Employment and labor laws in Maryland [Updated 2024]

Employment laws play a crucial role in shaping the relationship between employers and employees by ensuring fair treatment, protecting workers’ rights, and creating a safe working environment. While federal laws provide a baseline for regulations, each state has the flexibility to create its own laws to suit its unique needs.

Maryland, with its own set of employment standards, strikes a balance between federal and state-specific requirements, making it important for employers to understand the intricacies of Maryland's employment landscape as they start hiring there.

Rippling’s Professional Employer Organization service takes the guesswork out of complying with Maryland’s laws. Rippling’s PEO can take care of local tax registration and management on your behalf, allowing you to scale your business faster.

Employment vs. labor law: What’s the difference?

Although these terms may be used interchangeably in casual conversation, employment laws and labor laws have distinct legal meanings that employers should be aware of. Employment law primarily focuses on the relationship between individual employees and their employers. Labor law, on the other hand, is a subcategory of employment law that involves collective bargaining between employees and unions. Here’s a closer look at what these types of laws include:

Employment law

• Governs the relationship between individual employees and employers
• Focuses on hiring, firing, contracts, and workplace rights
• Ensures fair treatment and proper compensation for employees

Labor law

• Deals with collective bargaining between employee unions and employers
• Protects the rights of employees to create and join unions
• Facilitates negotiations for wages, working conditions, and benefits through collective agreements

Wages and hours in Maryland

In Maryland, minimum wage regulations ensure that workers receive fair compensation for their efforts. The state’s overtime laws ensure that eligible workers are compensated for working longer than the typical 40-hour workweek.

Minimum wage in Maryland

As of January 1, 2024, the state of Maryland’s minimum wage is $15.00 per hour—which is notably higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Previously, the minimum wage depended on a company's size, but now, every employer must pay the same minimum.

Rippling helps you set compliant hourly wages for employees by automatically flagging minimum wage violations based on local regulations where employees are located. This is helpful in states like Maryland, where the minimum wage is higher than the federal.

Overtime pay in Maryland

Whether employees are under a tight deadline for an important work project or need to cover a coworker who is out on leave, working overtime can be inevitable. 

Overtime pay is designed to reward employees for working beyond their regular hours. In Maryland, employees are entitled to receive 1.5x their regular hourly rate for each hour worked beyond 40 hours in a workweek.

Need help adhering to overtime pay laws in Maryland? Rippling’s payroll software makes it simple by automatically applying the correct overtime pay rates when an employee’s hours cross into overtime territory.

Pay transparency in Maryland

Pay transparency has been on the rise in the US. This practice involves openly sharing information about compensation, which may include salary ranges and incentives, with the aim of promoting fairness, reducing wage disparities, and building trust with employees. Many states have implemented pay transparency laws in recent years, including Maryland.

Maryland’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Law was amended in 2020 so that employers must provide wage ranges for positions if requested by job applicants. Employees cannot be punished for asking about their wages or for discussing wages with others. During the job application process, employers are not allowed to ask applicants for their wage or salary history. 

Rippling enforces compensation bands during onboarding. If you have an out-of-band adjustment, Rippling will flag it so that you can approve special cases or block them as needed.

Breaks and rest periods in Maryland

Breaks and rest periods vary from state to state. According to Maryland state law, workers are not entitled to breaks unless they are minors or work in retail:

• Under the Healthy Retail Employee Act, retail employees are entitled to a 15-minute break for shifts that are between four and six hours long. For longer shifts, they’re owed a 30-minute break. 
• Minors must be given 30 minutes of rest for shifts of five consecutive hours.

Leaves of absence in Maryland

Sometimes, employees need to take time away from work to recover from illness, navigate serious medical conditions, or deal with other emergencies. Here are the types of leave required in Maryland.

All employers are required to provide:

• Sick and safe leave (see more below)
• Emergency responder leave
• Military leave
• Jury duty leave
• Crime victim and witness leave
• Voting leave
• Family medical leave (see more below)

Employers with 15+ employees are required to provide:

• Parental leave for birth, adoption, or foster placement
• Bone marrow and organ donor leave
• Civil Air Patrol leave
• Flexible leave to deal with family member illness or bereavement

Employers with 50+ employees are required to provide:

• Family military leave 

Under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Maryland employers must allow for unpaid, protected absence of up to 12 weeks to deal with the birth of a child, caring for a newborn, placing a child for adoption or foster care, caring for an ill or disabled family member, or dealing with the employee’s own health condition.

In 2026, Maryland’s Paid Family and Medical Leave insurance (PFML) program will go into effect. This program will give eligible employees access to leave and wage replacement benefits during the following:

• Serious health conditions 
• Child bonding within the first year of birth/adoption/fostering 
• Caring for family members with serious health conditions

Employers may choose to offer more robust leave benefits as a way to attract and retain talented workers. For example, while vacation leave is not required in the state, employers may decide to offer annual vacation time.

Pregnancy disability leave in Maryland

Pregnancy disability leave (PDL) provides job protection for employees experiencing pregnancy-related complications and disabilities. In Maryland, employees who are unable to work due to pregnancy-related reasons are entitled to disability benefits or sick leave.

Additionally, under the state’s Reasonable Accommodations for Disabilities Due to Pregnancy Act, employers with 15+ employees need to provide reasonable accommodations to workers who are temporarily disabled due to pregnancy. This might include modified work duties, temporary transfers, or providing a leave of absence.

Paid sick leave in Maryland

Maryland's Paid Sick Leave law grants employees the right to accrue paid sick leave based on the number of hours they’ve worked.

All organizations must provide “sick and safe” leave, which not only provides typical sick leave but also “safe leave” for those who need to attend to needs around domestic violence. The terms of required sick and safe leave vary depending on the organization's size. 

The Maryland Healthy Working Families Act (MHWFA) requires employers with 15+ employees to provide paid sick and safe leave. Employers with less than 15 employees must provide sick and safe leave, but it can be unpaid. Employees need to work 12 or more hours per week to be eligible for this leave. 

Employees can take sick and safe leave to:

• Care for/treat their mental or physical illness, injuries, and health conditions or those of their family members
• Obtain preventative medicine for themselves or their family members
• Take maternity leave or paternity leave
• Tend to matters relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, or stalking committed against the employee or their family member

With Rippling, you can automate and customize your leave policy and get full visibility into how employees are choosing to use their leave.

Workplace safety in Maryland

Under federal law and the rules of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), employers are responsible for maintaining a safe working environment for all employees by providing safe equipment, training employees on safety procedures, and implementing company-wide safety policies. Maryland has even stricter laws than the federal standard through the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) Act of 1973. 

This act requires employers to provide workplaces free from recognized hazards and compels both employers and employees to comply with safety and health regulations under MOSH. 

Failing to comply with MOSH can result in serious fines and penalties of up to $7,000 per violation, and employers may be charged $7,000 in penalties per day if they fail to correct violations promptly. Repeat violators may be penalized up to $70,000 per violation. A willful MOSH violation that results in an employee's death is considered a criminal act; for a first violation, employers could be imprisoned for up to six months and fined up to $10,000.

As part of the MOSH Act, employers in Maryland need to have written Safety, Health, and Injury and Illness Prevention Plans (IIPP) to inform employees of workplace risks and how to avoid accidents or illnesses.

Rippling PEO’s pay-as-you-go workers’ comp plan allows you to grow your business stress-free in Maryland and throughout the US.

Discrimination and harassment laws in Maryland

Discrimination and harassment laws are intended to prevent hostility and abuse in the workplace. Discrimination takes place when employers treat job applicants or workers unfairly due to their identity, affiliations, or appearance. Harassment is when someone receives unwelcome conduct based on the above qualifications. This could take the form of bullying, inappropriate jokes, physical threats, or intimidation. Per the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA), harassment qualifies as discrimination.

Maryland employees are protected both by federal laws as well as FEPA, which specifically prohibits employers with 15+ employees from discriminating on the basis of:

• Race (including hairstyles)
• Color
• Sex
• Religion
• Sexual orientation or gender identity
• Age
• National origin/ancestry
• Marital status
• Genetic information
• Disability (if it is unrelated to job performance)

The Equal Pay for Equal Work law in the state prohibits employers from compensating people differently based on their sex or gender identity. If workers are receiving different pay for comparable work at the same establishment, then the employer must prove that the jobs require different abilities, that pay is based upon performance measurements, or that there’s another legitimate factor.

While Maryland does not have specific sexual harassment training requirements, you can check here to see if other states in which you operate do. 

Workplace discrimination and harassment are serious issues, and violations may result in penalties and hefty fines. If you need to provide sexual harassment or other anti-harassment training, Rippling’s Learning Management System is pre-loaded with courses compliant with individual state requirements. 

Unions in Maryland

Unions are a significant part of Maryland’s employment landscape. A union is a group of workers who join together to negotiate collective agreements with employers. Labor unions may work to advance fair working conditions, higher wages, time off, better benefits, and more. At the federal level, per the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), employees have the right to:

• Organize or join a union
• Discuss their employment terms and conditions with other workers
• Bargain collectively by choosing employee representatives
• Act to improve working conditions by filing complaints with their employer, the government, or union representatives
• Strike and picket, depending on the reason
• Refrain from joining a union

While Maryland does not have a specific statute mandating union membership as a condition for employment, the state strictly forbids any employer or employee from making work-related promises that would require them to join, refrain from joining, or quit a labor organization. Unions also aren’t allowed to threaten employees with job loss or other adverse actions if they choose not to join the union. 

FAQs about Maryland labor and employment laws

Are independent contractors covered under Maryland employment laws?

No, Maryland wage and employment laws don’t apply to independent contractors, also known as freelancers or self-employed workers. However, the distinction between employees and independent contractors can be complex. Rippling’s free analyzer tool can help you determine whether you’re classifying workers correctly and complying with employment regulations. 

Does at-will employment exist in Maryland?

Yes, Maryland allows for at-will employment. This means that unless an employment contract or workplace policy states otherwise, either the employer or employee can end the working relationship without cause or notice. However, employers still aren’t allowed to discharge employees wrongfully and must have a clear reason for dismissal.

What privacy rights do employees have in Maryland?

While employers have an interest in monitoring their employees' workplace activity, employees have certain privacy rights. In Maryland, employers are allowed to conduct electronic surveillance, which includes telephone monitoring of business-related calls as well as monitoring email usage (on work-owned computers and for work purposes only). Employers are not allowed to request that employees or job applicants take lie-detector tests, monitor private conversations unrelated to work, or publicly disclose private information about their employees.

Are background checks legal in Maryland?

Yes, background checks are legal. If employers want to conduct background checks on job applicants, they must inform the candidates in writing and get written consent before conducting the check. Employers are not allowed to use credit checks to determine whether to hire applicants. 

Though drug and alcohol tests are allowed, they must only be performed for job-related reasons. Employers must send written notice within 30 days of a positive test result and allow the applicant the opportunity to have the sample retested.

Are whistleblowers protected in Maryland?

In Maryland, whistleblowers are covered under a series of protection acts. 

Protection for whistleblowers varies depending on the category of their job, the type of disclosure being made, and to whom the disclosure is made. 

Is workers’ compensation coverage required in Maryland?

Yes, employers who have even one employee based in Maryland are required to provide workers’ compensation and must take on the cost of that insurance. Employers who fail to do so can face fines of up to $10,000.

Are there required healthcare benefits in Maryland?

It depends. Employers with 50+ employees must provide health coverage to both their employees and the employees’ dependents. However, employers with less than 50 employees don’t have to provide healthcare benefits—though providing health coverage may make them eligible for tax credits. Individuals who choose to abstain from getting health insurance aren’t penalized by the state of Maryland.

Are Maryland employers required to provide bereavement leave?

Employers with more than 15 employees must provide paid flexible leave, which includes bereavement leave. Under the Flexible Leave Act, employers are not allowed to discharge, terminate, discipline, discriminate against, or otherwise punish an employee for taking flexible leave.

What employee protections are available in Maryland if layoffs occur?

Per the Economic Stabilization Act, Maryland employers with 50+ employees who have operated in Maryland for at least a year must give employees 60 days’ written notice about plans to reduce their operations. Employers qualify if they will be reducing their workforce by 25% or 15 employees—whichever number is greater—over a three-month period.

Disclaimer: Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.