply the necessary cost of living for women workers. The conference shall when it appears proper recommend suitable wages for learners and apprentices.

(d) Issuing a wage order containing the recommendations of the conference and containing regulations necessary to carry recommendations into effect.

4. Authorizes the Board to set suitable wages for minors and for workers whose earning capacity has been impaired by age or otherwise.

5. The law provides for the Board to make rules and regulations for carrying the law into effect, including rules for wage conference procedure. The Board is authorized to investigate and ascertain wages of employees; inspect records; require written statements from employers; take testimony and subpena witnesses and records in connection with wage conference sessions and public hearings; institute prosecution for violation.

6. There is a right of appeal on questions of law but there is no appeal from findings of fact made by the Board.

7. Whoever violates the act shall upon conviction be punished by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100, or by imprisonment not less than 10 days nor more than 3 months, or by both.

8. An employee may recover in a civil action any unpaid minimum wages due her together with such reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the court, and any agreement for her to work for less than the minimum wage shall be no defense to such action.

9. The purpose of the minimum wage law is to protect women and minors from conditions detrimental to their health and morals resulting from wages inadequate to maintain decent standards of living.

1 Source: District of Columbia Minimum Wage Board.

Senator MORSE. Next, I request that there be printed in the hearing record a transcript of a speech I made in the Senate on May 1, 1962, at the time I introduced S. 3233, and the transcript of the speech I made in the Senate when I introduced S. 860 on February 19, 1963. I introduced the bills not as a matter of pride of authorship but because they set forth the position of the chairman on the legislation, and the views I expressed in those speeches have not changed.

23-806-64-2

(The speeches referred to follow :)

[From the Congressional Record, May 1, 1962]

AMENDMENT OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA MINIMUM WAGE LAW

Mr. MORSE. Mr. President, in my judgment, the time is long past due for Congress to take a very serious look at the minimum wage setup within the jurisdiction of the District of Columbia. So that this may be done, I introduce, for appropriate reference a minimum wage and hours bill that will remedy some of the unfair wage and hours conditions presently existing in the District of Columbia.

It is regrettable that the District of Columbia has no minimum wage standard for men in establishments not governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The present District of Columbia minimum wage law was passed in 1918, and applies only to women and to minors under 18 years of age. Even here domestic employment is excluded. Wages are fixed by a three-member Board, representing employers, employees, and the public. Under present practice, the minimums are based upon wages which supposedly are adequate to supply the necessary cost of living to a single woman, without dependents, to maintain her in good health and to protect her morals. The wage rate varies according to occupation.

Important as the Fair Labor Standards Act and the current District minimum wage law are, they leave thousands of workers in the District of Columbia subject to sweatshop wages and working conditions which are substandard.

The principal provisions of my bill would accomplish the following: First. Extend to all employees, without regard to sex, a minimum wage of $1.25 an hour, or any higher minimum wage as set by a wage order.

Second. Require overtime compensation for all employees at not less than time and one-half the regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

Third. Keep in full force and effect, with certain modifications, the existing minimum wage orders issued by the Minimum Wage Board prior to the enactment of this act.

Fourth. Authorize and direct the Minimum Wage Board to determine the allowance to be made for tips, in occupations in which gratuities have customarily and usually been recognized as a part of the remuneration for hiring purposes. Fifth. Keep in effect the existing Minimum Wage Board, a tripartite body appointed by the District Commissioners for a 3-year term.

Sixth. At any time after a wage order has been in effect for 1 year, the Board may, on its own motion, or on petition, reconsider the wage rates set therein. In such case, the Board would do the following: make an investigation of the wages paid in the occupation; convene an ad hoc advisory tripartite committee to consider and report to the Board on the appropriate wage rates to be established upon receipt of the recommendation from the committee, the Board would publish a notice and hold a public hearing: within 30 days after such hearing, it would promulgate and publish the order, which would become effective 30 days after publication. A streamlined procedure is provided for the modification and initial promulgation of wage orders to include the new statutory standards.

Seventh. A wage order or regulation issued by the Board may be reviewed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia within 30 days after the publication of the order. Unless specifically ordered by the court, the commencement of such a review would not operate as a stay of the wage order or regulation, and the court would not grant a stay unless adequate surety was filed to safeguard the wages that otherwise would be due employees.

Eighth. Any person who willfully violated any provision of the law would be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000, or imprisonment for not more than 6 months or both.

Ninth. It would permit an employee to collect up to double the amount of back wages illegally withheld, plus attorney's fees and court costs, and would permit the Board to take an assignment of the wage claim and to institute legal action to collect the wages illegally withheld, plus attorney's fees and court costs.

« Forrige Fortsett »

Bøker

Amendments to the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Law: Hearings Before the ...