Residency

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300     Policy and Applicability

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300.1    The Government of the District of Columbia (“District government”) prioritizes the hiring of District residents into District government jobs to bolster the District’s economy and to facilitate a shared interest in the optimal functioning of the District government.

300.2    All the provisions of this chapter shall apply to subordinate agencies. Sections 301.1(c), 301.1(d), 304, 305, 309, and 399 shall also apply to independent agencies.

300.3    The residency requirements of this chapter shall not apply to appointments made prior to May 23, 2019, if residency was not a requirement for that appointment or if an existing residency waiver for that appointment is still in effect.

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301     Jobs Requiring Residency

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301.1    The following categories of District government employees are required to reside in the District within one hundred and eighty (180) after the employee’s first day of work with the District government and to remain a resident of the District during their incumbency in an employment position subject to this requirement:

1. Employees in the Excepted, Executive, and Senior Executive Attorney Services;
2. Legal Service employees of the Council of the District of Columbia;
3. Employees hired or re-hired on or after May 23, 2019, in the Career, Management Supervisory, or Educational Service at an annual salary of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) or more; and
4. Agency heads.

301.2    An employee who is required to be a resident of the District pursuant to § 301.1 must prove District residency within one hundred eighty (180) days after his or her first day of work.

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302     Residency Preference Points for Competitive Jobs

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302.1    Personnel authorities shall use a one hundred (100) point scale for all competitive hiring decisions for jobs in the Career, Educational, Legal, and Management Supervisory Services.

302.2    An applicant for employment in the Career, Educational, Legal, or Management Supervisory Service who resides in the District at the time of application may elect to receive ten (10) District residency preference points, which shall be in addition to any points the applicant receives under the one hundred (100) point scale required by § 302.1. 

302.3    When assessment tools beyond the initial screening are used, such as writing samples or written examinations, applicants shall be scored on a new one hundred (100) point scale. Any residency hiring preference points applied during the initial screening phase shall be re-applied to the new one hundred (100) point scale.

302.4    An employee appointed to a position for which he or she elected District residency preference points shall agree in writing to remain a resident of the District for a period of seven (7) consecutive years from the effective date of the employee’s appointment, regardless of subsequent promotion, reassignment, transfer, demotion, or any other internal movement within District government. The employee shall execute this written agreement no later than the first day of work for the District government. 

302.5    An employee who is required to be a resident of the District pursuant to § 302.4 must prove District residency on or before his or her first day of work.

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303     Proof of Residency Prior to Appointment

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303.1    Personnel authorities shall verify District residency for those employees subject to the District residency requirement under § 302.4 no later than the employee’s first day of work. 

303.2    Personnel authorities shall verify District residency for employees subject to the District residency requirement under § 301.2 no later than one hundred eighty (180) days after the employee’s first day of work.

303.3    Residency shall be verified by:

1. Reviewing the appointee’s non-expired driver’s license or non-driver identification issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”); and
2. Verifying that the appointee has elected the District for purposes of income tax withholding in the applicable human resources information system.

303.4    If an appointee who is required to be a District resident does not have a non-expired driver’s license or non-driver identification issued by DMV as required by § 303.3(a), the appointee may provide substitute documentation that is satisfactory to the personnel authority. Substitute documentation shall include a combination of four (4) or more proofs of residency, such as:

1. Voter registration card;
2. Motor vehicle registration;
3. Certified deed or current lease or current rental agreement for real property for the employee’s principal place of residence in the District;
4. Cancelled checks or receipts for mortgage or rental payments for the employee’s principal place of residence in the District;
5. Utility bills and payment receipts for the employee’s principal place of residence in the District;
6. A copy of a bank account statement in the name of the employee mailed to the employee’s principal place of residence in the District;
7. Copies of credit card or brokerage account statements mailed to the employee’s principal place of residence in the District; 
8. Copies of automobile insurance statements for the employee mailed to the employee’s principal place of residence in the District; or
9. Sworn affidavit.
    

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304     Hardship Waiver

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304.1    When an employee suffers an extraordinary hardship and must relocate to another state (or remain in another state, in the case of an individual subject to the residency requirement under §§ 301.2 and 302.4) due to exceptional circumstances beyond the employee’s control, the employee may apply for a hardship waiver to suspend the residency requirements.

304.2    Application for a hardship waiver shall be made in writing to the personnel authority and, for subordinate agencies, according to any procedures established by the Director of the Department of Human Resources (Director).

304.3    Within thirty (30) days after receiving an application for a hardship waiver, the personnel authority shall issue a written decision either approving or denying the application. 

304.4    The written decision shall provide a justification for the personnel authority’s decision. Each written decision shall state whether:

1. There is evidence that the hardship exists;
2. The hardship necessitates residence outside of the District; and
3. Granting the waiver is in the best interest of District government.

304.5    A hardship waiver issued pursuant to this section may be issued for no longer than one (1) year.

304.6    A residency waiver granted before May 23, 2019, shall remain effective for the duration of the individual’s appointment to the position for which the individual received the waiver.

304.7    At the request of the Inspector General, the Director may issue residency waivers for new positions or hires in the Office of the Inspector General. Such waivers shall be issued only for new positions or hires that present exceptional circumstances or are hard-to-fill positions. Waivers issued under this subsection are not subject to the time limits imposed by § 304.5.

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305     Periodic Verifications

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305.1    The Director shall annually verify employees’ compliance with the residency requirements established in §§ 301 and 302 at both subordinate agencies and independent agencies. 

1. Residency shall be verified electronically with data from the DMV and based on income tax withholding data maintained in the applicable human resources information system. 
2. At his or her discretion, the Director may conduct more frequent verifications than required by this subsection. 

305.2    In addition to the electronic verification established pursuant to § 305.1, the Director shall establish additional annual auditing criteria for verifying residency, which may include physical verification that employees possess a valid DMV-issued driver’s license or non-driver identification. 

305.3    The additional auditing criteria specified in § 305.2 shall be applied annually to at least:

1. Twenty percent (20%) of randomly selected subordinate agency employees who are required to maintain District residency; and 
2. All employees in at least three (3) randomly selected independent agencies or instrumentalities.

305.4    The Director may apply any additional auditing and investigatory techniques deemed appropriate to adequately verify District residency.

305.5    Whenever the Director determines that an employee is not in compliance with District residency requirements, the Director shall take the following steps:

1. For a subordinate agency employee, the Director shall separate the employee in accordance with the procedures established in § 306; and
2. For an employee in an independent agency, the Director shall notify the applicable personnel authority of his or her findings and, if the employee is found not in compliance with District residency requirements, the applicable personnel authority shall separate the employee in accordance with the procedures adopted by the relevant personnel authority.

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306     Forfeiture of Employment

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306.1    Except for employees who have been issued a hardship waiver pursuant to § 304 or issued prior to May 23, 2019, an employee who is subject to and fails to meet the residency requirements of §§ 301 and 302 forfeits his or her District employment, which shall be cause for separation.

306.2    Notwithstanding §§ 1600.2 and 1626 of this Subtitle, whenever there is cause for separation based on a forfeiture of District employment under this chapter, the forfeiture shall be processed as an adverse action consistent with the following procedures:

1. For employees in the Career and Educational Services, §§ 1614, 1618, 1621, 1622, 1623, and 1625 of Subtitle 6B shall apply. 
2. For employees in the Excepted, Executive, Senior Executive Attorney, Legal, and Management Supervisory Services, §§ 1614, 1618, 1621, 1622, 1623, and 1628 of Title 6-B DCMR shall apply. For purposes of filing a grievance, the grievance official shall be the personnel authority and the grievance shall be reviewed as a final decision pursuant to § 1633.
3. For the purposes of §§ 1618, 1622, and 1623 of Title 6-B DCMR , the applicable personnel authority shall designate the proposing official, the administrative review officer, and the deciding official.

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307-308     RESERVED

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309     Reporting

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309.1    No later than November 30 of each year, the Director shall submit a report through the Mayor to the Council covering the previous fiscal year. The report shall, for each agency:

1. Identify each employee newly hired by the agency, providing each employee’s agency, name, job title, pay schedule, and state of residence;
2. Provide the percentage of new hires at the agency who are District residents;
3. Identify each hardship for which a waiver was issued, providing each employee’s name, agency, job title, pay schedule, and the nature of the hardship warranting the waiver; and
4. Identify each employee who failed to meet a residency requirement, providing each employee’s name, agency, job title, the action taken, and the reason for the action taken.

309.2    No later than October 31 of each year, each independent agency and instrumentality shall submit a report to the Director covering the previous fiscal year. The report shall:

1. Identify each employee newly hired by the agency or instrumentality, providing each employee’s name, job title, pay schedule, and state of residence;
2. Provide the percentage of new hires by the agency or instrumentality who are District residents;
3. Identify each hardship for which the agency or instrumentality issued a residency waiver, providing each employee’s name, job title, pay schedule, and the nature of the hardship warranting the waiver; and
4. Identify each employee who failed to meet a residency requirement, providing each employee’s name, job title, the action taken, and the reason for the action taken.

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399     Definitions

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399.1    For the purposes of this chapter, the following meanings apply:

Agency – any unit of the District of Columbia government required by law, by the Mayor of the District of Columbia, or by the Council of the District to administer any law, rule, or any regulation adopted under authority of law. The term “agency” also includes any unit of the District of Columbia government created by the reorganization of one or more of the units of an agency and any unit of the District of Columbia government created or organized by the Council of the District of Columbia as an agency. The term "agency" does not include the Council. 

Agency head – the highest ranking executive official of an agency. 

Days – calendar days for all periods of more than ten (10) days; otherwise, days are workdays.  

Director – the Director the Department of Human Resources or his or her designee.

District – the District of Columbia

District resident – an individual who primarily lives in the District of Columbia and intends the District of Columbia to be his or her home. 

Exceptional circumstances – conditions or facts that are uncommon or deviate from or do not conform to the norm.

Forfeiture of employment – the loss of employment. 

Hard-to-fill position – a position designated as a hard-to-fill position pursuant to § 911.4 based on demonstrated recruitment and retention problems inherent to the position due to unique duties, responsibilities, and highly specialized qualification requirements.

Human resource information system – the software used by the personnel authority to manage human resources related business processes and data, including payroll. Most District agencies use PeopleSoft, which is managed by the Department of Human Resources, as their human resource information system. 

Independent agency – an agency that is not a subordinate agency

Personnel authority – an individual or entity authorized by D.C. Official Code § 1-604.06 (2016 Repl.) to implement personnel rules and regulations for employees of an agency or group of agencies of the District of Columbia; or persons delegated that authority by that individual or entity. The Director is the personnel authority for agencies under the personnel authority of the Mayor except the Metropolitan Police Department and the D.C. Public Schools. 

Subordinate agency – any agency under the direct administrative control of the Mayor, including, but not limited to, the agencies listed in Section 301(q) of the CMPA (D.C. Official Code § 1-603.01(17) (2016 Repl.)).

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-     Addendum

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The following D.C. Register citations identify when a given section(s) of Chapter 3, Residency, of Title 6 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations, was amended. Following the publication in the D.C. Register of subsequent final rulemaking notices, this Addendum will be updated accordingly.

For the convenience of Electronic-District Personnel Manual (E-DPM) readers, the Addendum identifies amendments on a section-by-section basis; identifies the page(s) in a DPM Transmittal impacted by the amendment(s); and provides brief comments on the amendment(s) accomplished.

D.C. Register Date	Section(s)	Transmittal No.	Comments
37 DCR 851 (1/26/90)	Sections 300 through 307; and 399	DPM Transmittal No. 16	The regulations in Chapter 3 (issued with Transmittal No. 5) were superseded by notices of final rulemaking published on January 26, 1990 (37 DCR 851) and June 22, 1990 (37 DCR 4117) issued via DPM Transmittal No. 16.
37 DCR 4117 (6/22/90)	Section 301	DPM Transmittal No. 16	The regulations in Chapter 3 (issued with DPM Transmittal No. 5) were superseded by notices of final rulemaking published on January 26, 1990 (37 DCR 851) and June 22, 1990 (37 DCR 4117) issued via DPM Transmittal No. 16.
40 DCR 2485 (4/16/93)	Sections 302 and 304	DPM Transmittal No. 35	The rules amended the provisions concerning the crediting of residency preference for attorneys in the Excepted Service; and changed the heading of section 304 to “Excepted and Executive Service Residency Requirement, Excluding Excepted Service Attorneys Appointed Under the Authority of D.C. Code § 1-610.9.”
47 DCR 2416 (4/7/00)	Sections 301, 303, 304, 305, and 399	DPM Transmittal No. 53	The rules authorized the waiver of the residency requirement for certain hardto-fill positions in the Excepted Service, implemented waiver provisions for the Office of the Inspector General, incorporated the reduction in force service credit for residency, and made additional conforming amendments.
50 DCR 6993 (8/22/03)	Sections 300 through 307; and 399	DPM Transmittal No. 103	The rules were amended to implement the provisions of the D.C. Law 14-185, the Excepted and Executive Service Domicile Requirement Amendment Act of 2002, effective October 1, 2002 and section 43 of the Technical Amendments Act of 2002, effective October 19, 2002.
51 DCR 9309 (10/1/04)	Sections 305.9 (a) through (j); and 305.10 and 307.18	DPM Transmittal No. 118	The main changes included a revision to section 305.9 to state more clearly that the Mayor is the official authorized to grant waivers of the domicile requirement to Executive Service appointees, and to provide that financial hardship associated with becoming a domiciliary of the District of Columbia shall not be considered as a basis for granting waivers of the domicile requirement, and the establishment of criteria for granting waivers of the domicile requirement due to exceptional circumstances; as well as amendments to sections 305.10 and 307.18.
52 DCR 2069 (3/4/05)	Section 308	DPM Transmittal No. 129	Rescission of section 308, Metropolitan Police and Fire and Emergency Medical Services Departments. The reason for the rescission is that the Omnibus Public Safety Agency Reform Amendment Act of 2004, effective September 30, 2004 (D.C. Law 15-194), repealed D.C. Official Code § 5-105.08, and the second sentence of D.C. Official Code § 5-410 (2001). The repealed sections: (1) prescribed the area within which uniformed members of the MPD or the FEMSD may reside as the “Washington, District of Columbia, Metropolitan District;” (2) specified that any uniformed member of the MPD or FEMSD living outside of the District of Columbia was required to have and maintain a telephone at all times in his or her residence; and (3) provided that the Chiefs of the MPD and the FEMSD could waive these provisions.
55 DCR 6259 (5/30/08)	Section 307.1	DPM Transmittal No. 167	Amended the provisions in the concerning residency compliance determination hearings. Section 307.1 was amended to grant the authority to initiate residency investigations to the personnel authority instead of agency heads.
56 DCR 003667 (5/8/09)	Sections 301, 302, 304, 305, 306, 307, and 309	E-DPM Transmittal 186	The main purpose of these rules is to amend sections 301, 302, 306, and 309 of the chapter to implement the provisions of D.C. Law 17-108, the Jobs for D.C. Residents Amendment Act of 2007, effective February 6, 2008.
62 DCR 011889 (08/28/15)	Sections 301, 302, 309, and 307	EDPM Transmittal 222	The main purpose of these rules are to amend these rules to incorporate language relating to the implementation of the DCHR’s Applicant Tracking System; delete the provisions on the residency preference for attorneys in the Excepted Service; clarifying the submission of employee information to the Office of Tax and Revenue; delete the requirement to hold a prehearing conference prior to an evidentiary residency hearing and update the rules for a more consistent and transparent process.
67 DCR 0089217 (1/31/2020)	All sections	-	The rulemaking amends Chapter 3 (Residency) in its entirety, implementing the provisions of the District Government Employee Residency Amendment Act of 2018, effective May 23, 2019 (D.C. Law 22-315; 66 DCR 1983 (February 15, 2019)), which rewrote Title I of the Jobs for D.C. Residents Act. The rules: (1) introduce a new residency requirement for “highly compensated employees;” (2) clarify the requirements for proving residency; (3) streamline residency verification and compliance audits; (4) clarify the requirements for hardship waivers; and (5) introduce new annual reporting requirements.

Latest Rulemaking in DC Register

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