Update: Maryland's Wage Transparency and Pay Statement Laws in Effect
By Raabia Cheema and David Sotolongo
On October 1, 2024, Maryland’s Wage Range Transparency Act went into effect. As we reported earlier this year, this law expands wage transparency protections by now requiring businesses to include, in each public or internal job posting: (1) a wage range; (2) a general description of benefits; and (3) any other associated compensation.
The Maryland Department of Labor (MDOL) has stated that benefits which must be disclosed in job postings include, but are not limited to: (1) employer-provided health or life insurance; (2) paid or unpaid time off work, such as sick or vacation days; and (3) retirement or savings funds such as 401(k) plans or employer-funded pension plans. The MDOL further explained that “any other associated compensation” is intended to broadly cover any other earnings or monetary compensation that an employee may receive as payment in return for work performed, including overtime, commissions, bonuses, or stock options. The MDOL has created a compensation disclosure template that employers may, but need not, use to ensure compliance with the law.
These disclosures are required for any positions “that will be physically performed, at least in part,” in Maryland. But neither the law nor the MDOL has clarified whether Maryland employers who post a job opportunity that may be performed anywhere nationwide must comply with Maryland’s wage transparency law.
Notably, Maryland’s Pay Stub and Pay Statement law also went into effect on October 1, 2024. This law requires employers to provide Maryland employees with: (1) a particular notice at the time of hire; (2) a pay statement each payday; and (3) a full pay period of advance notice before any decrease in pay or change in the payday. The notice at the time of hiring must include the employee’s rate of pay, their paydays, and their leave benefits.
The pay statement each payday must include the following information: (1) the employer’s name (as registered with the State of Maryland), address, and telephone number; (2) the date of payment; (3) the beginning and ending dates of the pay period; (4) the number of hours worked during the pay period (unless the employee is exempt from overtime requirements); (5) all rates of pay; (6) additional bases and amounts of pay, including bonuses, commissions on sales or other bases; (7) applicable piece rates of pay and the number of pieces completed at each piece rate for each employee paid at a piece rate; (8) gross and net pay earned during the pay period; and (9) the amount and description of each deduction made from pay. The MDOL has created a pay stub template that employers may use to comply with the law.
Finally, as stated above, this law also requires that Maryland employees be provided with at least one full pay period of advance notice of any decrease in their pay, as well any change in the payday. Thus, for example, an employer with semi-monthly pay periods beginning on the 1st and 15th of every month who informed a Maryland employee on October 16th that their salary would soon be reduced would have to wait until the pay period beginning on November 15th to implement the change—but could implement the change with the pay period beginning on November 1st if they told the employee of the change on October 14th.
