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The Midlands Beer Garden in Park View is gearing up for a really fun New Years Eve party (early-bird tickets are $55) offering endless prosecco, a dinner buffet with tacos and other delicious treats from their kitchen and live music by the local reggae band, FeelFree!

Sip boozy hot cocoa around camp-fire tables, or cheers with bubbles inside with a 100 inch projector screens showing the NYC ball drop to toast 2018. The very next morning at 11 a.m. they are opening back up to cure that NYE hangover with an endless breakfast taco buffett and bottomless mimosas & bloodies for $20. Both projectors will be on along with all the HDTV’s showing the bowl games with sound.

New Years Eve will be ticketed event only, and you can purchase tickets here. New Years Day will be open to the public, but you can purchase tickets here ahead of time.

The Midlands Beer Garden has also been open for a year now, and to celebrate, they are offering a brand new happy hour, “BoGo local drafts & cocktails from 4 p.m. until midnight Monday through Thursday.”

This column is written and sponsored by Alan Lescht and Associates, PC, an employment litigation firm in Washington, DC, that handles cases involving contract disputes, wage and hour issues, discrimination and retaliation, wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation and security clearances.

If you work for a staffing company, you may be entitled to overtime pay.

A federal court recently ordered a major staffing company, Randstad, to pay employees overtime. Four former employees sued for unpaid overtime. The employees’ job duties included marketing and selling Randstad’s services, recruiting and placing workers, overseeing placements and performing administrative and clerical tasks. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Randstad to pay these employees, as well as any others who performed the same job duties, overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 per workweek.

Am I entitled to overtime?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that requires employers to pay certain employees overtime pay, which means employees must be paid at a rate of 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for any hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. For example, say you make $10 per hour and worked 50 hours this week. Your employer must pay you $10 per hour for the first 40 hours, and $15 per hour for the remaining 10 hours.

However, certain employees, including some executives, administrative and professional employees, do not get overtime. These employees are considered “exempt.”

Whether an employee is exempt depends on several factors, including primary job duties. What matters is the employee’s actual day-to-day activities, rather than his/her title or position description. For example, in the Randstad case, the employees performed a mix of exempt and non-exempt job duties. However, the court decided that the employees were entitled to overtime because they spent the majority of their time on non-exempt tasks.

Other factors also determine whether you are exempt under the FLSA. These may include whether you are paid a salary or an hourly wage, and how much you earn.

Am I an exempt administrative employee?

Administrative employees are exempt if: (1) their primary duty is performing office or non-manual work that is directly related to management or general business operations; and (2) they exercise discretion and independent judgment about important matters. (more…)

This weekly column is written and sponsored by D.C. real estate agent and Edgewood resident Jessica Evans. Email her questions at  [email protected].

2017 has been quite a year in DC real estate world. I’ve had the honor of helping many buyers on their homeownership journey and through the process I’ve had the opportunity to observe both the challenges and triumphs that come with purchasing a home. With that I’d like to share the most common mistakes that I see buyers make and some tips on avoiding them:

1. Not getting fully pre-approved before looking at homes

Putting some numbers into an online calculator is not going to cut it. Figuring out how you are going to pay for a house is equally as important as what house you are going to buy. Would you go shopping for anything else without knowing how much money you have to spend? It’s VERY hard to reduce your budget and price range mid-search and be happy with the new options.

2. Deciding exactly what you want after online research alone.

There are things that you can’t see or feel online. These things may make a difference in the direction of your home search. Your search may confirm that what you think you want, is actually what you want, but I find more often than not that this may change as you explore different options. Stay open minded.

3. Attempting to buy the house that you think that you will need or want in 5 years rather than what makes sense today. (Exception — if you are getting to the age where you think you may be buying your last home, this does not apply!)

DC is expensive, and it’s hard enough to afford a home that meets your needs today, much less your future needs and the needs of your unborn children. As a young-ish adult, a lot can change in a few years. Buying in a good school area before you have children may cost you a lot in the long run if you miss out on a chance to build equity in a faster appreciating area. Having 3 bedrooms when you only need 1 means you’re paying a lot every month for space that you may not really need.

4. Your family, friends, co-workers are great people who mean well, but they are not real estate professionals, and they may not be giving you advice that is actually helpful.

Real estate is a hot topic in D.C. and everyone wants to share their advice and experiences. As a real estate professional, I know that everyone’s search is different with different objectives, priorities and preferences, and my job is to help buyers reach the best possible outcome using my knowledge and experience. Your parents will always be advising that you proceed with caution, because they don’t want you to make a mistake or purchase that you will regret. (more…)