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Maryland’s wage and hour law may extend beyond the time an employee spends at a prescribed workspace to include time spent getting to the work site using transportation required by the employer, Maryland’s highest court has decided.
In a 7-0 decision, the Maryland Court of Appeals on July 14 reversed two trial court dismissals of claims by workers seeking unpaid and overtime wages under the Maryland wage and hour law. The court returned the cases to lower court for further proceedings so a jury can decide on the facts of each case.
The high court found that the time (two hours per day) that construction workers spent gathering at a specified parking area and being bussed to the construction site of the MGM National Harbor resort and casino, if required by the employer, constitutes “work” compensable under Maryland’s wage and hour law.
If, however, the workers were not required to report to the parking area, under Maryland’s law the workers would not be entitled to compensation for that time.
The construction firm, DGS Construction, maintained that federal laws—the Portal-to-Portal Act (PPA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)— provide that traveling to the actual place of principal employment activity is not compensable.
However, the state ‘s high court found that the issue had not been resolved under Maryland law and that the state has not implicitly adopted the federal position. What constitutes “work” under...
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