Maryland: Summer Employment Law Updates

Maryland’s summer legislative updates include important changes to employer responsibilities in the wage transparency and paid sick leave domains, as well as amended requirements for state-level WARN Act requirements.  A brief summary of these updates are listed below.

Wage Enforcement.  Effective July 1, 2020, the Commissioner of Labor and Industry may now issue orders for employers to pay up to a maximum of a $5,000 fine for failure to pay complaints, up from $3,000 previously.

Facial Recognition.  Employers may not use facial recognition technology to create a facial template during an applicant’s interview unless the applicant consents.

Salary History and Wage Transparency.  Employers must provide applicants the wage range for the position the applicant applies for upon request.  Employers are prohibited from inquiring into an applicant’s salary history from third parties, may not take adverse action against applicants who decline to disclose salary history, and may not rely on salary history to set compensation level (except in cases where salary history is voluntarily disclosed by the applicant).  In a similar vein, employees may not be retaliated against for inquiring about their wages.

Definition of “Family Member” for Paid Sick Leave Purposes.  Under the Maryland Health Working Families Act, the term “family member” will be defined to include a legal ward of an employee or their spouse, or a legal guardian of an employee’s spouse.

Amendment to WARN Act Notice Requirements.  Employers who are implementing a reduction in operations of as few as 15 employees must provide 60 days’ advance notice to all employees, as well as continuation of health insurance, pension, severance, and/or other benefits to the affected workers.  The specifics of this continuation of benefits is pending development by the state secretary of labor.

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