labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Well, Washington DC is a bit more than a territory, though it isn’t quite a state. But as we have seen in past discussions about the District of Columbia, this Washington still has its own department of labor and its own rules and regulations for employers—such as the labor laws on workers’ comp that we discussed a few weeks back.

As with workers’ comp, the capital also has its own system set up for employers for unemployment insurance. Again, as we have seen elsewhere in the states of the Union, in the District of Columbia this system is contingent upon the cooperation of employers like you. That includes paying quarterly taxes based on the wages you are paying your current employees, how many former employees that you have on unemployment benefits, and how well you cooperate with the system.

The system also works smoothly when employers can provide all of the timely and accurate employee information that the government authorities need. For instance, were you former employees truly laid off or did you fire them for disciplinary reasons? Can you prove it? How much is each of your employees earning this quarter? For how many hours worked?

Provide all of this info to the Washington DC unemployment system, and your former employees will receive the proper benefits that they are due. This includes weekly paychecks for as much as 50 percent of what they were earning with you at work, for as many as 26 weeks or longer.

As a whole, what you ensure your former employees is a safety net while they look for new work, or while they wait for an economic upturn for you so that you could hire them back sometime down the road. And what you ensure is a stronger community to help your business in the present and future.

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