Comments for Maryland Employment Law Developments

Comment on New Bill Would Raise Minimum Wage for Tipped Employees by Pete

Pete — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:24:34 +0000

I think it’s outrageous that employers are allowed to pay restaurant servers, and especially food delivery drivers below the minimum wage, at all. Increasing that sub-minimum wage is a good first step, but it still seems to imply that we’re OK with something less than the minimum wage. We should not be OK with that. Waiting tables and delivering food such as pizza or Chinese food, subs, etc. is not a minimum wage job. A greeter at WalMart: maybe that’s a minimum wage job. A delivery driver must own and maintain an automobile, or else he/she does not qualify for the job. The vehicle must meet certain safety standards and most employers state in their employee handbook that the employee must maintain the vehicle’s appearance to a professional level. Whether or not that’s enforced is one thing. But it sounds like expenses for a wash and wax. Maybe the employee could wash and wax his/her own car at home and save money. Well, maybe if he/she owns a home!!! But with all the Hope and Change lately, how many delivery drivers do you think own their own home???!!! Most rental complexes prohibit car washing and maintenance/repairs on the premises.
Food delivery is one of the most dangerous jobs out there. Ask any cop, and they’ll tell you, pizza delivery drivers are always getting mugged, robbed and even murdered. And the drivers are specifically prohibited from carrying a firearm or any other weapon.
Delivery drivers should be allowed, by law, to exclude certain neighborhoods, individual customers, etc. The employers should be required by law to constantly advertise clearly on TV and radio that the drivers are paid below minimum wage. I’m not talking about some obscure little note printed on the pizza box or the credit card receipt. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY reads those little notes. In fact, many customers believe the “delivery charge” is the TIP. Any reasonable English speaking customer might think a delvery charge goes to the delivery driver, and would therefore think it’s OK to reduce or omit their TIP. Which brings up another related topic. Mileage compensation for delivery drivers. Apparently, very few states require employers to compensate employees for the use of the employees car. Regardless of the base pay, the employer should pay the vehicle cost incurred when the employee is doing his job. The notion that the employee, especially lower-paid employees should subsidize even a small portion of the cost of transporting the employers product to the customer (pizza, for example), is absurd. Delivery drivers should be reimbursed the government standard (which is somewhere around $0.50) per mile driven. It’s disingenuous to suggest that delivery drivers can simply deduct the mileage expense from their taxes. Typically, the delivery driver would be in such a low tax bracket that the deduction would provide little to no benefit. If the employee has kids, then there would be no additional benefit from the deduction, in most cases.
And one more thought comes to mind. Imagine at some point, a minimum wage was established by politicians and/or lawmakers. And then, those same lawmakers woke up one morning and said to themselves, “I’m glad we established a minimum wage, but now we must come up with a way to pay tipped employees less than the minimum.” I don’t think it happened like that. It makes me wonder if Restaurant Servers and Delivery Drivers aren’t the only ones taking tips.

Comment on New Disability Insurance Law Should Help Maryland Employees by dieta

dieta — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 10:56:11 +0000

October 2007 …Disability Insurance often called DI or disability income insurance is a form of that insures the beneficiarys earned income against the risk that a disability will make working and therefore earning impossible. It includes paid sick leave short-term disability benefits and long-term disability benefits. .Those whose employers do not provide benefits and self-employed individuals who desire disability coverage may purchase their own policies on the open market.

Comment on Through the Peephole at Walmart’s Anti-Union Culture by Panama corporation

Panama corporation — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 10:55:12 +0000

…….Washington DC – Today American Rights at Work the AFL-CIO Change to Win and.WakeUpWalmart.com will hand deliver to the Federal Election.Commission FEC calling for investigations into Wal-Mart Stores Inc.s.unlawful corporate expenditures on electioneering and unionbusting in the.workplace.

Comment on The NLRB Rules that Employees Must Post About Right to Organize by NLRB’s Posting of Notice of Right to Form Unions is Delayed | Maryland Employment Law Developments

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:26:10 +0000

[...] covered employers, originally effective in mid-November. The requirement remains controversial. The poster would inform employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act to form unions, consider joining unions, and talking about [...]

Comment on Church Organizations Cannot Be Sued for Religious Discrimination by The Supreme Court Starts Out With a Religion Case | Maryland Employment Law Developments

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:39:23 +0000

[...] week includes a religious employer case. These issues have been percolating for a few years, and both the Fourth Circuit and Maryland recently weighed in with [...]

Comment on Promotions Often Given to the Favored Employee by Maryland promotions | Seidoch

Maryland promotions | Seidoch — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:40:11 +0000

[...] Promotions Often Given to the Favored Employee | Maryland … [...]

Comment on Congress Considers New Protection for Unemployed by President’s Job Bill Would Encourage Hiring of the Unemployed | Maryland Employment Law Developments

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:40:33 +0000

[...] part of the bill addresses a key barrier facing the unemployed: they are unemployed. The EEOC has been concerned about the overt preference given by employers to people who already have jobs; some ads state that they will only consider currently employed [...]

Comment on Promotions Often Given to the Favored Employee by business review

business review — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 06:15:54 +0000

Dear Joan .I work for a large company that has favoritism issues and.a committee was formed to resolve it. Since favoritism is a management.action in which some employees receive unequal treatment I.dont see how a committee was ever going to solve.it..Favoritism needs to be dealt with by senior management and.HR For example if a few people always seem to get higher.performance reviews more money better projects and or better.perks and objective evidence points to the fact that their real.work output doesnt warrant it complaints will typically be.made and an investigation should ensue..Even if complaints are not made most HR professionals who.are involved with a department will unearth favoritism without much.effort.