DC workers who challenged the constitutionality of the DC government’s Clean Hands Law in federal court have elected to withdraw their lawsuit following a number of favorable recent developments. These include significant changes to that law enacted by the DC Council as well as all plaintiffs’ recent success either in receiving their requested occupational or business licenses or in getting assurances from the District government that their licenses will not be denied based on outstanding fines and fees.
In the wake of the suit filed by Tzedek DC, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, the DC government has changed its guidance covering eligibility for occupational and professional licensing—specifically, changing the language on the Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) website to indicate that traffic and parking debt will not be included when determining an occupational or business license applicant’s Clean Hands eligibility.
Further, plaintiffs in the case have also now received assurances from DC officials that vendors’ tax-related debt accrued after September 30, 2023, will be excluded and/or forgiven, during the District’s consideration of the vendors’ eligibility for its “amnesty” program.
The complaint in Ayele v. District of Columbia was filed on behalf of seven individual workers, clients who were ineligible for business or occupational licenses under the Clean Hands Law. The clients listed in the complaint included a speech pathologist, aspiring small business owners, and street vendors.
At the time the suit was filed, the Clean Hands Law automatically disqualified anyone with over $100 in unpaid fines and fees of any kind from obtaining DC government-issued occupational and business licenses. The law affected more than 125 occupations, representing over 48,000 workers—nearly one-fifth of all DC workers—including food vendors, barbers, cosmetologists, nurses, social workers, plumbers, and dozens of other occupations crucial to the District’s economy. The Clean Hands law’s disproportionate impact on low-income workers and the law’s role in exacerbating racial income inequality was detailed in Tzedek DC’s 2023 report, “Locked Out: How DC Bans Workers with Unpaid Fines from More than 125 Jobs or Starting a Business, and What We Can Do About It”.
Two original plaintiffs in the case were subsequently able to resolve their occupational licensing issues entirely. One, Shawn Cheatham, is a Black Air Force veteran living in Ward 8 who has long desired to open a small plumbing business. Another, Stephanie Carrington, is a Black DC resident and trained speech pathologist who dreamed of opening up shop in her own community. However, because they both owed the District over $100 in parking and traffic fines, the language of the Clean Hands Law automatically disqualified them from starting their businesses. Following OTR’s change in guidance, and working with Tzedek DC and the Washington Lawyers Committee, Mr. Cheatham and Ms. Carrington were both able to obtain the licenses they needed and dismissed their claims.
Each of the other plaintiffs has now received significant assurances from District officials that any debts not covered by the District’s “amnesty” program will be forgiven or excluded from Clean Hands consideration. The five vendor plaintiffs, all of whom are immigrants, worked for years as DC street vendors in the District and want to continue doing so, but the Clean Hands Law has made this impossible. Four of these plaintiffs—Medhin Ayele, Kahssay Ghebrebrhan, Fasika Mehabe, and Hiwet Tesfamichael—faced exorbitant street vending fees that they were unable to pay due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the related District shut down. A fifth, Antonia Diaz de Sanchez, faced a $3,000 fine that was issued in error to her vending truck. These workers now have a path forward in light of the assurances provided by the DC government during the lawsuit.
The decision to withdraw their case also reflects recent significant, positive changes in DC’s Clean Hands Law. Effective October 1, 2024, the DC Council increased the Clean Hands-based disqualification threshold ten-fold, from $100 in debt to the DC government to $1000. While further reform is needed, this change will empower more workers to obtain business and occupational licenses to work in the District and will help combat racial disparities.
Tzedek DC thanks our clients for bravely sharing their stories publicly to help all workers in the District of Columbia. We are grateful as well for the outstanding partnership with our co-counsel the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, as well as to the nonprofit Beloved Community Incubator (BCI), which worked closely with the workers involved in the case.
About Tzedek DC
Tzedek DC’s name is drawn from the ancient Jewish teaching “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” or “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Headquartered at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, Tzedek DC’s mission is to safeguard the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with lower incomes facing the often-devastating consequences of debt collection and credit-related obstacles. This mission is carried out as anti-racism work in response to the massive wealth gaps tracking race in DC and nationwide. Tzedek DC seeks to serve and empower our client base, which is comprised of 90% Black people, 60% women, and 25% disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free direct services—legal representation and advice and financial counseling; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing bilingual community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 4,000 client households in legal matters and catalyzed systemic reforms benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC residents.