1) Contact D.C. Dept. of Employment Services (DOES) Office of Wage Hour- Not Recommended. Be forewarned, they are in the pocket of the agencies and don’t want to help you. They’ll try to brush you off upfront. The only way to get them to even look at your issue is by contacting DOES’s public information office after they brush you off.

Here’s the shakeout: They use a duties test. They’ll do an “investigation” where they’ll send a survey to everyone on the project, hoping at least one person will say a J.D. is required to do doc review. It really isn’t; a JD is just an employer’s preference. Paralegals do this work all the time. However, if anyone says a JD is required, then it’s over with them. They absolutely are not going to look at the second part of the two part test under 29 CFR §541.304(a)(1). Remember, they want to rule against you so that it’s not more work for themselves.

2) You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor. Your district office would be Baltimore:

Baltimore District Office
US Dept. of Labor
Wage & Hour Division
Room 207 Appraisers Stores Building
103 South Gay Street, Room 207
Baltimore, MD 21202-4061
Phone: (410) 962-6211

3) You can file suit in D.C. Superior Court. If you go this route, study FLSA carefully before filing, making sure to study the hell out of my previous comment.

Do not go to small claims! The law is too complicated for judges who are too busy to take the time necessary to study the law. The agencies will point to 541.304(a)(1), say you’re an attorney, and the judge will be too busy to go beyond that.

And stick to FLSA claims. The agencies have managed to get entire cases thrown out by focusing on the presence of non-FLSA claims, which people are usually so off base about, it causes the validity of their entire complaint to be questioned.

Section 541.300(a)(1) provides, in part: “The term `employee employed in a bona fide professional capacity’ in section 13(a)(1) of the Act shall mean any employee: (1) Compensated on a salary or fee basis at a rate of not less than $455 per week….” Section 541.304 addresses the specific practice of law and medicine. Section 541.304(a)(1) provides, in part: “The term `employee employed in a bona fide professional capacity’ in section 13(a)(1) of the Act shall also mean [a]ny employee who is the holder of a valid license or certificate permitting the practice of law or medicine or any of their branches and is ACTUALLY ENGAGED IN THE PRACTICE THEREOF….” [Emphasis added].

Although initially appearing redundant to §541.300, the apparent purpose of §541.304 is to distinguish the practice of law and medicine from other professions, and to specifically exempt those two professions from the salary requirement of §541.300(a)(1). This is done through §541.304(d), which specifically provides: “The requirements of Sec. 541.300 and subpart G (salary requirements) of this part do not apply to the employees described in this section.”

Section 541.304(a)(1) provides a two-part test for an attorney’s inclusion into §13(a)(1) exception: 1) the attorney must be a holder of a valid license or certificate permitting the practice of law, and 2) the attorney must be actually engaged in the practice of law.

If you’re in DC, see D.C. Court of Appeals Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law Opinion 16-05 entitled: “Compliance with Rule 49 by ‘Contract’ Lawyers in the District of Columbia.” Basically the opinion says whether you’re practicing law depends on how you’re held out and billed to the clients. For the most part, DC agencies bill contract attorneys as paralegals or some other sort of professional, but not as attorneys.

Thus, contract attorneys should be either excluded from §13(a)(1) as paralegals under 29 CFR §541.301(e)(7) or excluded from §13(a)(1) because they do not meet the salary basis required by 29 CFR §541.300(a)(1). In sum, “straight time” is illegal. The agencies simply count on our fear of black listing to keep this illegal secret. I hope this useful to someone who is the position to fight this fight. For the Dept. of Labor summary see:

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/fairpay/fs17d_professional.htm

Contract attorneys should still receive overtime pay, especially in D.C., a jurisdiction in which contract lawyers are required to pass the D.C. bar exam, or waive into D.C., in order to be entitled to the $35/hr. rate, regardless of whether they are barred in other jurisdictions, such as New York, with higher bar passage standards (more subjects to study for) than D.C.

Additionally, D.C. lawyers, at many large firms, received raises to $160,000, not including bonuses, which are around $30,000+/yr.–the New York salary–even though the D.C. cost of living is below that of New York.

Therefore, the time and a half in overtime that contract attorneys receive is a mere pittance, compared to what clients would otherwise have to pay a team of full-time associates, to do the same work.