Maryland Passes Facebook Protection Law
MYOB about my Facebook Page!! That is what the Maryland General Assembly said when it recently passed legislation barring employers from requiring employees or applicants to turn over passwords needed...
View ArticleLabor Thoughts – Labor Peace Agreements, Split in Organized Labor, $400,000...
Labor Peace Agreements Leading to Successful Organizing: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Workplace Freedom Initiative has released a new report, “Labor Peace Agreements: Local Government as a Union...
View ArticleDecriminalizing Possession of Marijuana – What Does This Mean for Maryland...
My teenagers thought that the new Maryland law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana meant that smoking pot was now legal. I’m sure many people have that misconception. Sadly for...
View ArticleEmployers Can Be Liable for Harassment by Outsiders
Employers (most of them, anyway) understand that they must protect their employees from harassment by their co-workers or supervisors. A recent case, Freeman v. Dal-Tile Corp., provides a reminder...
View ArticleThoughts on Paid Sick Leave from a Management Lawyer
So my brilliant partner, Liz Torphy-Donzella (who also serves as General Counsel for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce), was a guest on WYPR’s “Midday with Dan Rodricks” show yesterday. She was invited...
View ArticleThoughts on Shielding Laws from a Management Attorney
As one of the co-chairs for the Employment Issues Task Force of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, I see the employment legislation that is proposed during each Maryland General Assembly session. Some...
View ArticlePlanning for Changes in Overtime Exemptions
Employers should start thinking about how changes in the tests for the federal overtime exemptions will affect their payroll costs and compensation plans. An employee must meet both a salary test...
View ArticleThe Affordable Care Act Complicates The Use of Temporary Employees
Employers did not need another reason to complain about the burdens of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Most of us know that the law includes onerous obligations on employers that have made human...
View ArticleOSHA Releases Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers
Transgender rights have been receiving a considerable amount of media attention this week, most of which has been sparked by the magazine Vanity Fair featuring a cover story about “Keeping up with the...
View ArticleConcerns About the Proposed Overtime Rules
So, after many months of anticipation, I found the Department of Labor’s proposed overtime rules oddly disappointing. This was supposed to be a major overhaul of the regulations governing which...
View ArticlePresident Obama Orders Government Contractors to Provide Paid Sick Leave
On Labor Day 2015, President Obama issued an Executive Order that requires certain government contractors and subcontractors to provide up to 7 days of paid sick leave per year. This leave may be used...
View ArticleDon’t Invite the SBA and the DOL to the Same Party!
There’s a part of me that thoroughly enjoys a smackdown between government agencies. (The other part of me is screaming at the government inefficiency and waste of my tax dollars). Here’s a good one....
View ArticleGiving Employees What They Want Doesn’t Preclude Discrimination Claim
So I found this case, Smith v. URS Corp., interesting because it involved a black employee who got what he wanted, but was still able to sue for discrimination. The black employee received the job he...
View ArticlePresident Obama Radically Expands EEO-1 Reporting Requirements
On January 29, 2016, President Obama announced a series of actions intended to close the gender pay equity gap, including proposed revisions to the EEO-1 form that would require the submission of...
View ArticleThoughts on Equal Pay Proposals from a Management Lawyer
Equal pay has become a hot topic on both the state and federal levels. As a woman who is a management-side employment attorney, I sometimes find myself puzzled as to how this topic came to be such a...
View Article“New” Equal Pay Bill for Maryland
The Maryland 2016 legislative session ended on Monday. A friend of mine mentioned that she heard the General Assembly passed an equal pay law in Maryland. But guess what? There is already an Equal Pay...
View ArticleThe EEOC’s Fact Sheet on Transgender Access to Bathrooms
This week, the EEOC issued a Fact Sheet regarding Bathroom Access Rights for Transgender Employees under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which the EEOC has stated prohibits discrimination on...
View ArticleCourt Finds DOL’s New Persuader Rule “Flawed”
The U.S. District Court in Minnesota ruled, on June 22, 2016, that the Department of Labor’s new interpretation of the advice exemption from the persuader rule is “untenable” and “flawed.” The Court...
View ArticleOvertime Rule Will Not Take Effect On December 1
A federal judge in Texas has issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the Department of Labor’s revised overtime exemption rule from taking effect as scheduled on December 1, 2016. As discussed in...
View ArticleOvertime Rule Injunction Appealed by Obama Administration
Today, December 1, 2016, the Department of Labor issued a press release announcing that it had filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit of the emergency nationwide injunction of...
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