Fiona W. Ong

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As most employers with Maryland employees (hopefully) know, starting October 1, 2024, they are subject to new wage range posting and paystub notice obligations, as detailed in our April 10, 2024 E-lert on new Maryland employment laws. The Maryland Department of Labor promised to release guidance to help employers in complying with these new obligations, for which employers have been waiting with bated breath. And it is finally here! The MDOL has included this information, along with other information on existing wage laws, on a new Wage and Hour webpage.Continue Reading Maryland Department of Labor Issues Highly-Anticipated Guidance on New Wage Transparency and Paystub Notice Obligations

As an employment attorney, I am, of course, deeply interested in which personal characteristics are protected from discrimination under law, and it is fascinating to see which new characteristics are deemed to warrant such protections. In recent years, CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Acts have seen success in many states. This past year, Maryland and New Mexico added military status to their respective lists of protected characteristics. But a recent attempt to expand discrimination protections in Britain certainly caught my attention – fox hunters??!!Continue Reading No Discrimination Against… Fox Hunters?

Employers like predictability. And it would make sense that, for an employee who previously worked remotely, well, remote work should be a reasonable accommodation. But a recent case warns employers not to jump to that conclusion so quickly.Continue Reading Just Because It Worked Before Doesn’t Make It a Reasonable Accommodation Now…

So, in my first week of work at my current law firm, I discovered I was pregnant. Obviously, the timing wasn’t great. And frankly, I was terrified to tell my new bosses that, gosh, in about 8 months, I would need parental leave. (And by the way, the only other female attorney at that time was also pregnant, and due around the same time). But when I finally did, the partners (including the other pregnant attorney) were all incredibly supportive. Which is one of the reasons why, after many years, I’m still here. Continue Reading But The Applicant Didn’t Tell Me They Were Disabled…

As the federal court said, “This is a case about a dental appointment in Qatar, an international romance, national security, and a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. It is also a case about Title VII.” (Really, I could not come up with a better lede myself). And so begins the latest entry in our sporadic series of extreme cases of bad workplace judgment.Continue Reading Extraordinary Workplace Misconduct: With this drill, I thee wed…?

The Olympics are coming! And there were two interesting Olympic-related articles in the New York Times yesterday involving star competitors who “withdrew” (voluntarily?) from their countries’ teams based on some bad behavior. One involved a gold-medal winning equestrienne who was filmed repeatedly whipping a horse, which she characterized as an “error in judgment.” (Um, hitting a horse 24 times in less than a minute – People Magazine had more of the salacious details – seems rather more than a simple error in judgment…). Her decision not to compete makes sense. The other involved the teenaged captain of the Japanese women’s gymnastics team who committed the unspeakable crime of … smoking a cigarette and drinking alcohol. Twice. I’ve gotta say, forcing her to withdraw from the Olympics over common teenaged conduct (even if it is illegal under Japanese law for those under age 20) seems excessively harsh (and undoubtedly devastating to a young woman who likely has spent her entire life training for this opportunity). And there’s a lesson there for employers about imposing discipline. Continue Reading Hey Employers – Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

On July 10, 2024, the Maryland Department of Labor’s (MDOL) issued a second version of “draft” regulations to implement Maryland’s paid family and medical leave insurance (FAMLI) law. Applicable to all employers with Maryland employees and starting July 1, 2026, the FAMLI law will provide most employees in Maryland with 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, with the possibility of an additional 12 weeks of paid parental leave, as we have previously detailed in our E-lerts from April 12, 2023 and April 12, 2022. The MDOL issued a first draft of the regulations earlier this year, and we discussed the items of interest or significance in a January 30, 2024 E-lert. Subsequently, amendments to the FAMLI law were made during the 2024 General Assembly session (which we covered in our April 10, 2024 E-lert). And now we highlight the more significant developments in the latest version of the draft regulations. For more, click here.Continue Reading Round Two of Maryland’s “Draft” FAMLI Regulations – What Do They Say?

Just days before it was scheduled to take effect, a Texas federal court issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) revised overtime exemption rule from taking effect as scheduled on July 1, 2024, but only as to the State of Texas as an employer. As for all other employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, the rule is taking effect as scheduled today, on July 1, 2024. The DOL’s rule seeks to significantly raise the salary level required for overtime-exempt workers and institute an automatic increase every three years.Continue Reading DOL Overtime Rule Enjoined from Taking Effect on July 1 – But Only as to the State of Texas Government

For those of us labor attorneys who represent management in labor relations, there was a bit of schadenfreude (i.e. pleasure in another’s misfortune) with the news that employees engaged in a strike due to unfair labor practices allegedly committed by their employer – who happens to be both a union and unionized!  Oh, the irony….Continue Reading So, A Union’s Own Unionized Workers Go On Strike…

As most employers (hopefully) know, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule that will significantly increase the salary threshold for the exemptions from the Fair Labor Standard Act’s minimum wage and overtime requirements, as discussed in our April 24, 2024 E-lert. Consistent with the now-standard practice in response to pretty much any regulation issued by any federal workforce agency, three lawsuits have been filed to enjoin the rule from taking effect on the scheduled date of July 1, 2024. In Texas, of course. Because those Texas federal courts have been notoriously unfriendly to federal agency actions. But those three lawsuits are pending before three different judges…Continue Reading Three Overtime Rule Lawsuits, Three Judges – What Now?