October 2024 E-Update

Click here to view entire E-Update as a PDF

Employers’ Use of AI Tracking or Monitoring Reports May Trigger Obligations Under FCRA  In light of companies’ increasing use of AI technologies to track worker productivity and activity, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau asserts that it is “tak[ing] action to curb unchecked worker surveillance.” For more, click here.

Maryland DOL Adds to Its Guidance on the New Pay Transparency and Paystub Notice Obligations  As of October 1, 2024, employers with Maryland employees are subject to new wage range posting and paystub notice obligations, as detailed in our April 10, 2024 E-lert. In September, the Maryland Department of Labor issued FAQs and other resources to assist employers in complying with the new obligations, which we discussed in our September 11, 2024 E-lert. And now the MDOL has added to those FAQs.  For more, click here.

Maryland’s New Heat Stress Standards: What Employers Need to Know  Back in 2020, the Maryland General Assembly enacted a law that required the State Commissioner of Labor and Industry to develop regulations (by October 1, 2022) to protect workers from heat stress. Rather delayed, the Maryland Department of Labor finally issued the heat stress regulations (or standards) on September 20, 2024, effective only 10 days later, on September 30, 2024. These standards, which are quite onerous, cover all employers whose employees, whether working indoor or out, are exposed to a heat index equal to or exceeding 80 degrees Fahrenheit, with some exceptions.  For more, click here.

DOL Releases Tool to Provide Ideas for Disability Accommodations.  The U.S. Department of Labor has released a new tool – the Situations and Solutions Finder – that provides more than 700 accommodation ideas for workers with disabilities and their employers.  For more, click here.

Unions May Be Entitled to Non-Bargaining Unit Information Based on Unsupported Assertions of Relevance. While employers may acknowledge that a union is entitled to information about bargaining unit members, the NLRB has made clear in a recent case that it believes unions are also entitled to non-bargaining unit information under a “liberal discovery-type standard” that broadly favors unions.  For more, click here.

NLRB Cannot Order Elon Musk to Delete Possibly Unlawful Tweet.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the National Labor Relations Board’s order that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s tweet, which the Board had found to be an unlawful threat of retaliation against union activity, should be deleted.  For more, click here.

Employee Not Protected by Post-Termination FMLA Certification.  Employers are sometimes frustrated by the expansive scope of protections for employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act, but a recent case makes the point that an employee is not protected until they establish that they have a serious health condition. For more, click here.

Employees Cannot Sue for Violations of Maryland’s Mini-WARN Act.   Maryland, like a number of other states, has a law similar to the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, requiring employers to give 60 days’ notice of certain plant closings and mass layoffs.  For more, click here.

Prince George’s County (MD) Expands Its Ban the Box Law. Effective September 16, 2024, the Prince George’s County Ban-the-Box law has become more restrictive. As employers with employees in the County hopefully know, the County previously enacted a law that prohibited inquiries about an applicant’s criminal history until the end of the first employment interview. For more, click here.

Based on a few conversations with clients, we thought it would be helpful to remind employers that, following the July 1, 2024 increase in the salary threshold to qualify for overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the required minimum salary will increase again on January 1, 2025 – and employers need to be prepared to comply!  For more, click here.