Tag: D.C.

Another Paid Family and Medical Leave Proposal: District of Columbia Considers 16 Weeks of Paid Leave under a Local Government-Administered Mandatory Fund Using a Payroll Tax

Advocates of paid family and medical leave programs continue to press for change. In September, we reported on the Obama Executive Order that mandates paid family and medical leave for federal contractors as part of a paid sick leave requirement. Currently, both California and New Jersey have paid family and medical leave that supplements the unpaid leave benefits provided under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Earlier this month, seven members of the District of Columbia’s local government Council introduced a bill (the Universal Paid Leave Act of 2015) that mandates up to 16 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all private and local public employees who spend at least 50 percent of their working time in the District of Columbia.

The District of Columbia proposal would require all employers to pay an amount equal to one percent of each employee’s annual compensation into a Family and Medical Leave Fund administered by the city. The contribution would be structured as an additional payroll tax paid by the employer, following the model of unemployment compensation. The proposal calls for the creation of a “user-friendly, online portal” on the Internet that provides information on the family and medical leave benefit and allows the submission of claims for these benefits. The resemblance to the web-based portal for Obamacare (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) is probably not a coincidence.

The structure of the paid family and medical leave benefit and the levy on employers that pays for it would be progressive in the tax sense, involving a subsidy of lower income employees’ benefits by contributions for higher income employees. The wages of higher income employees are not as fully protected as the wages of lower income employees. Benefits would be paid at 100 percent of the employee’s average wage up to $1,000 per week, and 50 percent of the employee’s average wage over $1,000, up to a maximum available benefit of $3,000 per week. However, the payroll tax is a flat one percent of all compensation without an upper limit. Further, if the Family and Medical Leave Fund accumulates at least a one-year reserve against claims, the payroll tax is reduced to zero percent for incomes under $10,000 per year, .5 percent for incomes under $20,000, .6 percent for incomes under $50,000, .8 percent for incomes under $150,000 and one percent of incomes over $150,000.

Although federal government employees would not be covered by the Universal Paid Leave Act, federal agencies and federal contractors may opt-in to participate. The program would apply to all other full and part time workers in the District of Columbia.

Article By Peter R. Spanos of Barnes & Thornburg LLP

© 2015 BARNES & THORNBURG LLP

APPLY NOW: Government of District of Columbia Now Hiring: Supervisory Attorney Advisor (Deputy General Counsel)

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES

                                                                                                            

The District of Columbia’s Department of General Services is seeking candidates for the Supervisory Attorney Advisor (Deputy General Counsel) position. The Deputy General Counsel will specifically provide management and support in the following areas: real estate transactions, leasing, real estate portfolio management, energy, sustainability and green initiatives and other agency operational issues as needed. The Deputy General Counsel reports to the General Counsel and will supervise at least two other attorneys.

The incumbent of this position will provide legal counsel and support to DGS in the following activities:

  • negotiating and preparing commercial leases and other real estate documents—rights of entry, license agreements, etc.;
  • handling real estate transactions;
  • providing legal support for lease administration, including preparing amendments, work agreements, estoppels, SNDA’s, extension requests, termination notices, default notices;
  • providing litigation support;
  • advising the agency in matters related to energy, sustainability and green initiatives; and
  • providing assistance, as needed, in all operational areas of the agency including: contracts, procurement, facility management, security services and human resources.

A successful candidate must:

  • have a law degree;
  • be a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association or eligible for waiver into the bar. If selected and not a member of the District of Columbia Bar, he/she must apply for membership and show proof of such prior to the commencement of employment.
  • have at least 10 years of experience in the following areas: local government, real estate, leasing and/or procurement law.
  • have the skill and ability to gather, develop, evaluate and analyze investigative information from a variety of sources to determine compliance with District government and federal statutes, rules and regulations.
  • have experience in negotiating, drafting and reviewing commercial real estate documents including drafting of commercial leases and land purchase and acquisition contracts.

How to Apply:

Applications for this vacancy must be submitted online at www.dchr.dc.gov for consideration. When completing applications, candidates submit resume and respond to specific ranking factors that will be used in the evaluation process. In responding to the ranking factors, please describe specific incidents of sustained achievements from your experience that show evidence of the level at which you are applying. You may refer to any experience, education, training, awards, outside abilities described in ranking factors. The information given in response to the ranking factors should be complete and accurate to the best of your knowledge, FAILURE TO RESPOND TO ALL RANKING FACTORS WILL ELIMINATE YOU FROM CONSIDERATION.

Deadline: Closing date for the vacancy announcements until 11:59 pm on December 12, 2014. 

Contact Information: All inquiries related to employment and job applications should be directed HR Answers, (202)442-9700—please reference agency (DGS) and vacancy number (26253).

  

2000 14th St. NW, 8th Floor  Washington DC 20009  |Telephone (202) 727.2800 | Fax (202) 727-7283

APPLY NOW: Government of District of Columbia Now Hiring: Supervisory Attorney Advisor (Deputy General Counsel)

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES

                                                                                                            

The District of Columbia’s Department of General Services is seeking candidates for the Supervisory Attorney Advisor (Deputy General Counsel) position. The Deputy General Counsel will specifically provide management and support in the following areas: real estate transactions, leasing, real estate portfolio management, energy, sustainability and green initiatives and other agency operational issues as needed. The Deputy General Counsel reports to the General Counsel and will supervise at least two other attorneys.

The incumbent of this position will provide legal counsel and support to DGS in the following activities:

  • negotiating and preparing commercial leases and other real estate documents—rights of entry, license agreements, etc.;
  • handling real estate transactions;
  • providing legal support for lease administration, including preparing amendments, work agreements, estoppels, SNDA’s, extension requests, termination notices, default notices;
  • providing litigation support;
  • advising the agency in matters related to energy, sustainability and green initiatives; and
  • providing assistance, as needed, in all operational areas of the agency including: contracts, procurement, facility management, security services and human resources.

A successful candidate must:

  • have a law degree;
  • be a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association or eligible for waiver into the bar. If selected and not a member of the District of Columbia Bar, he/she must apply for membership and show proof of such prior to the commencement of employment.
  • have at least 10 years of experience in the following areas: local government, real estate, leasing and/or procurement law.
  • have the skill and ability to gather, develop, evaluate and analyze investigative information from a variety of sources to determine compliance with District government and federal statutes, rules and regulations.
  • have experience in negotiating, drafting and reviewing commercial real estate documents including drafting of commercial leases and land purchase and acquisition contracts.

How to Apply:

Applications for this vacancy must be submitted online at www.dchr.dc.gov for consideration. When completing applications, candidates submit resume and respond to specific ranking factors that will be used in the evaluation process. In responding to the ranking factors, please describe specific incidents of sustained achievements from your experience that show evidence of the level at which you are applying. You may refer to any experience, education, training, awards, outside abilities described in ranking factors. The information given in response to the ranking factors should be complete and accurate to the best of your knowledge, FAILURE TO RESPOND TO ALL RANKING FACTORS WILL ELIMINATE YOU FROM CONSIDERATION.

Deadline: Closing date for the vacancy announcements until 11:59 pm on December 12, 2014. 

Contact Information: All inquiries related to employment and job applications should be directed HR Answers, (202)442-9700—please reference agency (DGS) and vacancy number (26253).

  

2000 14th St. NW, 8th Floor  Washington DC 20009  |Telephone (202) 727.2800 | Fax (202) 727-7283

District of Columbia Court Allows Extra Virgin Olive Oil Fraud Claims To Proceed To Trial

tz logo 2Judge Brian F. Holeman of the D.C. Superior Court issued an omnibus order this week denying summary judgment in lawsuits against a number of D.C. grocery stores, including Safeway and Giant, paving the way for a consumer to proceed to trial on claims that the stores sold inferior quality olive oil falsely labeled as “extra virgin.” The consumer, Mr. Dean Mostofi, brought the suits as a “private attorney general” under the District’s consumer protection law.

Extra virgin olive oil is the purest and highest quality of olive oil. In order to qualify as extra virgin, olive oil must have certain chemical and sensory properties and must be free of all defects and chemical processing. The lawsuits allege that Defendants sold inferior grades of olive oil as “extra virgin.” The olives oil brands in question include Carapelli, Filippo Berio, Pompeian, Bertolli, and Safeway Select.

Testing performed by the UC Davis Olive Center in 2010 and 2011 found that a large percentage of “extra virgin” olive oil sold by those brands was actually not “extra virgin.” In addition, Mr. Mostofi employed taste-testing “panels” of olive oil experts in both California and Australia to test bottles of olive oil he purchased in D.C. Those panels—as well as an Australian chemical laboratory—indicated that some olive oil sold in D.C. under those brand names is also not truly extra virgin.

In denying summary judgment to the Defendants, the Court found that (1) expert testimony could support a finding that the oils are not, in fact, extra virgin; (2) testing on bottles other than those purchased by the Plaintiff could be considered at trial; (3) selling olive oil falsely labeled as “extra virgin” could violate a reasonable consumer’s expectation; and (4) testing performed by UC Davis and Mr. Mostofi’s expert was sufficient evidence to allow the claims on behalf of the general public to proceed to trial.

Counsel for Plaintiff, Hassan Zavareei, said, “This is a huge victory in a hard-fought battle against entrenched interests determined to prevent our case from going to trial. We are gratified that we will have an opportunity to put an end to this fraudulent food mislabeling in the District of Columbia. D.C. consumers have a right to get what they pay for.”

To read the omnibus order denying summary judgement, click here.

To read the omnibus order denying the exclusion of expert testimony, click here.

Article by:

Hassan A. Zavareei

Of: 

Tycko & Zavareei LLP