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

Maryland Employers Required To Provide “Light Duty” And Other Reasonable Accommodations For Pregnant Temporarily Disabled Employees

Kollman & Saucier

05/23/2013

Disability & Leave, Legislative Developments, Pregnancy Discrimination, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden, State Law

One of the biggest changes coming to Maryland employers with 15 or more employees will last more than 9 months. Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law the requirement that employers provide to pregnant employees certain reasonable accommodations beyond those presently required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). Under the Reasonable Accommodations for Disabilities Due to Pregnancy Act,...

Kollman & Saucier

05/22/2013

Disability & Leave, Fitness For Duty Evaluations

In a recent decision, the Eleventh Circuit concluded that the Coca-Cola Company acted lawfully when it required an employee to undergo a “fitness for duty” evaluation where the inquiry was both job-related and consistent with business necessity. Owusu-Ansah v. Coca-Cola Co., No. 11-13663 (11th Cir. May 8, 2013) Franklin Owusu-Ansah began working for Coca-Cola in 1999 at the company’s Dunwoody, Georgia call center. Owusu-Ansah performed...

Kollman & Saucier

05/21/2013

Legal Developments, Legislative Developments, State Law, Wage & Hour

Last week, Maryland Gov. O'Malley signed into law the "Lien for Unpaid Wages Act." This new law, SB 758, allows employees to file a lien against their employer’s real or personal property for unpaid wages allegedly due them. Once the employee files a lien, the employer must file a complaint setting forth its defenses in the Circuit Court where the employer's property is located within 30 days. If the employer fails to do so, the employee will have...

Kollman & Saucier

05/19/2013

Employment Discrimination, Genetic Information

The Genetic Information and Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) was enacted in 2008 and became effective for employment purposes on November 21, 2009. GINA makes it unlawful for an employer to “request, require, or purchase” an individual’s genetic information, which includes the “manifestation of a disease or disorder” in the individuals’ family members. While there is a sizeable list of prohibitions that GINA has put in place, the biggest...

Frank Kollman

05/17/2013

Frank Kollman's Blog

Yesterday, our new website went “live.” I want to thank John Armistead of Armistead Technologies for his many years as our webmaster (and designer of our prior website). Armistead Technologies specializes in reverse engineering (you can look it up), and John had reduced the number of websites he managed over the past few years to devote more time to his core business. Our new webmaster will continue the high quality website that John...

Kollman & Saucier

05/16/2013

Independent Contractors, Wage & Hour

In today’s workplace, most employers rely upon outside vendors to supply security services. What employers may not know is that the fact that the security guards are not their own employees does not necessarily mean that the employer is not liable for violations of employment laws. The answer to the liability question turns in large part on how much control the employer has over the terms of employment for the guards. On May 14, 2013, a federal...

Kollman & Saucier

05/09/2013

Agency Activity, Labor Law, Union Activity

On May, 7, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the National Labor Relations Board lacked the authority to issue a 2011 rule which would have required all employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) to post a workplace notice to employees. The decision, National Association of Manufacturers v. NLRB, drove yet another stake in the heart of the Obama NLRB’s activist agenda. As...

Kollman & Saucier

05/08/2013

Arbitration, Employment Discrimination

Quality Restaurant Concepts, LLC (perhaps better known as Applebee’s), maintains an internal dispute resolution (IDR) process and an Employment Arbitration Policy. The company’s arbitration policy covers Title VII claims, and the IDR policy set a 20-day deadline for employees to pursue claims of discrimination. Under the arbitration policy, Applebee’s employees are required to complete the IDR process before participating in arbitration. ...

Kollman & Saucier

05/07/2013

Labor Law, Legislative Developments, Public Sector Employment Law, Union Activity

Over the past two weeks, we have heard a lot about the scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center, where guards allegedly conspired with members of a notorious prison gang to traffic drugs, cell phones, and sexual favors. In case you missed this, the leader of the gang (the Black Guerilla Family) fathered five children with four female prison guards and was heard telling an acquaintance in a wiretapped call “This is my jail …. I make every...

Kollman & Saucier

05/06/2013

Employment Discrimination, Retaliation

On May 1, 2013, Maryland’s newest federal judge, George Levi Russell, III, dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former employee of a kidney dialysis clinic near Baltimore. In Ezeh v. Bio-Med. Applications of Md., No. 11-3411 (D. Md. 2013), Judge Russell granted summary judgment to the employer and dismissed plaintiff’s claims of retaliation and race and national origin discrimination. The plaintiff, Perpetua Ezeh, is of Nigerian descent and worked...

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Maryland Employers Required To Provide “Light Duty” And Other Reasonable Accommodations For Pregnant Temporarily Disabled Employees

Have A Coke And A Smile . . . And A Fitness For Duty Evaluation

Maryland Governor Signs New Law to Enforce Wage Claims

GINA Gets Her First Class Action Suit

A Fresh Blog

Bank is Not Joint Employer of Security Guards Under FLSA

NLRB Notice Rule Struck Down

20-Day Window Too Short A Time To File Internal Complaint Of Discrimination

Unions, Gangs and Prison Scandals

Maryland Judge Dismisses Discrimination and Retaliation Claims

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