2008 Maryland Labor Law Posters

December 27th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

It is especially important that employers update their 2008 Maryland labor law posters. Each year brings a number of changes to the state labor laws, and this year certainly had more than its share.

The updated list of 2008 Maryland labor law posters is:

  • OSHA – Health and Safety Protection
  • Wage and Hour Act
  • Health Insurance
  • Equal Pay For Equal Work
  • Wage Payment and Collection
  • Unemployment Insurance
  • Workers’ Compensation Insurance
  • Child Labor
  • Discrimination Notice

Employers are required to display each of these posters in a prominent location where they can be viewed by both employees and applicants.

In addition, all employers must display updated federal labor law posters including:

  • USERRA – Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
  • Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law
  • Federal Minimum Wage
  • Employee Polygraph Protection Act
  • Family and Medical Leave Act
  • OSHA-Job Safety & Health Protection

Labor law poster serve as a handy reminder for supervisors and employees alike.

They provide important information on the minimum wage, worker safety, medical leave and child labor laws.

Under both federal and state law, these posters must be updated each time there is a change in legislation.

A change in the federal minimum wage on July 24, 2007 required that the Federal Minimum Wage posters be updated. On that date, the federal minimum wage increased for the first time in more than a decade. The rate went from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 per hour, an increase of 70 cents. 

From state to state, there is a wide range of overtime laws and rules governing the minimum wage for employees who receive tips. That’s why each state requires a different set of labor law posters.

The minimum wage for tipped employees varies broadly from one state to the next. So do the overtime laws. These are just some of the items that are covered on each state’s respective labor law posters. Here are a few outstanding examples.

Minimum wage laws for tipped workers like servers often simply follow the federal rate of $2.13 an hour. The idea is that employers need not pay the usual minimum wage because the workers are making up the difference in tips. This is the “tip credit” for employers.

Kentucky, Indiana, Nebraska, and other states follow the federal rate.

Some states offer just a little more than the federal rate:

  • North Carolina, $2.43
  • Wisconsin, $2.33
  • Massachusetts, $2.63
  • Michigan, $2.65

The minimum wage for tipped employees in Kansas is only $1.59.

At the opposite extreme, some states offer little or no tip credit. In these states, employees are paid the same minimum wage, or nearly the same minimum wage, as other workers. They include:

  • Washington, none ($8.07 per hour wage starting January 1)
  • Colorado, wage for tipped workers $8.07 per hour in 2008
  • Hawaii, 25-cent tip credit, wage $7 per hour compared to usual $7.25

Some states allow employers very little tip credit. In other words, tipped workers get larger minimum wages – sometimes equal to or very close to the wages of those workers who do not receive tips. For example, in the state of Washington, there is no tip credit, so workers will be getting $8.07 an hour starting January 1. In Colorado, tipped workers will receive $4.00 an hour in 2008. In Hawaii, employers get only a 25-cent an hour tip credit. In other words, tipped workers get $7 an hour rather than the regular $7.25. But in Michigan, tipped employees receive a minimum wage of just $2.65 an hour.

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Maryland USERRA Poster

June 1st, 2007 Posted by Amelia

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 still stands today.  The most current regulations of USERRA have been recently released by the Department of Labor.  The set of laws covers the rights of veterans, military service members, the reserve, and the National Guard with regards to employment.  USERRA attempts to clarify and improve the enforcement of these laws. 

We have received quite a few questions about what USERRA has to say about promotions.  Well, the best way to explain is with the “escalator principle.”  If there are people standing in line on an escalator, when they reach the end of it, they all get of in the same order as they got on.  If everyone stays on the same step, no one will lose their place in line.  Now, as far as promotions in many companies go, those with seniority are promoted first.  If someone goes away on military service and then returns, they will keep their place in line, as if they haven’t left.  As a matter of fact, all the benefits that the company offers someone on a leave of absence or disability (like maternity leave, for example) should be the same for service members.  If the company routinely offers continued medical insurance for those on disability, it must offer the same benefits to anyone on military service.

By the way, I should mention that if things change in the business, and a returning service member is no longer qualified for their previous position, USERRA provides for an alternative position within the company.  Any training needed should be offered to a returning military member is systems or procedures have changed.  They should be briefed on any new responsibilities.  If they still can’t qualify for the same position after training, there should be another place in the company that they can fill.

Don’t forget to update your Maryland USERRA poster with the new information.  Of course, the original regulations entitling service members 5 years of job protection is still in effect. In addition, there is a possible 7 years total of job-protected leave for those who were disabled during service. 

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Maryland Labor Law Posters

October 3rd, 2006 Posted by Mark

We are in the middle of the pack when it comes to states that we need to look at in review on their specific labor laws and poster requirements. The state we’re on now is Maryland and its Maryland Labor Law Posters. I think I just heard all of our Maryland employers put on their thinking caps.

When it comes to Maryland Labor Law Posters, we’ve covered a lot of the nitty gritty details in general, so now that we’re looking back in review, we have time to actually get knee deep into these details—sometime hopefully up to our necks in the Maryland Labor Law Posters.

To do so, I am going to do something different that I haven’t done so much when covering state posters, and that is to look very closely at just one of the postings in the Maryland Labor Law Posters. This one happens to be the unemployment insurance notice in the Maryland Labor Law Posters.

This posting in Maryland Labor Law Posters makes it very clear at the very top of the poster that it’s for employees. In fact, the opening line on the unemployment insurance posting is “TO EMPLOYEES,” with the all caps in the actual poster.

The unemployment posting in the Maryland Labor Law Posters goes on to say that employees’ employers are subject to the Maryland Unemployment Insurance Law, which means that those employers pay taxes for unemployment insurance and that the money does not come out of the employees’ wages.

Those payments can come in handy, the poster goes on to explain, if employees get laid of or otherwise become unemployed, in which case the employees should call their nearest Claim Center for the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation. If the employees turn out to be eligible for the benefits, they can receive them for up to 26 weeks.

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Required State Labor Law Postings for Maryland (MD) Businesses

September 15th, 2006 Posted by Lindsay

Maryland (MD) Employment Labor Posters are mandated by law to be placed in every place of employment across the state. In case you aren’t aware of this type of poster, these are posters that tell about some of the labor laws. By hanging them on the walls employers are making all the employment law information available to their employees so that they can refer to them any time there is a need. This may be when they are questioning their wages or the way that they are paid, or it can be when they or even a friend becomes injured or sick because of a condition at the workplace.

In other words, the reason the state of Maryland requires the posters is so that all employees across the state are educated in the laws.

Now you’re probably wondering which laws have to be posted at the workplace. The Maryland (MD) Employment Labor Posters that are required to be displayed are: OSHA – Health and Safety Protection, Wage and Hour Act, Health Insurance, Equal Pay For Equal Work, Wage Payment and Collection, Unemployment Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Insurance, Child Labor Law, and Discrimination Notice.

I know that there have been some changes to the Maryland employment laws in 2006. in my research I saw that the unemployment insurance posters was updated in April. It now tells employees how to report earned wages when they are ready to return to work, and it tells them how to use the Internet service to file their unemployment compensation claims.

There was also a change made in 2006 to the Lie Detector Test poster. As you can see, it’s very important for employers to keep themselves informed about the changes in the labor laws and the updates to the Maryland (MD) Employment Labor Posters.

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Maryland State Poster

September 7th, 2006 Posted by Mark

The Maryland State Poster for wage and labor laws is mandatory in the work site of every employer in the state. This means that every employer must post the Maryland State Poster somewhere very conspicuous, or easy to see and access, for all employees in the work site.

Moreover, the Maryland State Poster must include certain state and federal postings in order to be legit. There are six federal posting that must be in the Maryland State Poster, as well as nine state postings. Can you name them all? Just teasing—this isn’t a pop quiz. This is supposed to be an educational blog!

So I’m here to help, and let you know all about the postings in the Maryland State Poster. But because we’re focusing in on the state side of the things in the Maryland State Poster, we’ll save the federal postings in the poster for another entry, for another time.

In the here and now, let’s look specifically at the state postings in the Maryland State Poster. These include the discrimination notice, the child labor law, the workers’ comp insurance posting, the unemployment insurance posting, the wage payment and collection notice, the equal pay for equal work notice, the health insurance notice, the wage and hour act notice, and the OSHA posting for workplace safety and health regulations.

Now let’s take an even closer look at the Maryland State Poster and get out the fine-toothed comb and see just how different the Maryland State Poster is from other posters. For one, let’s look at the child labor law. It states that a child under the age of 14 is not allowed to work, unless they are a model, performer, or entertainer with a special permit. We’re talking like Michael Jackson when he was with the Jackson 5 back in the day.

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