Maryland's highest court announced on August 30, 2023, that a health care employee who claims to have "blown the whistle" on their employer's alleged misconduct must satisfy the "but for" standard of causation to prevail on a...more
11/9/2023
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Employees ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Maryland ,
Professional Misconduct ,
Public Health ,
Retaliation ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers ,
Workplace Safety
On August 4, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) designed to "address gaps" in prior iterations of one of the agency's civil...more
On June 23, 2022, the 50th anniversary of the Title IX Education Amendments of 1972, the Biden Administration's Department of Education issued its proposed amendments to the current Title IX regulations. These proposed...more
Recent announcements by the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) provide some clarity on next steps for the enforcement of the existing federal vaccine and testing...more
After two federal courts issued preliminary injunctions preventing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from enforcing its November 5, 2021 vaccine mandate nationwide, CMS issued a memorandum stating that it...more
Earlier, we wrote about ten Plaintiff States that filed a lawsuit in a Missouri federal district court challenging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) November 5, 2021 Interim Final Rule with Comment Period...more
Reba Letsa Interviews Jennifer L. Curry - It's no secret that organizations that foster strong allyship have more innovative, satisfied, and productive teams. This is because allies, through intentional and conscious efforts,...more
The law regarding discrimination on the basis of "sex" continues to evolve rapidly. Perhaps sparked by last year's landmark discrimination ruling in the Bostock case and by President Biden's day-one Executive Order on...more
In May 2016, the Department of Education directly addressed the treatment of transgender students under Title IX and extended its protections to the LGBTQ+ community. In 2017, the Trump Administration withdrew this guidance,...more
Just a few days after President Biden's Secretary of Education appointee, Miguel Cardona, was sworn in earlier this month, the President called for a sweeping revision of the Title IX regulations that went into effect in...more
In a surprisingly fast move for the new Biden administration, the Department of Labor (DOL) sent a proposed rule to the White House on Wednesday, February 24 that may drastically change the joint employer analysis. The...more
On September 22, 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13950 on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping. The new EO's provisions will apply to all federal contractors and subcontractors, as well as to federal agencies, the...more
Late last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) answered three questions related to being eligible for leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) for child care needs. The new guidance addresses difficult...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has increased pressure on health care facilities, and long term care providers specifically, by issuing COVID-19-related citations and initiating COVID-19-related...more
8/4/2020
/ Citations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Failure to Report ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Long Term Care Facilities ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Safety Violations ,
Sick Employees ,
Social Distancing ,
Workplace Decontamination ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
On April 14, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its various guidance on COVID-19 in health care settings. In addition to other helpful information about infection control and personal...more
4/20/2020
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Shortage ,
New Guidance ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sick Employees
Maryland's Emergency Management Agency Act grants the Governor the authority to establish protections for the people of Maryland during a state of emergency....more
On March 17, 2020, the Council of the District of Columbia (the Council) unanimously passed the COVID-19 Response Emergency Amendment Act of 2020 (the Act) to expand existing protections for workers and businesses in the...more
On March 12, documents were unsealed in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, disclosing that significant criminal charges were filed against dozens of people, from a variety of backgrounds and with varying degrees of...more
For years, employers have relied on the use of restrictive covenants to protect their companies from unfair competition by former employees and competitors.
Original published in Maryland State Bar Association Section of...more
3/19/2019
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Interstate Commerce ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair Competition
It is becoming more common to see people accompanied by an animal at a variety of locations – grocery stores, malls, big box stores, post offices, etc. But what happens when a patient or employee arrives at your health care...more
9/4/2018
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospitals ,
Physicians ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Service Animals ,
Skilled Nursing Facility
In the whirlwind of #MeToo, employers are scrambling to be proactive and take control of sexual harassment issues among their workforces, but most are unprepared for how to handle sexual harassment from third parties. The...more
Earlier this year, acting EEOC chair Victoria Lipnic made clear that the agency would continue its focus on equal pay cases, calling them a main "priority." Lipnic has voiced her concern regarding the "occupational...more
Late last year, more than 1,300 "advice nurses" working at call-in centers providing answers to patient health care questions for Kaiser Permanente and Permanente Medical Group filed a class action lawsuit for unpaid wages...more
Last month, Baker Donelson reported the surprise ruling out of the Third Circuit in Jane Doe v. Mercy Medical Center in which the court held that the discrimination and harassment prohibitions of Title IX apply to a private...more
5/23/2017
/ Administrative Remedies ,
Appeals ,
Federal Funding ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Medical Residents ,
Private Right of Action ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Students ,
Teaching Hospitals ,
Title IX ,
Title VII
Most employers today recognize that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that they pay non-exempt employees an overtime premium for working more than 40 hours in any given workweek. What most employers do not...more