2019 Articles

Although the federal minimum wage remains $7.25, Maryland’s minimum wage is subject to an annual increase, with the next increase coming on January 1, 2020 – from $10.10 to $11.00 per hour. As we discussed in our April 10, 2019 E-lert on new Maryland laws, this increase comes as the […]

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals held that, where provisions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Maryland’s Wage-Hour Law are substantially similar, the federal regulations interpreting that FLSA provision are “persuasive authority as to the correct interpretation of Maryland law.” In Poe v. IESI MD Corp., the issue […]

In another about-face from positions taken by the National Labor Relations Board under the Obama administration, the Board announced the reinstatement of its longstanding arbitral deferral standard, which it uses to decide when to defer to an arbitrator’s grievance decision as to whether an employee’s discipline or discharge violates the […]

In Valley Hospital Medical Center, the National Labor Relations Board returned to the longstanding precedent that dues-checkoff provisions – a contractual requirement that employers automatically deduct union dues from employee paychecks, and remit the dues to the union – are enforceable only for the duration of the applicable collective-bargaining agreement […]

The EEOC has announced the rescission of a 1997 policy statement in which it objected to the use of agreements that required employees to resolve employment disputes solely through arbitration. In 1997, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued the Policy Statement on Mandatory Binding Arbitration of Employment Discrimination Disputes as […]

This month, there were a number of actions of more or less interest for government contractors. These include the following: Executive Order for Successor Contractors. President Trump issued an “Executive Order on Improving Federal Contractor Operations by Revoking Executive Order 131495.” This revokes an EO issued by President Obama that […]

Among the latest batch of Advice Memoranda from the National Labor Relations Board, the Office of General Counsel (OGC), weighs in on the issue of whether provisions prohibiting employee disparagement of the employer violate the National Labor Relations Act. Employers, both unionized and non-union, can look to Advice Memoranda, which […]

On November 5, 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) published, for public comment, a proposed revision to its interpretation of the fluctuating workweek (FWW) method of computing overtime. Under the revised interpretation, bonuses, commissions, shift differentials and other additional payments will not prevent an employer from using that method. When […]

In LA Specialty Produce Co., the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) applied its Boeing framework to an employer’s Confidentiality and Media Contact rules, finding both to be lawful. As the Board set forth in the 2017 case, The Boeing Company (which we discussed in detail in a December 2017 […]

One of the more complicated wage and hour issues we often advise on involves the tip credit that employers may take for the amount of time an employee engages in a tipped occupation.  Recently, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in order to implement changes […]