The District of Columbia government actively seeks qualified District residents to fill job vacancies. District residents applying for competitive employment positions in the District government may qualify for a residency preference if they apply for a position in the Career, Educational, Legal, or Management Supervisory Services. Additionally, select positions such as positions in the Executive and Excepted Services require District residency. This issuance provides general guidance on residency preferences, residency requirements, and processing requirements. 

All competitive hiring decisions for positions in the Career, Educational, Legal, and Management Supervisory Services are based upon a 100-point scale.  Applicants are scored according to their experience and responses to application questions. The District government considers the highest scoring applicants for selection into a vacant job. Applicants who claim a residency preference shall receive 10 preference points, which shall be in addition to any points the applicant receives under the 100-point scale. For more information on how to elect a residency preference, refer to Attachment 1.

An employee appointed to a position, for which they elected District residency preference points, must agree in writing to maintain continuous residence within the District for a period of seven consecutive years from the effective date of the employee’s appointment. Such District residency must be maintained regardless of subsequent promotion, reassignment, transfer, demotion, or any other internal movement within District government (Attachment 2). The employee shall execute this written agreement no later than the first day of work for the District government.

Some positions within the District government require an employee to establish and maintain District residency. Agencies will notify applicants selected for these positions of their residency requirements (see Attachment 3). Positions that require District residency include all Agency heads, positions in the Excepted Service, Executive Service, Senior Executive Attorney Service, positions in the Legal Service of the Council for the District of Columbia, and new employees hired or new re-hires in the Career, Management Supervisory, or Educational Service with a starting annual salary of $150,000 or more.

Vacancy Announcements

If a Career, Management Supervisory, or Educational service position has a salary range that includes or exceeds $150,000, the hiring agency must include the provided language in the position vacancy announcement:

“If the position you are applying for is in the Career, Management Supervisory, or Educational Service at an annual salary of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) or more, you must establish residency in the District of Columbia within one hundred eighty (180) days of the effective date of the appointment and continue to maintain residency within the District of Columbia throughout the duration of the appointment.”

Most new hires will attend a New Employee Orientation session on their first day of employment with the District government. New employees who claimed a residency preference must submit documents that verify their District residency on or before their first day of employment. New employees whose position has a residency requirement must verify their District residency no later than 180 days after the employee’s first day of work.

Using a License/ID and Wage Withholding to Verify Residency

Upon hire, after claiming a residency preference, a new employee must provide sufficient documentation that verifies their District residency. Sufficient documentation of District residency shall include a valid non-expired driver’s license or non-driver identification issued by the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles and verifying the employee has elected DC for their income tax withholding in the applicable human resources information system.

What if I Don’t Have a DC-issued ID?

If an employee does not have a valid DC driver’s license or non-driver identification, the employee must provide at least four documents that satisfactorily establish to DCHR the employee’s District residency. Substitute documentation shall include a combination of four (4) or more proofs of residency, such as:

• Voter registration card;
• Motor vehicle registration;
• Certified deed or current lease or current rental agreement for real property for the employee’s principal place of residence in the District;
• Cancelled checks or receipts for mortgage or rental payments for the employee’s principal place of residence in the District;
• Utility bills and payment receipts for the employee’s principal place of residence in the District;
• 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;
• Copies of credit card or brokerage account statements mailed to the employee’s principal place of residence in the District; 
• Copies of automobile insurance statements for the employee mailed to the employee’s principal place of residence in the District; and
• Sworn affidavits.

An employee may suffer an extraordinary hardship due to exceptional circumstances beyond the employee’s control that temporarily prevents the employee from satisfying a District residency requirement. For example, an employee may lose their home due to fire or flood, and they are then required to occupy temporary housing in another state during the repairs to their home. Alternatively, an employee may need to serve as a caregiver to a family member who resides in a neighboring state. In these exceptional circumstances, an individual employee may request a hardship waiver to suspend the residency requirements for a limited period not to exceed one year. Employees may requested a hardship waiver by submitting an electronic Residency Hardship Waiver Application.

The domicile requirement has been replaced by a residency requirement. The domicile requirement applied to Excepted, Executive, and Senior Executive Attorney Services appointments and required these individuals to remain domiciled in the District of Columbia for the duration of their appointment. Employees who were previously subject to the domicile requirement are now subject to the residency requirement as discussed in the sections above.

Preliminary Verification

If an applicant elects a residency preference and submits their documentation prior to New Employee Orientation, the applicant’s agency should review the documentation, and then submit the documents to DCHR’s Human Resources Solutions Administration (HRSA) for a preliminary check of their submitted documents. Notwithstanding the preliminary check, the employee must bring their documents to New Employee Orientation for final verification.

Residency Verification at New Employee Orientation

Employees must have their residency verified at New Employee Orientation.

1. The DCHR Human Resource Specialist checking-in the employee will review the employee’s offer letter to determine if the employee is required to maintain District residency.
2. If the employee must maintain residency, a DCHR, Policy and Compliance Human Resources Officer (HRO) will provide the employee a Form 300 or Form 300X to review and sign.
3. The HRO will also verify that the employee possesses a valid non-expired DC issued driver’s license or non-driver identification.
4. The HRO will collect the driver’s license or non-driver identification information and enter it to into PeopleSoft (Attachment 4).
5. If the employee does not have a DC issued ID, the HRO will collect, verify, and archive the appropriate documents for establishing proof of residency.
6. The HRO will forward the documents to DCHR’s HRSA to archive in the employee’s records.
7. After two pay periods, DCHR’s Policy and Compliance administration will verify new employee residency with an audit to verify that the employee’s income tax withholdings are for the District of Columbia.

Verifying Residency of Internal Applicants

For current District government employees who are appointed to a different position, elect a residency preference through competitive procedures, or for jobs that require District residency,  verification of residency will occur in the following manner:

1. The hiring agency will verify the applicant’s valid non-expired driver’s license or non-driver identification issued by the DC Department of Motor Vehicles and verify the applicant has elected the District for their income tax withholding or will verify other applicable and acceptable residency documentation.
2. The hiring agency will submit the documents to DCHR’s HRSA for verification and input of the data into the employee’s records, and into PeopleSoft.

References

1. The District Government Employee Residency Amendment Act of 2017 (D.C. Law 22-0315), effective May 23, 2019
2. 6-B D.C. Municipal Regulations Chapter 3, “Residency” (See 6-B DCMR § 301);
3. D.C. Official Code §§ 1-515.01 et seq., 1-608.01 (e)(1), 1-608.59, 1-609.06, 1-609.57, and 1-610.59.

Applicability

This issuance applies to all District government agencies under the Mayor’s personnel authority.

Pending publication of revised regulations, and consistent with 6-B DCMR § 104, the Director of the D.C. Department of Human Resources hereby issues a variance from any regulations in conflict with this issuance for purposes of implementing D.C. Law 22-0315.

For additional information concerning this issuance, please contact the Department of Human Resources, Policy and Compliance Administration, by calling (202) 442-9700 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected].