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Previous Updates
The Act's protections do not apply to individuals acting in an employment context or to employment-related data.
- Align certain definitions with federal law;
- Clarify when an employer may grant a preference to certain veterans and their spouses in hiring and promotion; and
- Modify certain military-related definitions under the paid family and medical leave law and family military leave law.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2024RS/fnotes/bil_0008/hb1388.pdf
- How sufficient amounts of cool, clean drinking water will be provided;
- How to recognize the symptoms of heat-related illness, including heat exhaustion and heat strokes
- How to respond to suspected heat-related illness, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke;
- How employees will be provided with sufficient time and space to rest in shaded or cool, climate-controlled areas to cool off;
- How the employer will implement rest break schedules as necessary; and
- The emergency response plan.
- A minimum rest period of 10 minutes for every two hours worked;
- A minimum rest period of 15 minutes for every hour worked where employees are exposed to a heat index above 100 degrees Fahrenheit; and
- Monitoring employees for signs of heat-related illness through regular communications.
- Procedures for ensuring effective and accessible means of communication at all times at the worksite to enable an employee to contact a supervisor or emergency medical services;
- Procedures for responding to signs and symptoms of possible heat-related illness in employees;
- Procedures for monitoring and providing care to employees who are exhibiting symptoms of heat-related illness; and
- Procedures for contacting emergency medical services and, if necessary, transporting employees to a location accessible to emergency medical services.
- Emergency operations (emergency responders and utility providers responding to emergencies should review for specific applicability);
- Incidental exposures (when an employee performs work activities for less than 15 consecutive minutes per hour); and
- Buildings, structures, and vehicles that have a mechanical ventilation system or fan that maintains the heat index below 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can read about other new laws prohibiting discrimination in last month’s FranklyHR.
- Lower the applicability threshold to cover employers with 10 or more full-time employees in the County (previously 25 or more);
- Add definitions of arrest, conviction, sentence, and nonviolent felony; and
- Prohibit inquiries into and consideration of certain categories of convictions and arrests.
- Submission to the conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment;
- Submission to or rejection of the conduct is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting the individual; or
- Based on the totality of the circumstances, the conduct unreasonably creates a working environment that a reasonable person would perceive to be abusive or hostile.
- The number of settlements made by or on behalf of the employer after an allegation of sexual harassment by an employee;
- The number of times the employer has paid a settlement to resolve a sexual harassment allegation against the same employee over the past 10 years of employment; and
- The number of settlements made after an allegation of sexual harassment that included a provision requiring both parties to keep the terms of the settlement confidential.
Maryland will soon require that employers provide up to 12 weeks of benefits for employees who take leave to care for family members, their own health condition or a qualifying event due to a family member's military deployment.
The Maryland Department of Labor will issue regulations by June 1, 2023, which includes establishing a paid leave fund that collects contributions from employers and employees based on wages. Beginning on October 1, 2023, businesses with 15 or more employees, all employees, and all self-employed individuals who elect to participate in the program will be required to contribute to the state’s Family Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) fund.This contribution is essentially a payroll tax to be split between employers and employees – with the tax rate to be determined through a Maryland DOL study. Employers may elect instead to self-fund a paid family leave plan that meets or exceeds the benefits of the state program, but such a self-funded plan must also be approved by the Maryland DOL. Then, starting on January 1, 2025, employees will be able to apply for benefits when the need for covered leave arises, but only after exhausting all other employer-provided leave, such as PTO or sick leave.
Maryland joins California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, Connecticut, Colorado and Oregon and DC as states that have a paid leave program.
The state has released the below:
- Minor Fact Sheet
- Earned Sick and Safe Leave Notice
- Notice to Tipped Employees
- Equal Pay for Equal Work
Effective April 1, 2022, the minimum wage in Howard County, Maryland takes effect at:
- $12.50 for small employers with 14 or fewer employees (and certain other qualifying employers); and
- $14.00 for large employers with 15 or more employees.
The minimum direct cash wage for tipped employees is:
- $8.87 for small employers with 14 or fewer employees (and certain other qualifying employers); and
- $10.37 for large employers with 15 or more employees.
- The relocation of a part of an employer's operation from an initial workplace to another existing or proposed site that may reduce the total number of employees at the initial workplace by at least 25% or 15 employees, whichever is greater, over any three-month period; or
- The shutting down of a workplace, or a portion of its operations, that reduces the total number of employees by at least 25% or 15 employees, whichever is greater, over any three-month period (as opposed to 33% or 50 employees under federal law).
- The employer was actively seeking capital or business that would have enabled it to avoid or postpone the reduction in operations and giving the required notice would have prevented it from obtaining the needed capital or business; or
- The reduction in operations occurs to due to any form of natural disaster such as a flood, earthquake or a drought.
- Acts that cause serious bodily harm;
- Acts that place the employer or an employee in fear of imminent serious bodily harm;
- Harassment;
- Trespass;
- Malicious destruction of property; and
- Revenge porn.
State Law Requires More than the ADA
Maryland’s Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA) mirrors many protections by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at the federal level. However, in Maryland, a “reasonable accommodation” includes not only “reassigning or transferring an employee to a vacant position, light-duty job, different work location, or other alternative employment opportunity” but also “reanalyzing, with full consideration to the needs of the applicant or employee with a disability, job specifications, qualifications, or criteria to determine if they may be waived or modified”. This means employers must be willing to consider reasonable modifications to their policies and practices if a modification could enable an individual to perform the essential functions of the job.
October 2020
Montgomery County Human Rights Ordinance
Effective January 15, 2021, the Montgomery County, Maryland, Human Rights Ordinance is amended to include subjecting an individual to harassment, including sexual harassment, as a discriminatory employment practice.
Harassment includes verbal, written or physical conduct based on one or more of an individual’s protected characteristics, which are listed in the ordinance.
Sexual Harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances; requests for sexual favors; or other verbal, written or physical conduct of a sexual nature.
Montgomery County Minimum Workweek for Building Maintenance Workers
Effective January 1, 2021, building maintenance workers working for a covered employer are entitled to a minimum workweek of at least 30 hours per week unless the employee is taking certain types of covered leave. A covered employer is permitted to reserve 30% of the total hours scheduled for all the maintenance work for part-time workers with a minimum shift of four hours per day and 20 hours per week per part-time worker.
Employers affected by this law are those entities operating in Montgomery County that employ one or more person(s) as a building maintenance worker in any office building or contiguous group of office buildings under common ownership or management occupying a total of 350,000 or more square feet in the county, and have an occupancy rate of 50% or more.
This minimum workweek applies to “building maintenance workers,” which the bill defines as someone who works for a covered employer as a janitor, building cleaner, security officer, concierge, doorperson, handyperson, or building superintendent who performance janitorial services. Maintenance workers do not include managerial workers, those who work in an executive, administrative, or professional capacity, employees who make more than $30.50 per hour, those who work only on Saturdays or Sundays, and temporary replacements.
In addition to establishing a minimum workweek, the legislation prohibits any employer from retaliating against any person who opposes a violation of these minimum standards, who files a complaint with the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights, or who participates in any investigation of a violation or other proceeding before the Office of Human Rights.
September 2020
Tipped Employee Wage Statements
Effective October 1, 2020, Maryland restaurant employers must provide a tip credit wage statement each pay period to each employee for whom they claim a minimum wage tip credit.
The wage statement must:
- Be a written or electronic statement;
- Show the employee's effective hourly rate of pay - including employer-paid cash wages plus all reported tips (meaning tips retained by the employee and disclosed to the employer, tips distributed to the employee by the employer, or tips obtained through a valid tip-pooling or tip sharing arrangement) - for all tip credit hours worked for each workweek in the pay period; and
- Be provided no later than two weeks following the end of the pay period.
A restaurant employer may satisfy this requirement by providing an online system through which employees can obtain their tip credit wage statements.
Also effective October 1, 2020, tips received by an employee in excess of the tip credit may be excluded from the regular rate when calculating overtime.
Maryland Healthy Working Families Act
Effective October 1, 2020, the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act amends and expands the definition of family member for paid sick leave purposes to include a legal ward of an employee as well as the legal guardian or ward of the employee's spouse.
Maryland Amends Wage Disclosure Law
Effective October 1, 2020, Maryland’s Wage Disclosure Law prohibits an employer from taking an adverse action against an employee for inquiring about the employee’s own wages (in addition to inquiring about another employee’s wages). Employers may not take any adverse employment action against an employee for:
- Inquiring about another employee’s wages;
- Disclosing the employee’s own wages;
- Discussing another employee’s wages if those wages have been disclosed voluntarily;
- Asking the employer to provide a reason for the employee’s wages; or
- Aiding or encouraging another employee’s exercise of rights under this law
Maryland has passed a few laws which have been noted previously in FranklyHR. Any questions please reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant directly or email frankadvice@frankcrum.com.
August 2020
WARN Responsibilities Expanding
Effective October 1, 2020, the amended Maryland Economic Stabilization Act mandates that employers with 50 or more employees operating commercial, industrial or business enterprises in Maryland for at least one year must provide 60 days advance written notice to affected employees before implementing a reduction in operations. This goes beyond the federal WARN Act’s threshold.
Under Maryland’s amended mini-WARN law, a reduction in operations is:
- The relocation of a part of an employer’s operation from one workplace to another existing or proposed site; or
- The shutdown of a workplace or portion of a worksite that reduces the number of employees by at least 25% or by at least 15 employees, whichever is greater, over any three month period.
Read other details and requirements here.
Hairstyle Discrimination Amendment
Effective October 1, 2020 the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act’s prohibition against race discrimination will include discrimination on the basis of hairstyles. The term “race” includes traits associated with race, including hair texture, afro hairstyles, and protective hairstyles. The term “protective hairstyle” includes braids, twists, and locks.
Facial Recognition Technology Consent
Effective October 1, 2020, Maryland prohibits using facial recognition technology during the job interview process, absent an applicant’s consent. Employers that intend to use this technology in job interviews should prepare adequate notice and obtain written consent from applicants.
Amendments to the Equal Pay for Equal Work Law
Effective October 1, 2020, amendments to the Maryland Equal Pay for Equal Work law protect job applicants' salary history information. Under the law:
- An employer may not:
- Retaliate against or refuse to interview or hire an applicant because the applicant did not provide their wage history or requested the position's wage range;
- Rely on wage history in screening applicants or in determining wages; or
- Seek an applicant's wage history orally, in writing or through a current or former employer;
- After making an initial offer of employment with an offer of compensation, an employer may rely on, or seek to confirm, the wage history voluntarily provided by the applicant to support a wage offer that is higher than the initial wage offered by the employer; and
- An employer must provide an applicant with the position's wage range, if requested.
January 2021
Montgomery County Amends Ban the Box Law
Effective February 19, 2021, the Montgomery County, Maryland, Human Rights Ordinance is amended to alter certain provisions related to criminal record inquiries by employers.
Specifically, the amendments:
- Expand the application of the law to all employers with at least one full-time employee in the County;
- Prohibit employers from inquiring into an applicant's criminal history before extending a conditional employment offer; and
- Prohibit employers from inquiring into or basing hiring or promotion decisions on certain categories of arrest and conviction records listed in the ordinance.
Learn more here.
