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

Maryland Appellate Court Adopts Federal Overtime Standard

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

12/02/2019

Maryland's Wage and Hour Law is closely modeled on the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Similar to the FLSA, Section 3-415 of the Maryland Labor and Employment Article requires that employers pay overtime at rate of "1.5 times the usual hourly wage." A recent decision from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals held that, when an employee is paid a "day rate" (i.e., a fixed amount of money per day worked, without regard to the number of hours...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

11/27/2019

Disability & Leave

Earlier this month, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals joined several other federal courts of appeal by explicitly holding that a claim for hostile work environment based on disability is cognizable under the ADA. Ford v. Marion County Sheriff’s Office, et al., No. 18-3217 (7th Cir. 11/15/19). Ford worked as a deputy for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office when she suffered a debilitating injury to her hand. She was assigned to...

Frank Kollman

11/26/2019

Restrictive Covenants

The Attorneys General of nineteen states, including Maryland, have asked the FTC to ban non-compete agreements nationwide. While each of their states has the power to ban non-competes, each wants to bypass the state legislatures and ban non-competes by federal agency rulemaking. The letter states: Non-compete clauses in employment contracts prevent employees of one business from leaving and working for or starting another. Using non-competes,...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

11/21/2019

Employment Discrimination, Virginia Employment Law

As most parties who have been before the EEOC know, it can often take many months, if not years, for the agency to complete its investigation of a charge of discrimination. However, there are times where the EEOC moves very quickly to dismiss a charge. That is exactly what happened earlier this year in a charge of discrimination filed against Virginia Tech. However, when the employee of Tech's College of Veterinary Medicine filed a lawsuit...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

11/15/2019

State Law

Employers covered by Washington, D.C.’s commuter benefits law now may face penalties unless they provide at least one transportation benefit program to covered employees. The law, which was passed in 2014, went through additional rulemaking procedures with a final rule being published on August 16, 2019. The rule became effective 90 days later on November 14, 2019. Some of the details are as follows: The law currently covers...

Frank Kollman

11/12/2019

Employment Discrimination

A federal court in Wisconsin is allowing a discrimination case to go to trial because, among other things, the reasons given for performance problems were too "vague." As such, a jury could find the "vague" stated reasons to be pretextual, namely, a false reason to cover up illegal discrimination. EEOC v. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, 18-cv-602-jdp (W.D. Wis. 2019). The Court, after noting that an employer who lies...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

11/11/2019

Agency Activity, Wage & Hour

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently took two actions implicating and potentially implicating, respectively, how employees are paid under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). A New Rule First, on September 27, the DOL issued a final rule on implementing the exemptions from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees. In general, the FLSA requires...

Frank Kollman

11/08/2019

NLRB

As a follow up to my earlier blog on how rude an employee can be to his or her employer while engaging in activity protected by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), the EEOC has filed an Amicus Brief in a matter before the NLRB chiming in on the subject. The NLRB had invited interested parties to file briefs as the Board reconsiders “standards for determining whether profane outbursts and offensive statements of a racial or sexual...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

11/07/2019

Disability & Leave

Is an employee’s temporary gastrointestinal distress as a result of his failure to take prescribed medication properly a covered disability? Not under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), according to a recent decision out of California State court. Smith v. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., No. B289189 (Cal. App. 2d 11/1/19). Smith worked for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) as a Development...

Kollman, Saucier, & Jackson

11/06/2019

Retaliation

A recent decision out of the Eleventh Circuit demonstrates how easily an employer’s purportedly negative comment made closely in time to an employee’s legally protected activity can form the basis of an allegation that the employer unlawfully retaliated. Jacomb v. BBVA Compass Bank, No. 18-11536 (11th Cir. 11/4/19) (unpublished). Jacomb was hired as a Senior IT Project Manager for BBVA Compass Bank (BBVA). A few years later, she...

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Email Updates

Maryland Appellate Court Adopts Federal Overtime Standard

Seventh Circuit Recognizes Claim for Hostile Work Environment Based on Disability

Nineteen State Attorneys General Urge Federal Trade Commission to Ban Non-Compete Agreements

Court Rejects Virginia Tech's Argument That EEOC Acted Too Quickly in Dismissing EEOC Charge

Noncompliant Employers Now Subject to Penalties Under D.C.’s Commuter Benefits Law

Employer's Vague Reason for Discharge Leads to Jury Trial

DOL Rolls Out New and Proposed Rules Regarding FLSA Pay Requirements

EEOC Takes Position on Racially or Sexually Charged Language in NLRB Filing

Temporary GI Issues Not a Disability Under California Law

Eleventh Circuit Finds Employer’s “Not a Team Player” Comment Not Proof of Retaliation

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