News & Events

The Montgomery County Executive recently signed into law a bill that significantly expands prohibitions on employers inquiring about an applicant’s criminal record (commonly known as “Ban-the-Box” laws).

In mid-December, the D.C. Council passed what may perhaps be the broadest ban on non-compete provisions in employment agreements in the United States.

In acknowledgment of the increased number of employers now managing a workforce remotely, the U.S. Department of Labor recently issued guidance regarding the electronic posting of notices required by certain federal statutes.

Maryland: Effective January 1, 2020, Maryland’s statewide minimum wage increased from $11.00/hour to $11.75/hour for employers with 15 or more employees. For employers with fewer than 15 employees, the new rate is $11.60/hour. The $3.63/hour rate for tipped employees remains unchanged.

As originally enacted in March 2020, the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA) required employers to provide 10 days of sick leave and up to 10 weeks of family leave for COVID related absences, and provided a payroll tax credit to reimburse employers.

On December 22, 2020, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued a nationwide injunction as to Sections 4 and 5 of the President’s Executive Order on Combatting Race and Sex Stereotyping (the “Executive Order”), which apply to federal contractors and entities which receive federal grants.

In our post yesterday we shared the good news that Maryland took action to calculate 2021 UI tax rates based on the data used to calculate your 2020 rate.

On December 10, 2020, Governor Hogan issued an Executive Order waiving the charging of COVID-19 unemployment insurance benefits to employers.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a new rule Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption, seeking to clarify for federal contractors the interplay between recent Supreme Court interpretations of religious freedom claims under Title VII and existing Executive Orders prohibiting discrimination in employment.