News
Employment
Maryland Passes Law Requiring Employers To Accommodate Pregnancy-Related Disabilities
In May 2013, Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law the “Reasonable Accommodations for Pregnant Workers Act,” which requires Maryland employers to provide reasonable accommodations to women suffering from pregnancy-related disabilities. See Md. Code Ann. State Gov’t §§20-601, et seq. The Act applies to all employers with at least fifteen employees for each working day in…
Read MoreGovernment Shuts Down: You Are Not Being Paid on Your Contract, Do You Pay Your Employees?
Even though the government shutdown has now ended, suspended work on contracts may cause payment issues to linger in the coming weeks. Employee wages are among the primary issues that are expected to surface. Given the continuing atmosphere of confrontation in Washington, another shutdown may not be out of the question.
Read MoreEmployment Law: Implementation of the Employer Mandate Imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act Postponed
President Obama announced in early July 2013 that the Employer Mandate imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (“the Act) which was scheduled to become effective January 1, 2014 will be postponed until January 1, 2015. The postponement was attributed to the need for employers to develop and implement the recordkeeping and reporting…
Read MoreEmployment Law: New Laws Address Wage Payment Claims and Pregnancy Discrimination
Governor Martin O’Malley has signed into law two bills enacted during the last session of the legislature which make significant changes in the legal landscape related to employees’ claims for unpaid wages and the obligation to accommodate employees who are pregnant.
Read MoreEmployment Law: Difficult Clients May Bring Liability to Staffing Firms
Given the proliferation of staffing firms in recent years, the thorny issue of how to handle discrimination complaints between contracting entities frequently arises. Specifically, when is a staffing firm liable for the discriminatory actions of its clients?
Read MoreEmployment Law: Is Your Non-Compete Affordable to Enforce?
Employers Should Take Steps To Ensure That They Can Afford To Enforce Non-Disclosure And Non-Competition Agreements. For 10 years Mike Brown served as the Vice President of Sales for ABC Technologies which is located in Maryland. In that capacity, Brown had: (1) supervised ABC’s sales staff; (2) developed close relationships with key customers and vendors;…
Read MoreEmployment Law: Employers Now Required To Accommodate Pregnancy-Related Disabilities
In May 2013, Governor Martin O’Malley signed a law passed by the Maryland Legislature which requires employers with at least 15 employees to provide reasonable accommodations for employees diagnosed with a disability caused or contributed to by pregnancy. Maryland’s employment discrimination statute has defined a “disability” to include a: (1) physical disability or infirmity or…
Read MoreEmployment Law: New Laws for Employees with Wage Claims
A new Maryland labor and employment law incentivizes settling unpaid wage claims and may reduce court caseload. A new law that will go into effect on October 1st has effectively turned the tables on who is the plaintiff and who is the defendant in unpaid wage lawsuits by allowing for the creation of wage liens.
Read MoreEmployment Law: The Internship, No Wages But Potentially Very Expensive
Unpaid interns can be a great resource for companies to grow prospective talent internally and contribute to the local community. That is, unless the company only really hired the interns for free labor. In which case, free interns can end up costing a lot of money.
Read MoreEmployment Law: You May Be Personally Liable for Unpaid Wages
A recent Maryland high-court decision has expanded liability under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law (“Wage Payment Act”) to individual officers, directors, stockholders and supervisors who exert sufficient control over the employment relationship. In Campusano v. Lusitano Construction LLC, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland discussed the “economic reality test”, which is historically…
Read More