In the News
D.C. Wage Payment: Pay the Right Amount and Stay Out of Trouble
If you are an employer in the District of Columbia, your employees are owed certain compensation. To avoid wage disputes and substantial fines, make sure your employees have been properly paid for their work. How much and when do you need to pay your employees? Under the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Act, most employees within the District of Columbia are protected and must be paid the minimum wage. The minimum wage in the District increased to $16.10 per hour on June 1, 2022. Ti...
EMPLOYMENT HANDBOOKS → EMPLOYMENT CLAIM INSURANCE
Clients are overwhelmed with government regulations in business operations and oftentimes overlook one important tool that can provide some insurance against many employee claims: the employment handbook. With the “welcome mat” that most courts give employees for just about any grievance against employers, the employment handbook can be a valuable defense shield against many of these lawsuits. When weighed against the significant dollars that a single employee lawsuit can cost, the employme...
Docu-“don’t”-sign: Don’t rely on Docusign!
Are you relying on Docusign as proof of a signature? You shouldn’t be. When the World Wide Web launched in 1993, it changed the world. An entirely new domain was opened to the public and we began to see a shift from commerce to “e-commerce,” mail to “e-mail,” book to “e-book,” and sports to “e-sports.” Then, about ten years after the emergence of the internet, Docusign, a company that wanted to “centralize and simplify agreement processes” ushered in an era that saw ...
REDEMPTION FOR THE BROKERAGE COMMUNITY: DC CIRCUIT REVERSES DENIAL OF $780,000.00+ COMMISSION
(JLL was Denied Commissions by Trial Court – Appellate Court Reverses) Over the last decade, a single broker representing both parties in a transaction has become increasingly common for the sake of efficiency; that is what Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage (“JLL”) had in mind when it signed up 1441 L Associates L.L.C. to lease its building at 1441 L Street, NW. Earlier this year, US District Court Judge Florence Pan (District of Columbia.) ruled in Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage Inc v. 14...
WHO IS THE OWNER? CONTRACTORS, BROKERS AND AGENTS BEWARE!
IF YOU AREN’T CAREFUL, YOU WILL NOT COLLECT. Here is the scenario … you spend months working on a project and you are a bit behind in billing or collecting from the owner. The owner is “ghosting you” and you pull your team off the job. You now want to file a mechanics lien or file suit against the owner when your attorney tells you that the owner is not the property management company or project manager but a limited liability company or partnership which is not the party that signed...
ATTENTION DC PROPERTY OWNERS — IS YOUR PROPERTY VACANT?
BE CAREFUL, YOU MAY BE IN STORE FOR A BIG AND UNFORTUNATE SURPRISE FROM DC TAX AND REVENUE! Many laws start off as well-intended … but end up both taking on a life of their own. Another example where, because of government implementation, the good laws get out of control. This is often the case with the District’s implementation of its vacant and blighted nuisance laws. These laws are quite old – over 100 years – but have been changed in the last decade to permit the District t...
CLEVER ESTATE PLANNING FOR THE CLOSELY-HELD BUSINESS: RECAPITALIZATION AND FREEZE IN VALUE CAN SAVE SIGNIFICANT ESTATE TAXES
Even in bad market times, closely-held businesses continue to see growth. That growth is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the partnership or stock ownership becomes more valuable – but, at the same time – the more valuable the stock at the time of the owner’s death, the greater the tax burden on the owner’s estate. To avoid this problem, consider recapitalizing—specifically, converting some of your corporation’s common stock into preferred stock. Recapitalization is the restru...
THE DC AREA’S “TRI-STATE LENDING CONUNDRUM”: RECOMMENDATIONS ON PAPERING A GOOD LOAN THAT “TOUCHES” DC/MD/VA
A senior lending officer once remarked, “the best loans are those that are well-underwritten and better papered.” Lending in our tri-jurisdiction area of DC, Maryland and Virginia is challenging today. Lenders must not only underwrite the loan and the borrower/guarantors for today, but also look forward during the term of the loan to protect the loan for default, trouble or calamity. Beyond that, it gets even trickier in our area. The lender may be organized in one state and fund...
The Federal Opportunity Zone Program – A New Program Worth Knowing!
You may have heard about the Opportunity Zone Program -- included as a part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The Program was designed as a way to revitalize economically distressed communities by offering significant tax breaks to investors who invest in the development of these communities. Although there has been some debate over whether this program will succeed in actually revitalizing these communities, all politics aside, what does the Opportunity Zone Program m...
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO TENANT’S RIGHTS FOR SINGLE FAMILY HOMES!
The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act of 1980 (“TOPA”), as amended, gives District of Columbia residential tenants the opportunity to purchase and a right of first refusal to match a third party contract when the owner of their rental accommodation sells, demolishes, or discontinues renting the unit. On April 10, 2018, the District of Columbia City Council amended this act to add several exemptions from coverage. With a few exceptions, single family rental units, single family rental units...