The Biden-Harris Administration recently announced a proposed rule to protect indoor and outdoor workers from the dangers of extreme heat. This significant step, spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), has broad implications for businesses nationwide, including those in Maryland.   The Proposed Rule: A Brief Overview The proposed rule is designed to safeguard approximately 36 million workers in indoor and outdoor settings by mandating that employers take specific steps to mitigate the risks posed by ..read more

The recent Supreme Court decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine marks a pivotal shift in administrative law. It significantly impacts federal regulatory power and creates many new opportunities for small business owners. Background: Chevron Doctrine and the Case The Chevron doctrine, established in the 1984 Supreme Court case Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., has been a cornerstone of administrative law. It mandated that courts defer to federal agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes. This doctrine gave agencies considerable lee ..read more

The U.S. Supreme Court is about to rule on a critical issue regarding the evidentiary standard employers must meet to classify employees as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime requirements. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting private, federal, State, and local government employees. This decision could significantly impact employers in states within the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction, which includes Maryland, by potentially overturning stringent standards an ..read more

In the competitive business landscape, maintaining a competitive edge often hinges on safeguarding valuable assets. Among these assets are trade secrets – confidential information that provides a distinct advantage to companies. Understanding what constitutes a trade secret is paramount for businesses aiming to effectively protect and leverage these assets.  In this article, we’ll discuss trade secrets and how you can legally protect them. We’ll provide tips to help you recognize, guard, and make the most of these critical components of intellectual property. What are trade secrets? Trad ..read more

The New NLRB Ruling on Joint Employers for 2024 The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently finalized a significant rule change regarding the Standard for Determining Joint-Employer Status. Effective December 26, 2023, the new NLRB rule represents a seismic departure from previous standards, promising far-reaching implications for labor relations and legal obligations.  But what does this rule actually entail, and why should it matter to you? Let’s unravel the intricacies of this transformative shift and explore its profound significance in shaping the landscape of employment dynam ..read more

Our clients recognize how important it is to write up employees when situations call for it.  Yet, most companies struggle terribly with getting supervisors actually to fill out a disciplinary form when a problem arises with an employee.  Why is that?  And what can employers do to fix it? The most common explanation we hear is that filling out a disciplinary form just takes too much time.  Supervisors, like everyone else, believe that they already have too little time to perform their main duties.  Just the thought of having to sit down to fill out HR paperwork often s ..read more

Depending on where you get your news, you might think that unionization at private employers is experiencing a drastic rise.  Nearly every week, news articles highlight unionization efforts at high-profile companies like Starbucks, Amazon, and Mcdonald’s.  Despite being only three-quarters of the way into FY22, union election petitions for FY22 have already exceeded the total number of election petitions filed in all of FY21.  This represents a 58% increase in election petitions from FY21 if the trend holds for the remainder of FY22. The factors cited for the rise of union elect ..read more

All employers know that maintaining a workplace that is free from sexual harassment is the right thing to do.  A harassment-free workplace shows respect for all employees at work and creates a safe work environment.  It also happens to be good for business.  Complaints of sexual harassment are unsettling, distracting, time-consuming, and expensive. But from an employer’s perspective, the law traditionally has established a reasonably high threshold for a complaining employee to win a lawsuit based on sexual harassment.  According to the broadly adopted standard for claiming ..read more

One of the first questions many attorneys are asked when a client is considering filing a lawsuit is whether the fees and costs they will incur in the litigation are recoverable. In virtually all personal injury and property damage cases and in many business disputes, under what courts have dubbed the “American Rule,” the answer is no. Because the cost to a client of pursuing a claim is an important factor to be considered when evaluating a case (a $100,000 claim that will cost $50,000 in unrecoverable fees and costs to litigate is only worth $50,000 even if successful), knowing when and how f ..read more

One of the first questions many attorneys are asked when a client is considering filing a lawsuit is whether the fees and costs they will incur in the litigation are recoverable. In virtually all personal injury and property damage cases and in many business disputes, under what courts have dubbed the “American Rule,” the answer is no. Because the cost to a client of pursuing a claim is an important factor to be considered when evaluating a case (a $100,000 claim that will cost $50,000 in unrecoverable fees and costs to litigate is only worth $50,000 even if successful), knowing when and how f ..read more