D.C. Expands Wage Transparency Law

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
01/18/2024
The District of Columbia’s Wage Transparency Act has been around for nearly a decade.  The District recently expanded the Act through D.C. Act 25-367 to broaden employer pay transparency obligations. The Mayor signed the law on January 12, 2024, and it will be effective June 30, 2024 if it survives congressional review. The amendments require covered employers to provide a position’s wage range in all job listings and position descriptions,...
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Accidental Disclosure of Salary Information Leads to Unfair Labor Practice

Clifford Geiger
Clifford Geiger
01/12/2024
Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer "to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7" of the Act. Section 7 guarantees employees the right to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, which would include employees working together to seek higher...
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Seeking Workplace Culture Change Not an Accommodation Request

I was told by someone smarter than me (my wife, who’s a long time ago fully recovered lawyer) that my last blog had a bit too much law in it.  So, I am cutting back on the citations. This blog focuses on a Fourth Circuit decision issued this week that merges the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the political climate that emerged over the last ten years.  Kelly v. Town of Abingdon, __ F.4th __, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 14 (4th Cir. Jan. 2,...
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Is Reverse Discrimination Different?

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
01/02/2024
“The Way it Is” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range (track 5 on their 1986 album of the same name) is one of my favorite songs in the “poignant” genre.  If you don’t know the song, take a listen.  Heck, take a listen again even if you do know it.  “The Way it Is” is a song about compassion.  The last verse goes: “Well, they passed a law in ‘64 To give those who ain’t got a little more But it only goes so far Because the law...
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Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Police Officer’s Title VII Lawsuit

A recent case from the Second Circuit presented an interesting fact pattern for law enforcement employers facing claims of discrimination by stereotype.  In Hanks v. City of Syracuse, a black police officer who was denied an assignment to a prestigious gun violence task force brought suit for race discrimination under Title VII, hostile work environment, and retaliation. The District Court dismissed the case for failure to state a claim, which the...
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Virginia Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Teacher Who Was Fired Over Pronouns

The Virginia Supreme Court recently issued an opinion in favor of a public school teacher who was terminated after refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a transgendered student.  The case provides an interesting study into the continuing conflicts between LBGTQ rights under federal law and a renewed push for religious freedom. The plaintiff was a French teacher who had worked at the school for six years.  Near the end of the 2017-18 school...
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Starbucks Forgot To Engage In Effects/Impact Bargaining, Now The NLRB Wants It To Reopen Stores

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
12/18/2023
To call Starbucks’ relationship with Starbucks Workers United union (Workers United) strained is an understatement.  The relationship began in December 2021 when Workers United’s campaign in Buffalo, NY resulted in the first unionized Starbucks store.  Since then, workers at over 400 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize nationally, many represented by Workers United.  Hundreds of unfair labor practice charges have also been filed on both...
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Maryland Minimum Wage Is Set To Rise To $15.00 Per Hour On January 1, 2024

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
12/16/2023
Get ready to pay your employees more!  On January 1, 2024, minimum wage in Maryland is set to increase to $15.00 per hour for all employers.  This is a fairly substantial increase as it is effectively two years of increases at once.  The 2023 minimum wage rate for large employers (15 or more employees) is $13.25 per hour and for small employers it is $12.80 per hour. This is the last of four years of gradual increases that began in 2019.  The...
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“How Long Must I Wait?” . . . FMLA Style

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
11/21/2023
The Pennsylvania based rock band Dr. Dog has a song on its 2012 album “Be the Void” titled How Long Must I Wait?  It has a line in the second verse about the battle of Baltimore.  Extra credit there because it’s geographically local.  What got me thinking about it was an Eleventh Circuit oral argument held in a FMLA case last week.  Magwood v. RaceTrac Petroleum, No. 22-12501 (11th Cir.) (arg. held 11/16/23).  The plaintiff appealed the...
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Is The Cemex Doctrine Is Here to Stay?

Mathew Moldawer
Mathew Moldawer
11/20/2023
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken two affirmative steps to cement the Cemex doctrine into current labor law.  First, the NLRB Office of General Counsel, headed by Jennifer A. Abruzzo, issued Memorandum GC 24-01, Guidance in Response to Inquiries about the Board’s Decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific LLC.  Abruzzo stated in the guidance that “the Cemex Board took issue with the prior focus on the potential impact...
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