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The Long Arms of the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law

By James Rubin, Esq.

The Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law is worker protection statute.  It requires the payment of earned wages.  If an employer does not pay, the employee can collect triple damages if he or she can prove the wages are withheld in bad faith.    The Law applies to employees who work in Maryland. 

But how much work must an employee perform in Maryland?  Employees often spend time in more than one jurisdiction here in the "DMV."  That questions was largely answered in Himes Associates v. Anderson.   There, the employee, Mr. Anderson lived in Maryland but worked for a Virginia employer and spent most of his work time in that state.  Mr. Anderson was tasked with overseeing the construction of a building in Virginia, but, as a part of those responsibilities, he was required to present a proposal in Baltimore and attend meetings twice a month in that city. On two other occasions, the employee was asked to visit a work site in Gaithersburg and work on a project in Aberdeen.

As it turns out the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law has long arms.  An employer is subject to the Maryland Law if instructs an employee to be present at a work site.  According to the Court, "[t]he plain language . . . covers the situation in which a company outside of Maryland directs its employee to go to a work site in Maryland." Because the employee attended meetings twice a month in Baltimore, the Court concluded that the Virginia employer is subject to the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law.

This case, Himes Associates, could well be applied to an employee who works from home in Maryland for an out-of-state employer.  I suspect we will be seeing such a case in the near future.

Full post as published by Maryland Employment Law on February 21, 2020 (boomark / email).