Following more slowly on the trend set by Texas and Mississippi when last week they removed all COVID related restrictions and shutdowns, a number of states this week have further relaxed their COVID related mandates on businesses operating at a percentage of full capacity. Specifically, the states of Arizona and Maryland have each announced that…
Read More »Over the past few weeks, we have been glad to be able to advise you of some additional state-sponsored COVID relief and business assistance programs. This week, we’re happy to report on a couple of more that are in the works. First in Harrisburg last week, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a $912 million COVID relief…
Read More »Although they may not be offering immunity, a number of other states are offering additional business assistance programs and loosening their purse strings with more funds for business relief. In that vein, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed legislation last week that provides up to $14 billion in corporate tax relief to businesses in the…
Read More »As we approach the end of 2020, (aka the year from Hell) we note a number of other order that some governors, mayors, county executive or other elected officials have mandated that we weren’t able to include elsewhere and thought it would be best to just run through them. In that vein, Philadelphia Mayor Jim…
Read More »In many, albeit not all states, the employment application process prohibits a potential employer from inquiring into a job applicant’s salary history, ostensibly to avoid perpetuating gender bias in employee compensation. Maryland joined the ranks of states that “banned the box” back in February as relates questions about an applicant’s criminal history, but the provisions…
Read More »Another law taking effect on October 1 is in the state of Maryland. The state’s Mini-WARN act, which Governor Larry Hogan allowed to become law without his signature back in May of this year. Senate bill 780, which now mandates compliance with the formerly voluntary Maryland Economic Stabilization Act, requires that employers that implement a…
Read More »In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, states and local communities are taking dramatically different approaches to helping small businesses recover from the shutdown and the general economic turmoil that the pandemic has yielded. In that vein, several have announced small business grant and loan programs in the past (New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and…
Read More »
In late May, with cities and states loosening shelter-in-place restrictions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, Dunkin’ Brands announced it was ready to examine how to best reopen its seating areas. In a blog post dated May 29, Dunkin’ wrote, “We are now exploring the most judicious ways to once again offer in-restaurant dining,” emphasizing,…
Read More »A survey by covered employers in Maryland is due in to the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights by Wednesday of this week, July 1. The “Disclosing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Act”, which became law almost 2 years ago on October 1, 2018, bans private arbitration settlements for sexual harassment but also imposed a strict…
Read More »Despite a veto of SB. 839 by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan last May, the Maryland legislature went ahead and overrode that veto last week and thereby became the 14th state in the nation to “Ban the Box”. “An Act Concerning Labor and Employment – Criminal Record Screening Practices (Ban the Box)” prohibits employers with 15…
Read More »