In the past, women who became pregnant were frequently targets of workplace discrimination. Employers often pushed them out of their jobs by forcing them to resign or firing them outright. This changed in 1978, when Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act...
Month: May 2018
In 5-4 Split, US Supreme Court Approves Mandatory Arbitration
"The policy may be debatable but the law is clear," wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, a case testing whether employers can require employees to arbitrate wage and hour claims individually, as opposed to banding together in a class action. Part...
Maryland Responds To #MeToo With New Legislation
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and subsequent explosion of media coverage on sexual harassment in various workplaces, Maryland's legislature has chosen to respond with new legislation. Effective October 1, 2018, the state's new sexual harassment law...
Does The ADEA Prohibit All Discrimination Against Job Applicants?
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits discrimination against workers 40 and over. While the law prohibits discrimination in any aspect of employment, including hiring, it is unclear whether the ADEA prohibits a certain type of discrimination called...
Can A Maryland Employer Be Sued For Giving A Bad Reference?
If you have ever had to fire an employee, you may have wondered just what to say when the call comes asking for a reference for a prospective employer. Sometimes, it wouldn't be fair to withhold negative information from that employer. Are you opening yourself up to...
What Does Age Discrimination Look Like? ProPublica Examines IBM
Recently, the independent, nonprofit investigative journalism newsroom ProPublica released a detailed analysis of massive personnel changes at IBM that it believes indicate age discrimination. Over the past five years, IBM has cut over 20,000 U.S. employees aged 40...