FAMILY LAW HOTLINE
All services of the Women’s Law Center of Maryland are free, confidential and – pending capacity constraints – available to all persons regardless of gender/assigned sex at birth, race, national origin, ethnicity, age, religion, as well as disability or veteran status. Accommodations, including translation services, are available upon request.
FAMILY LAW HOTLINE
1-877-422-9500
Weekdays: 9:30AM - 4:30PM
WLC Staff Attorneys can answer questions about Maryland family laws regarding:
- Separation
- Divorce
- Custody and Visitation
- Child Support
- Marital Property
- Alimony
- Paternity
- Name Change
- Guardianship
The Family Law Hotline attorney will provide legal advice for informational purposes only. Calling the hotline does not create or constitute an attorney-client relationship. The attorney may suggest self-help measures or make referrals to a social service or governmental agency for assistance. Callers who fit WLC programming criteria may be referred internally for potential representation.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: EMPLOYMENT LAW
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission: Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices
Per the EEOC, it is illegal to discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of that person’s race, color, religion, sex (including transgender status, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to retaliate against a person because they complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit. All of the laws enforced by the EEOC, except for the Equal Pay Act, require complainants to file a charge before one can file a lawsuit for unlawful discrimination. There are strict time limits for filing a charge.
"Wrongful Termination" in Maryland: Navigating At-Will Employment
The vast majority of employment relationships in Maryland are what the law refers to as “at-will.” This generally means that an employer may terminate an employee for any reason or no reason, while an employee may leave his or her job for any reason or no reason. At-will employment is in contrast to contractual employment, where an employment contract governs the relationship between the employer and the employee. Employment contracts normally contain specific terms relating to job duties, the length of the employment relationship, grounds upon which either party may terminate the employment relationship, etc. In its most basic sense, employment at will means that an employer can terminate an employee for almost any reason or even no reason at all.
Exceptions to this rule include: EEOC prohibited employment policies (discrimination), jury duty, military leave, retaliation for filing worker’s comp or requesting unpaid or overtime wages, whistleblowing protections, and other “public policy” exceptions (actions that are protected by law or contrary to public policy).
Domestic Violence in the Workplace
Violence by an intimate partner can be a serious challenge to keeping a job. A batterer may harass you at work or follow you on the way to and from the job. You may find yourself missing work due to injuries or the need to go to court.
Legal Protections
Domestic violence victims have certain types of legal protections in the workplace. You are protected legally from discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, and various other wrongs. Both federal and state laws provide protection for victims of crimes in the workplace.
Time Off From Work
If you need time off from work to seek medical attention and heal from a serious injury resulting from domestic violence, you may be entitled to job-protected leave from work under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). FMLA gives covered employees unpaid leave when facing a serious medical condition. Learn more about FMLA.
You can seek time off related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking under Maryland’s paid sick and safe leave law. Under the law, an employee may use leave for an absence related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking committed against the employee or the employee’s family member. The leave must be used by the employee or the employee’s family member to obtain one of the following:
medical or mental health attention related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking;
services from a victim services organization related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking;
legal services or proceedings related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
Disability Related to Domestic Violence
Domestic violence victims may qualify for protection from discrimination and wrongful termination, or a reasonable accommodation in the workplace, if you have a disability that was caused by domestic violence. A victim with a disability caused by domestic violence is protected under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Unemployment Insurance
If forced to quit one’s job because of domestic violence, victims and their family members may be eligible to collect unemployment. Under Maryland law, voluntarily leaving employment because of circumstances directly related to domestic violence qualifies as “good cause” for leaving employment. In order to be eligible, victims must reasonably believe that continued employment would their family. They must demonstrate that they are leaving because of domestic violence and show proof of the violence by providing one of the following:
an active or recently issued temporary protective order,
a protective order,
any other non-temporary court order documenting the domestic violence, OR
a police record documenting recent domestic violence.
Suggested Ways Domestic Violence Survivors Can Protect Themselves at Work
Domestic violence persists when kept a private issue, but when it comes to protection from an abuser, confiding in trustworthy people who are most often around – supervisors, colleagues, etc. – is key. Below are some suggestions:
Get a Protective Order and make sure it includes your worksite – share a copy with the local police station near your job.
Inform supervisors of your Protective Order, and give them a picture of the respondent. Explain that the Protective Order states that your abuser is not allowed to enter your workplace (if your Protective Order includes your workplace). This is especially important if you work somewhere many people walk in and out of all day (e.g., fast food restaurant).
Develop a Safety Plan, for example transferring departments, locking doors, parking near the exit door, requesting escorts to the parking lot, changing commute patterns or child care centers, etc.
Breastfeeding/Pump at Work
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for one year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk. Employees are entitled to a place to pump at work, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public.
On December 29, 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 became law. This legislation introduced the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”), expanding these rights to more nursing employees, including agricultural workers, nurses, teachers, truck and taxi drivers, home care workers and managers. Know Your Rights.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment may be verbal (sexual innuendo, threats, jokes, sexual propositions, or suggestive comments); non-verbal (making suggestive or insulting noises, leering, whistling or making obscene gestures, or displaying sexually explicit or offensive pictures or other illustrations); or physical (touching, pinching, brushing the body, assaulting, or any other contact of a sexual nature).
Types of Sexual Harassment:
Quid Pro Quo – Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other unwelcome verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute quid pro quo sexual harassment when:
submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment; or
submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual.
Hostile Work Environment:
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute hostile environment sexual harassment when a reasonable person would find:
such conduct has the effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual work performance; or
such conduct creates an intimidating hostile or offensive working environment, which is perceived by the victim to be abusive or hostile.
The victim, as well as the accused, may be any gender; the victim does not have to be of the opposite sex; the accused may be an employee’s direct supervisor, a supervisor in another division, a co-worker, or a non-employee; and the victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
The ignorance or intentions of the harasser are irrelevant; sexual harassment is illegal and should not be tolerated.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. Eligible employees are entitled to:
Twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for:
the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job;
any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” or
Twenty-six work weeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).
For more information, visit the U.S. Department of Labor FMLA FAQs.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); Maryland Wage and Hour Information
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. A general guide can be found here.
Find information on Maryland’s Minimum Wage, Pay Statement, Wage Transparency, Sick and Safe Leave laws along with various factsheets and resources at the Division of Labor and Industry’s Employment Standards Service (ESS) webpage.
Workers' Compensation
Maryland’s Workers’ Compensation Law provides a way for employees who are injured on the job to receive payment for lost wages and medical expenses related to the injury.
Almost every Maryland employer is required to have workers’ compensation insurance to pay the cost of employee injury. Under the law, compensation does not rely on anyone being at fault. Therefore, in most cases, injured employees cannot sue employers for damages.
Not every accident or illness on the job is eligible for compensation. Employees are eligible for compensation when their injury “arises out of and in the course of employment.” This means that the injury has to:
occur because of conditions required by the employer for doing the job, and
when the employee is doing the job
Injuries may include diseases that the employee develops because of job conditions, such as illnesses that develop because of noxious fumes or other things in the air at the work site. Injuries caused by a third party are still eligible for workers’ compensation. The amount of money awarded depends upon the severity of the employee’s injury. Successful claims cover medical expenses, partial payment of lost wages, and, in the case of death, funeral expenses. Additional compensation is also provided for cases of severe and permanent injury. Payment for lost wages is generally made weekly. If the injury makes it impossible for the employee to return to their job, the employee may get vocational training and counseling for a new job.
Learn how to file a workers’ comp claim.
Unemployment
New claimants have two options to apply for unemployment benefits in Maryland:
via the online BEACON UI system, available 24/7; or,
by calling a claims agent at 667-207-6520. Agents are available Monday to Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.