On December 15 2020, the D.C Council joined a growing number of other jurisdictions that have enacted legislation limiting the use of non-compete agreements. The new law, known as the “Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (the “Act”), effectively prohibits employers from entering into, or enforcing, non-compete agreements. The Act will still require Congressional approval before it officially goes into effect.
Many employers routinely include mandatory arbitration agreements for resolving employment disputes with their employees. To the surprise of many employers, such clauses are often ruled invalid. To help assure that your agreement requiring arbitration of employment disputes is enforceable, be aware of the following factors:
Recently, we have learned that our clients are receiving letters from the Social Security Administration indicating that the Social Security Numbers submitted with payments for FICA and, presumably, Medicare, do not match. This often may involve an undocumented worker; however, it could simply mean a clerical error. The employer who receives a no-match letter stands on a border between knowingly complying with the Immigration Act of 1986, which requires the documentation of all employees by completion of an I–9 and, on the other side, a requirement that employers may not discriminate on the basis of origin.
On July 1, 2019, the Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act of 2016 went into effect and applies to all employers, who have employees that work at least fifty percent (50%) of their time in the District of Columbia or work substantially in the District of Columbia and do not work more than 50% of their time in another jurisdiction (“Covered Employees”). This law will grant Paid Family Leave to Covered Employees. It is important to take steps to comply now with this new law. There are two important dates to remember as this law is being implemented in stages.
Lately, the news has been filled with stories about women forced to settle sexual harassment claims through severance agreements. Many of those agreements are perceived as oppressive because they suppress the victim’s rights to tell her story and fail to inform other actual or potential victims that a company has retained a bad actor after repeated complaints were quietly settled.
Consider the situation faced by an employer that does not, typically, allow employees to work remotely. Then consider what happens when an employee with pregnancy related complications is instructed by her physician to go on bedrest for the remaining three months of her pregnancy. Moreover, the employee lacks sufficient PTO to cover the anticipated leave. She now requests permission to work from home, claiming that the request is a reasonable accommodation for her disability.
A recent case from the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland underscored the growing trend by courts across the country to limit the application of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements. These agreements, typically referred to as “restrictive covenants”, are integral to many employment agreements. Restrictive covenants in employment contracts serve as a means of assuring the employer that its employee will not use his/her familiarity with the customers of the employer to take those customers and clients to a new employer. Even though they constitute a restraint against trade, most courts will enforce them provided that the limitations are reasonable, both in terms of the length of the prohibition as well as the geographic scope of the limitation.
February 11th is a date every employer in Maryland needs to know and prepare for right now. On that day, the new Maryland Healthy Working Families Act (the “Act”) takes effect. For many businesses, it will affect the nature and details of sick and safe leave that you must provide to your employees. It will add new levels of rules that may have a big impact on your current policies. And there are consequences if you don’t comply with the timetable that the Act requires.