Several years ago, I blogged about Emeryville, California’s paid sick leave ordinance, which is the only sick leave law that allows employees to take leave specifically to care for a sick service animal. As I noted then, “[t]he concept makes sense – employees can take sick leave because they (or their family member) is temporarily incapacitated because of the illness of the [service animal]. (Not because the dog is a family member!).” I also wondered whether other jurisdictions would adopt similar provisions. But now, I’m not sure they have to.
Continue Reading
Pregnancy Protections for Partners?
My interest is piqued by laws with unusual twists, like the Emeryville, California ordinance that permits the use of sick leave to care for a family member’s service animal (about which I blogged previously). Here’s another one – Pittsburgh recently passed a pregnancy accommodations ordinance that extends protections to the partners of pregnant employees!
Continue Reading
A Halloween Tale: Ghosted by Laws that Are Passed But Not Implemented!
So last month, I blogged about my discovery that the Maryland Code does not actually contain all the laws that have been passed, which caused me to wonder how we were supposed to comply with them. And now, I just learned that in D.C., some laws that are passed end up not being implemented after all! Wait – what?!
Continue Reading
U.S. Supreme Court Finds Charge Filing Requirement to be Procedural, Not Jurisdictional
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the requirement to file a charge of discrimination before bringing a discrimination lawsuit is a procedural requirement that may be waived, as opposed to a jurisdictional one that would deprive a court of the ability to even hear the case.
Continue Reading
Governor Hogan Vetos the Ban the Box Bill
Governor Hogan announced on May 24, 2019 that he was vetoing HB994, the “Ban the Box” bill, as our partner Liz Torphy-Donzella predicted he would do in our webinar on Maryland’s recently enacted employment laws. This means that, absent a veto override, this bill will not become law. The bill, however, passed with veto-proof majorities in both the House and Senate, so we will likely see a veto override in the next General Assembly session.
Continue Reading
Debt or No Debt? Your Employees’ Future in the Balance
Debt can alter one’s future trajectory for good or for ill. The latter is reflected in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. Although they are the most educated generation ever in the U.S., Millennials at the tail end of their generation incurred unprecedented debt for college – often six figure debt – then graduated into the Great Recession. Their employment opportunities were truncated. As a result, their income potential (and debt repayment capability) has been damaged, seemingly beyond repair. They have collectively put off home buying and starting families, which has ripple effects for the future, from reduced home buying opportunity to delayed or foregone child rearing.
Continue Reading
U.S. Supreme Court Holds Arbitration of Classwide Claims Not Required Where Agreement is Ambiguous
On April 23, 2019, a divided U.S. Supreme Court answered a question that had been left open by the Court in 2010: namely, whether an agreement that is ambiguous on the availability of class-wide arbitration could form the basis for an order compelling the arbitration of such claims. In Lamps Plus, Inc. et al. v. Varela, the Court ruled that such an agreement does not support an order compelling arbitration of class action claims.
Continue Reading
The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation Will Be No More…
Here’s a fun new law for all you Maryland employers. As of July 1, 2019, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation will officially be known only as the “Department of Labor.” So now our handy way of distinguishing between the state (DLLR) and the federal (DOL) agencies will disappear.
Continue Reading
Another State Finds No Federal Preemption of Its Medical Marijuana Law
Employer obligations to consider the use of medical marijuana as a reasonable accommodation just got murkier with a new case out of Delaware, Chance v. Kraft Heinz Foods Co., decided in December 2018.
Continue Reading
Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful (I think I Need a Sick Day)!!
Whether you are looking out your window at the wonder of snow or trying to prognosticate when it will hit, one thing is for sure. If you are in a state with mandatory sick leave, employees may be invoking their right to no-questions-asked leave when you otherwise prohibit any excuses. Such “no excuse” policies are common during snow events at businesses that must provide service – hospitals, property management companies, no-stop assembly lines. Think patients to be cared for, sidewalks to be cleared, machines that will seize without humans.
Continue Reading