A new law takes effect October 1, 2012, prohibiting Maryland employers from requiring employees to report for certain evening and night shifts after serving on jury duty.

Although the Elder Justice Act took effect in 2010 and the newness has worn off a bit, health care facilities should periodically look at the Act and its requirements. Compliance with the Act’s requirements is not a one-time event. Among other things, the Act requires owners and operators of long-term care facilities to annually notify specific individuals, including operators and managers of facilities, of their individual reporting requirements.

Effective October 1, 2010, the Maryland Legislature enacted the Maryland General and Limited Power of Attorney Act (Act).  The Act creates a statutory form power of attorney and provides that no one can require an additional or different form of power of attorney for any authority granted in the statutory form power of attorney (this includes anyone -- banks, insurance companies, title companies, and anybody else dealing with a power of attorney).  Failure to accept an appropriate acknowledged statutory form power of attorney may subject you to liability for attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in an action or proceeding to confirm the validity or mandate acceptance of the statutory form power of attorney.  To avoid liability for noncompliance with the Act, be familiar with and able to recognize the new statutory form power of attorney and be sure to accept it.

For more information on the Act, see Maryland’s Statutory Power of Attorney – Learn It, Accept It, or Get Ready for Liability. ...

Employees in the health care field are protected from retaliation by their employers for complaining about violations if those violations affect public health or safety.  In fact, the Health Care Worker Whistleblower Protection Act generally provides that an employer in the health care field may not retaliate against an employee based on an employee’s disclosure of (or threat to disclose) his or her employer’s violation of law, if the violation “poses a substantial and specific danger to the public health or safety.”  If an employer does retaliate, the employee can sue the employer for damages, including attorney’s fees.  The reverse also holds true.  If an employee frivolously sues his or her employer claiming retaliation, a court can require that the employee reimburse the employer for attorneys’ fees incurred in defending the case.

Last year, Maryland’s highest court interpreted the Act for the first time.  In that case, a nurse employed by a hospice company complained to her supervisors that her coworkers...

At long last, the EEOC has issued final regulations to implement the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008 (“GINA”).  These regulations take effect today, January 10, 2011.

"The Cloud." If you don’t know the term, get used to hearing it. Today’s technology offers extensive opportunities for sharing, storing, and backing up data remotely – data sent to and stored on servers you do not own, control, or, probably, even have the ability to monitor. Where is the data? It’s in "The Cloud."

In July, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") issued wide ranging regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). Now, the DOJ will hold public hearings on potential additional rules relating to electronic resources, such as web sites, used by places of public accommodation such as hotels, shopping centers, hospitals, and entertainment venues.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has issued a notice informing employers that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is targeting industry groups, specifically the health care industry, in its investigations of FLSA compliance.