This year, Maryland employers have new workplace posting responsibilities – the new Maryland Earned Sick and Safe Leave Employee Notice and a required update to the Employee Rights Under Maryland Unemployment Law notice. Both notices are included on Compliance Poster Company’s 2018 Maryland All-On-One™ Labor Law Poster.
Maryland Sick and Safe Leave is Fast-tracked into Law
The number of states that require employers to provide paid or unpaid sick leave is rapidly growing. This year, Maryland became the eighth such state to enact a “sick and safe leave” law. The law, also known as the “Maryland Healthy Working Families Act,” faced rigorous challenges before becoming law. The proposed law, House Bill 1, was initially vetoed by Governor Larry Hogan in 2017. Then, just three days into the 2018 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly voted to override the Governor’s veto and enact the law.
Because a vetoed bill becomes law 30 days after a successful override, employers had little time to prepare for it. Several business interest groups objected to the short notice and lobbied to postpone the law’s effective date until July. However, the legislature was unable to pass the bill that would have delayed implementation of the law before the sick and safe leave law went into effect on February 11, 2018.
Despite the short notice, the employers were required to begin administering compliant leave policies as of February 11, 2018. The basic requirements of the law are that:
- Covered employees accrue one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked;
- Employers with 15 or more employees must provide employees with up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year; and
- Employers with 14 or fewer employees are required to provide employees with up to 40 hours of unpaid sick and safe leave per year.
Leave may be used:
- to care for employee’s own health condition or to care for a family member
- to obtain preventive care for the employee or a family member
- for maternity or paternity leave
- for reasons related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking of the employee or a family member
To meet the law’s employee notification requirements, the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) has released an Earned Sick and Safe Leave Employee Notice for posting in the workplace. The posting covers the basic leave provisions, giving notice of the need to use sick and safe leave, the requirement that employers provide employees with a statement of available earned sick and safe leave each pay period, employees’ protection from retaliation for exercising their sick and safe leave rights, and contact information for the Commissioner of Labor’s office. The Office of Small Business Regulatory Assistance is being formed to assist employers with compliance. More information is available here.
Unemployment Insurance Notice Updated
The Maryland Division of Unemployment Insurance recently released an updated version of the mandatory Employee Rights Under Maryland Unemployment Law workplace posting. The following changes were made:
- updated – telephone number for the areas of Anne Arundel, Baltimore City and Howard
- updated – English TTY number
- updated – Spanish relay number
- new – “Speech to Speech” telephone number
The Division has instructed employers to replace the existing Employee Rights Under Maryland Unemployment Law posting with the revised version of the notice.
Maryland employers – total compliance is a step away. Order your 2018 Maryland All-On-One™ Labor Law Poster today!