4602861 Public Oversight Roundtable Notice on "A Review of the Department of Employment Services' Implementation of the Living Wage Act"

Council of the District of Columbia

Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs

Notice of Public Oversight Roundtable

                                                                                                           

John A. Wilson Building   1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite G-6    Washington, DC 20004                                           

 

Councilmember Vincent B. Orange, Sr., Chair

Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs

Announces a Public Oversight Roundtable

 

 on

 

A Review of the Department of Employment Services’ Implementation

of the Living Wage Act

 

Thursday, October 31, 2013, 1:00 P.M.

John A. Wilson Building, Room 412

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20004

 

 

Councilmember Vincent B. Orange, Sr. announces the scheduling of a public oversight roundtable by the Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs. The purpose of the roundtable is to review the Department of Employment Services’ implementation of the Living Wage Act.  The public oversight roundtable is scheduled for Thursday, October 31, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 412 of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004.

 

The Washington Post recently questioned the Department of Employment Services’ implementation of the Way to Work Amendment Act of 2006 (District of Columbia Code §2-220.01), known as the “Living Wage Act”.  According to the report, the living wage, which is $12.50 per hour, has not kept up with the consumer price index as required by the law since it was last increased in 2010.  The Living Wage Act requires companies under District contract of $100,000 or more to pay employees’ a living wage.  If the living wage had been reconfigured according to the law, it would now stand at $13.40 per hour.   In March, the Department of Employment Services advised the Council of the District of Columbia that it was preparing to “calculate and review the rate.”  The public roundtable will examine the status of the agency’s efforts.

 

Individuals and representatives of organizations who wish to testify at the public oversight roundtable are asked to contact Faye Caldwell or Gene Fisher of the Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs at [phone] or by email at [e-mail] or [e-mail] and provide their name(s), address, telephone number, email address and organizational affiliation, if any, by close of business Thursday, October 24, 2013.  Each witness is requested to bring 20 copies of his/her written testimony. Representatives of organizations and government agencies will be limited to 5 minutes in order to permit each witness an opportunity to be heard. Individual witnesses will be limited to 3 minutes.

 

If you are unable to testify at the oversight roundtable, written statements are encouraged and will be made a part of the official record. The official record will remain open until close of business Thursday, November 14, 2013.  Copies of written statements should be submitted to the Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs, Council of the District of Columbia, Suite G-6 of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004.