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President Obama's proposed 2011 budget provides for increased funding to ramp up enforcement of improperly classified workers. Obama has proposed that the Labor Department receive an additional $25 million to hire 100 enforcement personnel to target misclassification.
Maryland House Economic Matters Committee Chairman Del. Dereck Davis is expected to sponsor a bill that would require employers with 50 or more employees to provide shift breaks. In conversations with the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, Davis said the bill is aimed at lunch breaks. The Chamber has opposed the concept, arguing that a "one-size-fits-all" approach would hinder emergency situations and flexible work arrangements.
The U.S. Department of Labor is reviewing regulations implementing the new military family leave amendments to the FMLA that were included in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2008. The amendments allow eligible employees to take up to 26 weeks of leave during a 12-month period to care for covered servicemembers. The amendments also allow eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave for any "qualifying exigency" that stems from a call to active duty. The amendments took effect Jan. 6.
DOL also plans to finalize in April 2010 child labor regulations under the FLSA. The agency published a notice of rulemaking on the issue in 2007.
Maryland's Labor Department has recovered $91,000 for back pay -- its largest ever recovery -- for an executive whose severance pay was withheld by his former employer. The company had challenged a finding of fiscal liability, but state investigators determined that the company, whose name was not released, failed to perform proper due diligence before hiring the worker. That failure was not sufficient grounds to extinguish the company's contractual obligation to pay severance, DOL said.
The Free State's Department of Labor is investigating 600 claims of unpaid wages and has recovered more than $362,000 in wages so far this year -- that amount is more than it recovered in 2007 and close to the $456,000 it recovered in fiscal 2009.
Workplace law firm Jackson Lewis has expanded into Charm City with the recent opening of its Baltimore office. Nine attorneys from DLA Piper will staff the office. Richard J. Hafets will serve as managing partner. The new location is the firm's 45th office.
Maryland's General Assembly has started its 2010 session. Several employment-related measures are expected to be introduced. One state lawmaker has said he favors giving businesses a tax credit of as much as $3000 for each unemployed Marylander that is hired. Republican lawmakers have said they want to repeal the law passed last year that extends unemployment benefits to part-time workers. The repeal, they argue, would help employers with hiring because too much of their money is going to the state's unemployment trust fund. Gov. Martin O'Malley has said that he wants legislation enacted that would "prime the pump of small business lending" because that would help create jobs. Indeed, job creation is said to be one of the priorities for lawmakers for the 2010 session.
Job bias charges -- based on disability, religion and national origin -- hit record highs in FY2009, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The number of charges alleging age-based discrimination reached the second highest level ever. The EEOC speculates that the spike in filings stem from economic conditions and changes to the agency's intake practices that eliminate many of the steps formerly needed for an individual to file a charge.
Federal workers are now forbidden from texting while driving government vehicles or while on official business using their own vehicles. The executive order signed by President Barack Obama in October went into effect Jan. 5.
Failure to complete the administrative process was not fatal to a medical device salesman's whistleblower claim, the United States District Court for the Fourth District has ruled in a published case.
The trial court erred when it dismissed a Baltimore city official from a lawsuit brought by a woman who claimed that her contract with the city for auto body repairs was terminated because she criticized the city's auto repair practices on a local television show. The Court of Special Appeals said the city's purchasing agent was not entitled to legislative immunity because the Board of Estimates is part of the executive branch of City government and is not a legislative body. In the reported decision, the court also overturned Deborah Mullins' $120,000 jury verdict on the retaliation claim. Mullins and her husband had previously unsuccessfuly sued Baltimore City for age discrimination (see Maryland Employment Law Reporter March 2009).
The Fourth Circuit has added a new wrinkle to the issue of worker payment for donning and doffing. Employers and unions can agree to exclude payment for donning and doffing of protective gear through collective bargaining under the FLSA, the United States District Court for the Fourth Circuit has ruled in Sepulveda v. Allen Family Foods. Senior Judge Marvin Garbis had dismissed the class action suit in September 2008 (see MELR October 2008). That decision put him at odds with Judge Andre Davis -- recently appointed to the Fourth Circuit -- who ruled in Perez v. Mountaire Farms (see MELR May 2009), that the poultry plant had to pay its workers for time spent donning and doffing.
Employers would be required to provide unpaid break time and a location other than a bathroom for employees who are nursing mothers under an amendment (HR 3590) to the Fair Labor Standards Act included in the U.S. Senate's version of the health care reform bill passed Dec. 24. |
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Maryland's top court has granted cert in several labor and employment law cases: Michele Collins v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation (see Maryland Employment Law Reporter September 2009), Walmart Stores, Inc. v. Larry Holmes, Sr. et ux (see MELR October 2009) and Valerie Willis v. Montgomery County, Maryland (see MELR September 2009).
The Odenton Volunteer Fire Company and Anne Arundel County have agreed to pay $175,000 plus $146,000 in legal fees to settle charges made by two teenage volunteer firefighters that they were sexually abused by the fire company's ex-president, according to the Baltimore Sun. Neither the county nor the volunteer fire company admitted wrongdoing. As previously reported by Maryland Employment Law Reporter, the young men alleged in the lawsuit, among other things, that they were ordered to run around the firehouse naked by Louis D'Camera. D'Camera killed himself shortly after the filing of the lawsuit in 2008. D'Camera prevailed when a similar lawsuit was brought against him in 1998 and had been charged with indecent exposure with an 18-year-old in 2005. The complaint is available to MELR subscribers at no charge.
President Barack Obama has signed the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act. The act amends the FMLA so as to make it easier for flight crews to qualify for leave by changing the way in which service hours requirements are met.
The EEOC has published a notice of proposed rulemaking on proposed improvements to the federal employee discrimination complaint process. The proposals include allowing agencies to conform the standard for bringing federal sector retaliation complaints to private sector standards. Public comments are being solicited until Feb. 19, 2010.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case dealing with text messaging in government workplaces. The case stems from a California police department's official policy of allowing personal communications while reserving the right to monitor network communications. However, under an informal policy adopted by a supervisor, pagers belonging to SWAT team members were not inspected. But when one of the team member's messages were checked under a change in the supervisor's informal policy, managers were shocked to discover a high number of sexually explicit messages. The policeman sued, claiming that his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable government searches had been violated.
In EEOC v. Xerxes Corporation, Maryland's federal district court threw out a worker's claims of hostile work environment and racial discrimination, describing the company's actions -- including prompt investigation, written warnings, EEO retraining sessions and unpaid suspensions -- as "quick" and "proactive." The case is unpublished.
Former Baltimore City Police Commissioner Kevin Clark has been unsuccessful in the latest attempt to contest his firing. The Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court’s dismissal of Clark’s federal lawsuit on Dec. 2. Clark and two of his deputies were fired by then Mayor Martin O’Malley in 2004. The officers alleged in their federal court case that the mayor violated their constitutional rights by taking their badges and other equipment and escorting them from police headquarters. The Fourth Circuit said the tactics were appropriate because they were employment actions. Earlier this year, Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals ruled that Clark's request for reinstatement was moot (see Maryland Employment Law Reporter July 2009).
The U.S. Department of Justice has been asked to weigh in on a case pending in the Supreme Court. Staub v. Proctor Hospital asks the question whether an employer can be held liable for the unlawful bias of managers who caused but did not make a discriminatory employment decision. Appeals courts have issued conflicting opinions on the "cat's paw" theory of discriminatory employment actions. While the 4th Circuit has ruled that an employer may be held liable only for the motives of the formal or functional decisionmaker, other courts, such as the 3rd circuit, have ruled that an employer can be held liable for the motives of the manager whose actions caused the ultimate decision. Asking DOJ to provide an opinion often signals that the Supreme Court has decided to hear a case.
Maryland-based clothing retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. has been sued in federal district in California by an African-American man -- a Special Forces and retail management veteran -- for racial discrimination. Casey Stewart alleges in suit papers that he was denied promotions because of his race and retaliated against after he filed charges with the EEOC. Stewart seeks class action status. The retailer did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. Jos. A. Bank was recently named for the fifth time to Forbes' magazine list of America's top 200 companies. The complaint is available free of charge to subscribers.
The Supreme Court has granted cert in a case dealing with the question whether the National Labor Relations Board is authorized to render decisions while three of its five seats are vacant. The High Court was asked to determine whether the National Labor Relations Act authorizes the agency to act with only two members if the board previously delegated its full powers to a three-member group that included the two present members. Cert was granted Nov. 2.
The EEOC has filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Jewish men, alleging that the two brothers suffered religious discrimination. According to court documents, the men were subjected to physical harassment, anti-Semitic slurs by managers and co-workers and the painting of a swastika on one of the men's work truck. The suit was filed against Administaff, a Texas-based human resources contractor for small and medium-sized businesses, and Conn-X, LLC, which provides cable services in the Baltimore metro area. Administaff severed its co-employment status with Conn-X shortly after one of the brothers filed charges with the EEOC. An Administaff spokeswoman told Maryland Employment Law Reporter the company has a strict anti-harassment policy and will vigorously defend itself against the charges. Conn-X did not return calls for comment. |