Frank C. Morris, Jr., Member of the Firm in the Litigation, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, and Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practices, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in the Washington Business Journal, in “New D.C. Pay Transparency Law Could Apply to Virginia, Maryland Employers,” by Ana Lucía Murillo. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
A new District law requires employers with one or more employees in D.C. to share more information about their pay practices — but experts are warning companies in Virginia and Maryland to pay attention to the law as well.
The Wage Transparency Omnibus Amendment Act, which was signed into law by Mayor Muriel Bowser in January, took effect on Sunday, requiring D.C. employers to disclose “the minimum and maximum projected salary or hourly pay in all job listings and position descriptions advertised.” …
In the meantime, one expert has been providing his clients "conservative advice." Frank Morris, a labor lawyer at Epstein Becker & Green who is also an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School, has been telling clients whose employees "substantially" work in D.C. that the safer option is comply with the law.
"I'm not saying it's free from doubt," Morris said of the law, but extrapolating from other D.C. employment-related legislation, he's estimating that compliance is the better choice for cases in which an employee works in the District the majority of the time even if their employer doesn't have a physical office there.
"There are certainly some aspects of the law that are extremely broad and raise some substantial questions,” he said. “Notwithstanding that here may be some challenges to stop the law or how it’s interpreted, I think employers are well-advised to seek to comply, absent a ruling that a certain part of a law is not a valid exercise of the District’s authority."
