DC PFL Reporting Requirements Reminder
DC Clients,
This is a quick reminder of DC Department of Employment Services' (DOES) compliance requirements around Paid Family Leave - though Harmony cannot provide HR or payroll guidance, we're invested in helping our clients stay up to date on communications and requirements from DC, especially as the city doesn't always communicate especially thoroughly.
In short, DC businesses must provide paid leave program notice to employees in the form of:
Notice to individual employees at the time of hiring
Notice to all employees annually
To individual employees at the time the employer is aware paid leave is needed
Covered DC employers are also subject to record keeping requirements for a period of no less than three years, to be made available to DOES - these can include paystubs, personal checks, cash receipts, bank deposits, work schedules, communications between employer and employee, any circumstantial evidence regarding the employees' eligibility, and any other records requested by DOES. Payroll records must contain the following information:
Name & social security number, or individual TIN, of each employee
Beginning and ending dates of each pay period
Wages paid for each pay period, including the value of non-monetary remuneration
Dates of employment
In short, you must keep employees informed about Paid Family Leave, and keep records for three years about your efforts to do so as well as all correspondence and applicable paystubs when Paid Family Leave is used.
DC employers are also subject to quarterly tax payments, and effective July 1, 2024, the PFL rates have risen to .75% of the wages paid to each covered employee, from .26%. The first payment at the new rate is due at the end of October.
Some important documents including the posted notice for employers and relevant tax forms can be found at DC Gov's Paid Family Leave page for employers. See DC Gov's brief FAQ for employers on the same page. Reporting is done at DC Gov's DOES Employer Self-Service Portal.
Our Restaurant Finance 101 Class is Now Available to Clients
The Harmony team was thrilled to partner with Regarding Her (RE:Her), a remarkable nonprofit committed to empowering women entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry. Through this collaboration, we had the privilege of working closely with their academy scholars, diving deep into their financials to offer tailored recommendations for optimizing their financial systems and processes. Our goal was to equip these rising leaders with the tools needed for strategic growth.
As part of this initiative, we also conducted our “Finance 101” class, an accessible and comprehensive session that breaks down the essentials of financial management. We focused on demystifying the three critical financial statements, mastering effective budgeting, and preparing for future expansion.
This class isn't just for RE:Her participants—it's open to all managers, owners, and operators eager to boost their financial acumen. And for our clients, we offer a special discount. If you're ready to elevate your organization’s financial literacy—a crucial foundation for long-term success—don’t hesitate to reach out by clicking here.
Last Bites
Bad Tippers.
We’ve written extensively about the bad faith efforts to get rid of the Fair Labor Standards Act tip credit, the law that allows servers to have a lower cash wage as long as they make the statutory minimum wage through tips. Repeat again: there is no such thing as a sub-minimum wage because everyone is guaranteed the minimum wage.
Anyway, aside from the misdirection around server compensation the main argument to disincentivize tipping was that the tipping system was antiquated, devalued the profession, and had problematic roots. The essential argument was that America needed to get away from tips. Except maybe not...
In what is a darkly comic turn of events, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have proposed making tips tax exempt. This change would be a huge windfall for tipped workers and seems to signal unprecedented government support for tipping. Without scouring the code, the only direct wage we can recall being exempt from taxes is combat pay for American soldiers.
These stump promises would have a long road to becoming reality with multiple variables that aren’t worth getting into now but suffice it to say these schizophrenic positions don’t make running an independent restaurant easier.