Protecting Your Rights at Work

NOTE: Due to Covid and family obligations, Ari is not able to take on new employment law matters at this time.

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Every job has value and every person who works deserves decent pay and dignity. And if employers treat you badly, I’m here to make sure they are held accountable.

If you work for a private business in DC, you have a right to earn a minimum wage of at least $12.50 an hour, to be paid correctly, and to be paid on time. You also have the right to earn and use paid sick days to get better, recover from domestic violence, or care for a family member.

If you work more than 40 hours a week, you probably also have the right to be paid overtime (“time-and-a-half”). Even if your employer says you’re exempt from overtime, they may be wrong about how the law applies to you and you may be owed money.

When a business violates any of these rules or a few others, it’s a form of “wage theft,” which is illegal in the District and carries penalties that can be more than four times the original amount they should have paid you.

In the District, it is also illegal to discriminate against people based on race, sex, pregnancy, sexuality, immigration status, or many other protected factors. Even asking questions on a job application about your credit history or a criminal arrest that didn’t lead to a conviction can be a violation, entitling you to substantial damages.

I have been working to enforce and improve the District's employment laws for years. Before opening my own practice in Petworth, I helped lead coalitions of nonprofits, unions, and workers to fight for stronger wage theft laws, expand DC’s sick days law, and raise our minimum wage as Deputy Director of the Employment Justice Center. Both at the Employment Justice Center and then as legislative staff for the D.C. Council, I co-drafted several new portions of the District’s current wage theft and sick leave laws and the new Universal Paid Leave Act.