D.C. Code § 2-218.15

This is the official text of D.C. Code § 2-218.15, part of District of Columbia’s Code — part of the compiled statutory law of District of Columbia, published by the state as "Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§ 2-218.15. Living Wage Certification Program.

Official statutory text

(a) There is established a Living Wage Certification Program ("program") within the Department, which shall be administered by an organization selected in accordance with subsection (b) of this section ("administrator") and funded by a grant from the Department, that will certify employers that meet the requirements of the program established by this section and pursuant to this section.
(b) The Department shall:
(1) Select the administrator through the competitive bid process;
(2) Establish the criteria to be eligible for the grant and the selection as administrator; provided, that the administrator shall be a nonprofit organization located in the District;
(3) Issue a request for proposals no later than December 31, 2018; and
(4) Enter into a grant agreement with the bid awardee to serve as administrator in accordance with the requirements of this section.
(c) (1) Under the program, the administrator shall certify an employer that applies for certification and that shows, to the satisfaction of the administrator, that the employer:
(A) Pays its employees, including independent contractors, a living wage;
(B) Commits to paying its employees and independent contractors a living wage for the duration of the certification;
(C) Maintains its primary office in the District;
(D) Possesses a current license pursuant to Chapter 28 of Title 47 ; and
(E) Certifies that at least a majority of its owners are District residents or that at least a majority of its employees are District residents.
(2) The administrator shall develop criteria to verify that the employer meets each criterion set forth in this subsection.
C) Maintains its primary office in the District;
(D) Possesses a current license pursuant to Chapter 28 of Title 47 ; and
(E) Certifies that at least a majority of its owners are District residents or that at least a majority of its employees are District residents.
(2) The administrator shall develop criteria to verify that the employer meets each criterion set forth in this subsection.
(d) (1) Certification shall be valid for 3 years.
(2) To maintain certification and obtain recertification, a certified employer must demonstrate that it continues to meet the criteria set forth in subsection (c) of this section.
(3) A certified employer shall have 3 months to increase its employees' wages to match an increase in the living wage mandated under subchapter X-A of this chapter .
(e) (1) The administrator shall maintain a public list of all certified employers.
(2) The administrator shall create a unique logo to designate an employer as certified under this section and shall provide the employer with digital and physical copies of the logo for display and promotional purposes.
(f) The Department may consider combining the list maintained pursuant to subsection (e)(1) of this section with any similar list created under the Made in DC program, established in subchapter IV-B of Chapter 12 of this title .
(g) For the purposes of this section, the term "living wage" shall have the same meaning as provided in § 2-220.02(4) .

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.