(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense
Find a Local Lawyer
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402
Maryland Employment Law 
Employment Law Developments in Maryland.
Post Frequency: 0.3/day Last Entry: February 21, 2020 at 14:55:00 Recent Entries: 90
By James Rubin, Esq.
Go to Maryland Employment Law, find other Employment Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
What to do when you are threatened with a non-compete lawsuit.
Posted on May 13, 2008I recently had two successful outcomes in a non-compete cases on behalf of employees either being sued or threatened with being sued. It got me to thinking what are the ways my clients should prepare for the first meeting with a lawyer in these circumstances...
General Assembly Severely Limits Employees' Rights to Accrued Vacation Pay Upon Termination
Posted on May 13, 2008The Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law defines wages as including fringe benefits. Many plaintiffs' employment lawyers, like myself, argued that vacation pay is a fringe benefit earned just like any other wage. In August 2007, the Court of Special Appeals agreed with us ruling in Catapult v...
Court of Appeals Dismisses Hoffeld
Posted on May 13, 2008As mentioned in a previous post, the Maryland Court of Appeals had agreed to review the most recent commissions case brought under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law. The name of the case is Hoffeld v. Shepherd Electric. Our lower appeals court, the Court of Special Appeals, ruled that a salesman was not entitled to several commissions because the employer had not yet invoiced several deals...
Q: My Employer Has Offerred Me Severance In Exchange for Signing a Waiver. What Should I Do?
Posted on January 18, 2008Q: You have been fired. Your employer offers you a severance agreement. The agreement offers you money in exchange for signing a waiver. What should you do?A: You should understand exactly what it is you are waiving. If possible, have a lawyer review the agreement...
Satisfied Client -- Commissions Case Under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law
Posted on January 16, 2008Last year I worked very hard for a client suing his former employer for commissions under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law. We settled the case on the courthouse steps toward the end of the year. Because we worked so hard on the case last year I am posting with his permission my client's very kind testimonial...
My comment on Hoffeld v. Shepherd Electric
Posted on December 30, 2007In my prior post I reviewed the recent decision issues by the Court of Special Appeals in Hoffeld v. Shepherd Electric. After a bench trial (no jury), the Court held that the plaintiff was not entitled to several commissions because the employer had not yet invoiced several deals...
New Commissions Case issued by Court of Special Appeals
Posted on November 28, 2007The Court of Special Appeals recently issued Hoffeld v. Shepherd Electric Co. There, Mr. Hoffeld worked for a wholesale and retail electrical supplier as an outside salesman. Shepherd Electric paid Mr. Hoffeld solely on commission. Shepherd Electric did not pay a commission until an order was shipped and invoiced...
Triple Damages Under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law
Posted on November 27, 2007I frequently represent salespeople seeking unpaid commissions under the Maryland Wage Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law. I have written about this area of the law many times. One important part of the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law is the provision that allows the Court to award triple damages if the plaintiff successfully proves his or her claims...
Top Five Ways Employers Violate Maryland's Wage Laws
Posted on September 04, 2007I am amazed at how creative employers can be when it comes to violating Maryland's wage laws. However, as my law practice continues to grow, several consistent wage violations continue to recur. In no particular order, here is what I see.Employers fail to pay their non-exempt employees overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a week...
How Employment Lawyers Charge Their Clients
Posted on August 30, 2007Employment lawyers work to earn money. When an employment lawyer is evaluating a case his or her eyes are on the bottom line. "Can I service my client while making a profit?" is the question we are asking. Many cases come with laudable rewards in addition to money, including working to attain a measure justice for our clients...
Accrued Vacation Pay Is Covered by the Wage Payment and Collection Law
Posted on August 29, 2007I have written many articles on why accrued vacation should be considered a wage under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law (MWPCL) . This is an important issue for Maryland employees. If accrued vacation is covered by the MWPCL, a plaintiff suing to recover earned wages may be entitled to three times the amount actually owed...
Protecting Employee Rights in the State Courts of Maryland
Posted on July 27, 2007The Third Annual Maryland Employment Lawyers ("MELA") Conference, "Protecting Employee Rights in the State Courts of Maryland," will be Friday, September 28, 2007 at the Columbia Sheraton.There will be an exciting line-up, focused on how to succeed in the Maryland state courts...
Top Five Ways Restaurants Violate Wage Laws
Posted on July 26, 2007Over at wagecollection.com, I noted the top 5 ways restaurants violate wage laws.
Employees win Jury Verdict in Accrued Vacation Case
Posted on July 23, 2007I have argued many times that earned accrued vacation pay counts as wages under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection law. Counting vacation pay under the law is significant because it allows employees to collect up to three times the amount owed if an employer wrongfully withholds earned vacation pay...
Two More Ways to Leverage Your Way Out of A Non-Compete
Posted on July 20, 2007On this post, I listed three ways to leverage your way out of a non-compete in Maryland:Convince your employer to reduce your non-compete obligations by agreeing not to initiate litigation. Another way to put this is convince your employer that the litigation will be more expensive than the benefit of enforcing a non-compete...
A Non-Compete Success Story
Posted on July 20, 2007I recently defended an individual salesperson accused of violating a non-compete agreement. (The individual, the companies involved, and the result are confidential.) What I believe played a major role in the favorable result was establishing who can and who cannot be subject to a non-compete in Maryland...
Maryland Permits Church Organist to Continue Lawsuit
Posted on June 14, 2007I have written a lot about Archdiocese of Washington v. Moerson. Here is a summary I wrote more than a year ago:In Moerson, the Circuit Court and Court of Special Appeals issued conflicting decisions on whether the "ministerial exception" to Maryland's employment laws applies to an organist's claim against his former employer...
Overtime Calculator
Posted on May 14, 2007Calculating your overtime premium can be a pain. Now the U.S. Department of Labor has an overtime calculator on its website to help with your calculations. Are you owed overtime? Check the calculator to see. (Thanks to Michael Fox at Jottings by an Employer's Lawyer for the link)
Maryland Department of Labor to add Wage investigators
Posted on May 14, 2007An employee who is owed wages from his or her employer can pursue an action to collect those wages under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law. The employee has two options: (1) hire a private attorney to sue his or her former employer; (2) report the employer to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation ("DLLR"), Employment Standards Division...
Two Key Maryland Cases End Today
Posted on April 17, 20071. The Fourth Circuit's "black monkeys" case narrowed Title VII's anti-retaliation protection for employees working in Maryland. The Court held that by reporting to your boss that your co-worker called African-Americans "black monkeys" and "black apes," you are not opposing discrimination in the workplace (and therefore not entitled to Title VII's anti-retaliation protections)...
Restaurant Workers Among the Most Abused.
Posted on April 17, 2007In fiscal year 2006, the Department of Labor collected nearly $50.6 million in back wages for approximately 86,700 workers in "low-wage industries." What industry made up the bulk of the violations? The restaurant industry. Although the statistics are drawn from the entire nation, I know it is no different in Maryland since this firm (and several of my colleagues) have pursued claims on behalf of servers, kitchen workers, and custodial employees.
Are You Really an Independent Contractor?
Posted on April 13, 2007Monday is tax day. Is the individual responsible for payroll taxes or is the employer? Is the individual entitled to overtime for working more than 40 hours in a week. It may depend on whether the individual is an independent contractor or an employee...
True or False: Maryland Law Does Not Require Employers to Give Breaks to their Adult Employees.
Posted on April 11, 2007True. According to the Maryland Department of Labor: "There is no law requiring an employer to provide breaks, including lunch breaks, unless the employee is under the age of 18."But if an employer gives you a "break" you must be completely relieved of your duties for at least twenty minutes...
Medex v. McCabe and Accrued Vacation
Posted on April 09, 2007The Maryland Court of Appeals seminal wage payment and collection law decision is Medex v. McCabe. The rule of Medex is:If an employee earns compensation he or she is entitled to it and an employer cannot arbitrarily require an employee to forfeit those wages...
A Tail of Two Wage Bills.
Posted on April 06, 2007Legislators introduced two interesting wage bills in this General Assembly session. One "living wage bill" raises the minimum wages for employees working for state-government contractors. The other bill seeks to limit executive compensation to a maximum of thirty times a company's lowest paid worker...
Employers May Not Have their Hand in Restaurant Workers' Tip Pool
Posted on April 02, 2007Employers can pay restaurant workers the "sub minimum wage" ($3.08 per hour in Maryland) because servers and waiters can make up the difference earning tips. Employers call this the "tip credit" against the minimum wage.Employers may pool all tips and distribute them equitably to those employees who are in the business of providing service to the customers...
Restauruant workers who work overtime: are you entitled to 1.5 x $3.08 per overtime hour or 1.5 x the minumum wage?
Posted on March 30, 2007Which is it? Hint: Restaurants frequently get the answer wrong. Here is the answer from the United States Department of Labor website:Overtime: Overtime must be paid at a rate of at least one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours per week...
Even Written Employment Contracts Can be At Will
Posted on March 29, 2007Maryland is an "at will employment" state. With limited exception, an employer or an employee can terminate the relationship without notice for any reason. One familiar exception is that an employer cannot terminate an employee because of his or her protected status, i...
General Assembly Extends Discrimination Cause of Action Statewide
Posted on March 28, 2007I wrote here about a quirk in Maryland's anti-discrimination laws. At the time only individuals who lived in four Maryland counties (Prince George's, Montgomery, Howard, and Baltimore County), could file a lawsuit alleging a violation of a local civil rights ordinance...
Daniel Snyder Makes the Number 1 Employment Law Mistake: Jury Awards $44,880 to Nanny
Posted on March 15, 2007What is the number one employment law mistake? Failing to pay overtime to non-exempt employees. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder learned the hard way after a Montgomery County jury awarded his former nanny $44,880 in unpaid overtime. The jury declined to award the nanny additional damages under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law...
Previous | Next
Ruth’s Chris Steak House Employees in Baltimore, Maryland File $64 Million Personal Injury Lawsuit Over Carbon Monoxide Leak
In Baltimore Circuit Court on Tuesday, 16 Ruth’s Chris Steak Hou...
Maryland Residents Are Among Lacrosse Team Plaintiffs Suing Duke University for Handling of High Profile Rape Case
38 members of the 2006 Duke Lacrosse team and 9 family members are...
Maryland Judge Reduces Lawsuit Damages that Westboro Baptist Church Must Pay for Protesting Fallen Soldier's Funeral
A federal Judge in Maryland reduced the amount of damages that Wes...
Report Offers Motor Vehicle Accident Death Rates in Frederick County, Maryland Between 2001 and 2006
A recent analysis by the Frederick News-Post of deadly accidents i...
Woman Sues Ocean City, Maryland Hotel Over Carbon Monoxide Deaths of Her Husband and Daughter
In Maryland’s U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Pennsylvania res...
Employment Contracts
General Contract Law Principles
Can a former employee use photographs of jobs completed whie working for me in marketing material for a new business?
There are several issues here
1. Sub contractor started up a compe...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
I was fired on June 3, 2002 in Massachusetts because I reported discriminatory behavior by the employer towards a particular nationality. In July I filed a discrimination/retaliation complaint against the employer with t
It seem sin your case that the fact you filed the complaint prior to being dissa...
How can an employer defend themselves for firing an employee who contends the company exposed him to hazardardous atmospheres although medical testing has been negative?
You'll need to contact OSHA to determine your responsibility as far as the work ...
Does failure to provide health insurance benefits at the time promised constitute harm to the employee?
Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
#1 Online Legal Resource
On 08-25 at 15:46PM
Acute perpendicular parking #NYPD #NYFD
On 08-18 at 22:18PM
Parallel parking gone bad. Too much gas UES NYC
On 08-18 at 21:41PM
UES NYC
On 08-18 at 21:25PM
Twitter suspends journalist critical of broadcast partner's coverage on dubious grounds @guyadams #nbcfail #twitterfail
On 07-30 at 17:57PM
Model example of 1st Amendment suppression by the People of New York City's Michael Bloomberg #OWS #NYPD
On 07-12 at 21:07PM
AG Holder lackadaisical on Operation in our Sites domain name seizures & RIAA lobbied free speech suppression @dajaz1
On 06-08 at 22:44PM
Why is the Catholic Church going to court over Obama contraception policy? @NewYorker commentary
On 05-31 at 10:08AM
Monks sue Louisiana for right to sell caskets made from forrest destroyed by Katrina
On 05-31 at 07:47AM
Are the abortion ultrasound laws headed for the Supreme Court?
On 05-15 at 21:52PM
Age Discrimination in Employment Act
Equal Employment Opportunity Act
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Can a former employee use photographs of jobs completed whie working for me in marketing material for a new business?
There are several issues here
1. Sub contractor started up a compe...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
I was fired on June 3, 2002 in Massachusetts because I reported discriminatory behavior by the employer towards a particular nationality. In July I filed a discrimination/retaliation complaint against the employer with t
It seem sin your case that the fact you filed the complaint prior to being dissa...
How can an employer defend themselves for firing an employee who contends the company exposed him to hazardardous atmospheres although medical testing has been negative?
You'll need to contact OSHA to determine your responsibility as far as the work ...
Does failure to provide health insurance benefits at the time promised constitute harm to the employee?
Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
 |
|
Contact Us | About Us | Celebrity Law Blog |
Our Partners | Disclaimer
| Law Blog Directory
| Law Jobs
| Law Tweets
| GoDaddy Hosting
All original material � 1999-2011 by USLaw.com. |