On December 8, 2020, the D.C. Council approved a budget that allowed for several important provisions of The Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Clarification Amendment Act of 2018 (the “Act”) to finally go into effect. It is important to note that these provisions are actually a collection of overlapping and at times confusing legislation spanning several… More
Some Immediate Changes to the Employment Landscape Under the Biden Administration
Only a few weeks into his new Administration, President Biden has already started to change the landscape for employers. Summaries of the most pertinent changes are below. • Pause to New Independent Contractor Classification Rule. The Administration froze the implementation of all regulations that had not yet taken effect, pending further internal review. This means… More
Title VII Anti-Discrimination Protections May Not Extend to Equity Partners
At the start of the year, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Lemon v. Myers Bigel, affirmed the dismissal of a North Carolina lawsuit brought by an equity partner alleging gender and race discrimination on the part of her former law firm. The Court agreed that because the claimant was appropriately characterized as an… More
New PPP Legislation
Guest Post: The Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act, referred to as the Economic Aid Act, has earmarked $284.5 billon for a Second Draw of Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans. The new legislation for the PPP loans is similar to the First Draw with a few significant changes. Use of PPP funds Payroll… More
IRS Releases Guidance Regarding PPP Loan Forgiveness
Guest post from T. J. Wilkinson the Shulman Rogers Tax Law Group: The CARES Act was amended at the end of 2020 to provide further tax benefits to taxpayers who received PPP loans. On January 6, the IRS released guidance consistent with that amendment, and obsoleted certain prior IRS guidance that disallowed certain tax benefits… More
New Option: Employment Law Subscription Package
We are trying something new! It’s a new year and a new administration, and we are all still grappling with the pandemic. 2021 will likely bring changes in Employment Laws on the federal, state and local level. We know that people sometimes hesitate to call us because they fear the legal bill. But sometimes it’s… More
Montgomery County Significantly Expands Ban-the-Box Law
Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Executive, recently signed into law a bill that significantly expands prohibitions on employers inquiring about an applicant’s criminal record (commonly known as “Ban-the-Box” laws). Montgomery County’s new Ban-the-Box law expands these prohibitions to all employers and expands the prohibition of inquiries into more types of criminal records. This Ban-the-Box law, which… More
CORRECTION to Employment Alert: New Year Sees Local Minimum Wage Increases
Last week our world was spinning between COVID and events at the U.S. Capitol — and amidst all that mayhem — we made an inadvertent error in our January 6th ALERT. The corrected information is italicized below: Maryland: Effective January 1, 2021, Maryland’s statewide minimum wage increased from $11.00/hour to $11.75/hour for employers with 15… More
D.C. Council Passes Broad Ban on Non-Compete Provisions
In mid-December, the D.C. Council passed what may perhaps be the broadest ban on non-compete provisions in employment agreements in the United States. If enacted by the Mayor, this ban would affect nearly every D.C. employer. The Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (the “Act”) prohibits an employer from requiring or requesting “that… More
DOL Issues Guidance on Electronic Posting of Required Notices
In acknowledgment of the increased number of employers now managing a workforce remotely, the U.S. Department of Labor recently issued guidance regarding the electronic posting of notices required by certain federal statutes. Specifically, alternative means for employers to satisfy the notice requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act… More