Dear Fellow Washingtonians, 

As the calendar winds down on 2023, I hope you and your loved ones have found some time to relax over the holidays, reflect on the past year, and set out your aspirations for 2024. The new year is an opportune time to celebrate our successes and examine the lessons we’ve learned so that we can continue to grow and improve.

When I was sworn into office nearly one year ago, humbled by the trust District residents placed in me to represent and advocate for them, I pledged to use the law to combat persistent equity gaps, defend and strengthen the fundamental rights of all who live and work here, ensure that our children live healthy, hopeful lives, and work every day towards a stronger, safer community. I am very proud of the hard work that the talented professionals at the Office of Attorney General have performed over the past year and of the meaningful and impactful results we’ve delivered for District residents across all eight Wards.

As I look forward to 2024, I am acutely aware that there is much work still to be done – fighting for justice and equity, ensuring that everyone gets a fair shot and is not left out or left behind, and working to make D.C. a safer, kinder, healthier place to live, work and visit.  And I reiterate my commitment to work as hard and as smart as we can to deliver for the District and every resident.

Fighting for District residents is an honor, and it would not be possible without each of you. Thank you for reaching out, for raising the alarm when you witnessed or experienced injustice, and for sharing your concerns and aspirations for our city with my colleagues and me.

I hope you’ll take a look at just some of the wins we shared collectively this year. While we pause to reflect on our accomplishments in this moment, I am determined to use the lessons of this year to forge a better, stronger 2024.

With gratitude,

Brian L. Schwalb
Attorney General for the District of Columbia

Supporting DC’s Kids

Fostering hopeful, healthy kids is key to making our communities safer and stronger. At OAG, we work to protect young people from harm and ensure they have the support, resources, and opportunities they need to thrive.

We worked to stop companies from preying on our children for profit, securing $15.2 million from Juul for deceptively marketing highly addictive e-cigarettes to children. This is our largest-ever consumer protection settlement, and the funds secured will go toward undoing the public health and safety damage caused by Juul.

We also sued Meta for exploiting children by intentionally designing social media platforms with features that lure in and addict kids, causing significant harm to their mental and physical health.

Of course, the best way to serve our young people is to give them opportunities to learn and grow and to celebrate and listen to them as often as we can. Every year, OAG recognizes youth who have overcome significant challenges to make positive change in their community with our Right Direction Awards. Our High School Advisory Council gives District students an opportunity to build critical decision-making skills around complex issues and provide policy recommendations to OAG, while the Do the Write Thing Challenge gives middle school children the opportunity to speak out about how violence affects their lives and share ideas on what can be done to stop it. And just this month, I met a group of student journalists from the Deanwood Youth Journalism Program and listened to their perspectives on how to improve the lives of teenagers across DC.

Protecting Workers’ Rights

Since January, OAG has secured over $6 million for workers and the District, putting workers’ hard-earned money back in their pockets, holding employers accountable for violating the law, and leveling the playing field for law-abiding businesses.

We worked to protect workers’ rights to fair wages, overtime pay, and paid sick leave across industries by enforcing the District’s wage and hour laws, protecting the District’s youngest workers, and addressing illegal worker misclassification.

A few examples of our work this year include:

• Negotiating a $450,000 settlement with UP Fitness, a personal training company, for failing to pay wages owed to its trainers based on a sham commission payment structure.
• Requiring Chipotle to pay more than $322,000 in penalties for violating legal caps on the number of hours minors are allowed to work. Some of these funds will be dedicated to a youth apprenticeship grant for workforce skills development.
• Securing $835,000 from Maryland Applicators, a construction company that illegally denied workers sick leave and benefits through a misclassification scheme.

If you believe a District business is violating workers’ rights, please contact our office by phone at (202) 442-9828 or email at workers@dc.gov / trabajadores@dc.gov.

Advocating for Safe and Affordable Housing

At a time when affordable housing in the District is increasingly scarce, OAG works tirelessly to ensure District residents have access to safe and affordable homes.

This year, we sued 14 of the District’s largest landlords and software company RealPage for colluding to artificially and illegally inflate rents for tens of thousands of residents, exposing a housing cartel that has driven up housing costs.

We also fought for safe and healthy housing conditions. Our investigation of two apartment complexes in Ward 8 – Atlantic Terrace and Southern Hills – uncovered systemic housing code violations that endangered over 400 tenants. We worked to obtain a settlement that requires the owners and managers to make much-needed repairs, provide tenants with $850,000 in rent credits, and pay over $1 million in penalties.

Fighting for Environmental Justice

Our office fights for environmental justice everyday by enforcing environmental protections, holding polluters accountable, and standing up for communities of color who are disproportionately impacted by environmental harms.

This year, we secured the largest environmental settlement in DC history. Pepco will pay $57 million to the District, $47 million of which will go directly to cleaning up the Anacostia River.

Alongside Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia, we also negotiated a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency to enhance the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including the Potomac River.

Engaging with the Community

Seeking input from and listening to District residents is one of my top priorities because hearing directly from community members about the pressing concerns they face in their neighborhoods better informs the work and priorities of OAG. Our Community Engagement team is on the ground every day, constantly engaging with District residents and stakeholders and making sure there are open lines of communication through which residents can alert our office to issues in their communities.

In the first six months of 2023, we launched a District-wide Listening Tour and hosted town hall meetings in all eight wards. Throughout the year, we participated in more than 190 events across the District.

Getting out in the community is one of the best parts of the job – if you’d like to invite OAG to your events, please click here.