The Employment Brief | Employment Law | Kollman & Saucier, P.A.

Maryland’s Highest Court Holds That Employees May Recover Treble Damages for Unpaid Overtime

Kollman & Saucier

08/18/2014

Last week, the Maryland Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Peters v. Early Healthcare Giver, Inc. a case that dramatically shifts the terrain of Maryland wage and hour law in employees’ favor. September Term 2013, No. 86 (Md. Aug. 13, 2014). Most significantly, Peters holds that employees suing for unpaid overtime may now be able to recover three times the amount of overtime at issue for a period of three years prior to filing suit. It is...

Kollman & Saucier

08/15/2014

Employee Benefits, ERISA

A federal court in Maryland has partially dismissed a complaint filed on behalf of nearly 40 Spanish-speaking current and former employees of Hatfield’s Equipment & Dedication Services Inc. (“Hatfield’s”). The plaintiffs, who worked as part of a concrete crew, alleged that Hatfield’s did not comply with the reporting and disclosure requirements for the company’s profit sharing plan, because plan documents and benefit statements...

Kollman & Saucier

08/07/2014

Labor Law, State Law

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld, in its entirety, the 2011 Wisconsin statute that curtailed collective bargaining rights for public sector employees. Madison Teachers, Inc. v. Walker, No. 2012AP2067 (July 31, 2014). In 2011, in a move that attracted significant fanfare and the chagrin of union advocates, the Wisconsin legislature passed Act 10, which prohibited public sector employees from collectively bargaining on issues other than wages,...

Kollman & Saucier

08/05/2014

Wage & Hour

It wasn’t that long ago when, in October 2013, Congress failed to pass a budget and the federal government shut down. As evidenced by a recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the impact of the shutdown is not quite over. Martin v. United States, No. 13-834C (Fed. Cl. July 31, 2014). A week after the shutdown ended, a group of federal government employees filed suit alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29...

Kollman & Saucier

08/04/2014

Employment Discrimination, Legislative Developments, Medical/Legal Marijuana

An employee with terminal illness or severe pain obtains medical marijuana from a licensed dispensary. His or her employer, however, maintains a drug-free workplace policy that provides for employee drug testing. What can an employer do under these circumstances? This post is designed to provide a basic snapshot of the current state of the law, and the prominent issues that employers face. As detailed below, employers are generally blanketed...

Kollman & Saucier

08/04/2014

Employment Discrimination, Hiring Process, Legislative Developments

Following in the footsteps of Baltimore and a number of other states and localities, the District of Columbia City Council recently approved a “ban the box” bill that prohibits employers from asking about a job applicant’s criminal history until after making a conditional job offer. In a D.C.-specific wrinkle, the bill, known as the Fair Criminal Record Screening Act of 2014 (“the Act”), must first be approved both by Mayor Vincent Gray...

Kollman & Saucier

07/28/2014

Agency Activity, Labor Law

On July 24, 2014, a National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") Administrative Law Judge ruled that Mercedes-Benz violated the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") by prohibiting distribution of literature in "team centers" inside its Vance, Alabama plant. Mercedes-Benz U.S. Int'l, Inc., No. 10-CA-112406. The ALJ held that because the "team centers" were used for both work purposes and as employee break and meal rooms, the car maker could not...

Kollman & Saucier

07/27/2014

Age Discrimination

On July 23, 2014, a federal court in Connecticut upheld a jury's award of $3.7 million to a 61 year old executive fired after 41 years with IBM. Castellucio v. Int'l Bus. Machs. Corp. (D. Conn. No 3:09-cv-01145 July 23, 2014). The Court held that the jury properly awarded $2.5 million for age discrimination, and an additional $1.2 million for attorneys' fees and costs. The case arose when Joanne Collins-Smee became Castellucio's supervisor,...

Darrell VanDeusen

07/24/2014

Employment Discrimination

Any employment lawyer knows that, when assessing claims of “disparate treatment,” it’s less about what exactly happened and more about how the plaintiff was treated when compared to similarly situated employees. The Seventh Circuit recently looked at just that issue in reinstating the harassment and sex discrimination claims of a former Indiana prison employee who was fired for having sex at work. Orton-Bell v. Indiana, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS...

Darrell VanDeusen

07/23/2014

Employment Discrimination

On July 21, 2014, President Obama issued an Executive Order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity by federal contractors. The Executive Order amends two existing executive orders: E.O. 11246, which applies to federal contractors, by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of classes protected from employment discrimination; and E.O. 11478, which applies to government agencies, to explicitly prohibit...

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Maryland’s Highest Court Holds That Employees May Recover Treble Damages for Unpaid Overtime

English Only Notices May Not Be Enough To Comply With ERISA

Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Law Limiting Public Sector Bargaining

Court Rules Feds' Delayed Paychecks During Shutdown Violates FLSA

Drug-Free Workplaces In The Era Of Medical And/or Legal Marijuana Use

D.C. Is The Latest Jurisdiction To "Ban The Box"

Mercedes Denied the Luxury of Overly Broad No Solicitation Rule

Court Upholds $3.7 Million Age Discrimination Verdict Against IBM

Court Revives Harassment Claim of Employee Who Had Office “Romance”

President Issues Executive Order on LGBT Protections

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