§ 46–219. No discrimination in employment for withholding.

(a) No employer shall discharge, refuse to employ, take disciplinary action, or otherwise discriminate against any obligor for the reason that a party has subjected or attempted to subject unpaid earnings of the obligor to withholding or like proceedings for the purposes of paying support.

(b) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that any employer who engages in conduct described in subsection (a) of this section, within 90 days from the date of receipt of a notice or order to withhold, is in violation of this subchapter and may be subject to the sanctions in subsection (c) of this section.

(c) Any employer who engages in conduct described in subsection (a) of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to $10,000.

(d) Any civil penalty obtained under subsection (c) of this section shall be used to offset the obligor’s duty of support.

(Feb. 24, 1987, D.C. Law 6-166, § 20, 33 DCR 6710; May 12, 2006, D.C. Law 16-100, § 3(s), 53 DCR 1886.)

Prior Codifications

1981 Ed., § 30-519.

Section References

This section is referenced in § 46-211.

Effect of Amendments

D.C. Law 16-100, in subsec. (a), deleted “employee or” preceding “obligor” and substituted “purposes of paying” for “purposes of paying child”; in subsec. (b), substituted “a notice or order to withhold,” for “the notice to the holder pursuant to § 46-211,”; and in subsec. (d), substituted “duty of” for “duty of child”.

Emergency Legislation

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 3(t) of Income Withholding Transfer and Revision Emergency Amendment Act of 2005 (D.C. Act 16-167, July 26, 2005, 52 DCR 7648).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 3(t) of Income Withholding Transfer and Revision Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2005 (D.C. Act 16-200, November 17, 2005, 52 DCR 10490).

Temporary Legislation

Section 3(t) of D.C. Law 16-42, in subsec. (a), deleted “employee or”, and deleted “child” after “purposes of paying”; in subsec. (b), substituted “a notice or order to withhold,” for “the notice to the holder pursuant to section 12,”; and in subsec. (d) deleted “child” after “duty of”.

Section 5(b) of D.C. Law 16-42 provided that the act shall expire after 225 days of its having taken effect.