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(a) An employee may use earned sick and safe leave:
(1) to care for or treat the employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or condition;
(2) to obtain preventive medical care for the employee or the employee’s family member;
(3) to care for a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or condition;
(4) if the employer’s place of business has closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency;
(5) if the school or child care center for the employee’s family member is closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency;
(6) to care for a family member if a health official or health care provider has determined that the family member’s presence in the community would jeopardize the health of others because of the family member’s exposure to a communicable disease;
(7) for the birth of a child, or for the placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care;
(8) to care for a newborn, newly adopted, or newly placed child within one year of birth, adoption, or placement; or
(9) if the absence from work is due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking committed against the employee or the employee’s family member and the leave is used:
(A) by the employee to obtain for the employee or the employee’s family;
(i) medical attention needed to recover from a physical or psychological injury due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking;
(ii) services from a victim services organization related to the domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; or
(iii) legal services, including preparing for or participating in a civil or criminal proceeding related to the domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; or
(B) during the time that the employee has temporarily relocated due to the domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
(b) To use earned sick and safe leave, an employee must:
(1) request leave from the employer as soon as practicable after the employee determines that the employee needs to take leave;
(2) notify the employer of the anticipated duration of the leave; and
(3) comply with any reasonable procedures established by the employer when requesting and taking leave.
(c) An employer must not require an employee who requests earned sick and safe leave to search for or find an individual to take the employee’s place while the employee takes leave.
(d) An employer must not require an employee to:
(1) disclose specific details of the mental or physical illness, injury, or condition of the employee or the employee’s family member; or
(2) provide as certification any information that would violate the Federal Social Security Act or the Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
(e) By mutual consent of the employee and the employer, the employee may work additional hours or trade shifts with another employee during a pay period to make up the amount of work hours that the employee missed for which the employee could have used earned sick and safe leave.
(f) An employee may take earned sick and safe leave in the smallest increment that the employer’s payroll system uses to account for absences or work time, except that an employee must not be required to take earned sick and safe leave in an increment of more than 4 hours.
(g) An employer must provide an employee with a written statement of available earned sick and safe leave each time the employer pays wages to the employee. An employer may satisfy this requirement through an online system where the employee can access their own earned sick and safe leave balances.
(h) An employer may require an employee who uses more than 3 consecutive days of earned sick and safe leave to provide reasonable documentation to verify that the leave was used appropriately. (2015 L.M.C., ch. 29, § 1; 2016 L.M.C., ch. 31, §1.)
(a) An employer must notify the employees that they are entitled to earned sick and safe leave under this Article.
(b) The notice must include:
(1) a statement of how earned sick and safe leave is accrued;
(2) the permitted uses of earned sick and safe leave;
(3) a statement that the employer must not retaliate against an employee for exercising the rights granted by this Article; and
(4) information about the employee’s right to file a complaint with the Director for a violation of any rights granted by this Article.
(c) The Director must create and publish a model notice in English, Spanish, and any other language that the Director finds is necessary that may be used by an employer to comply with subsection (b).
(d) An employer may provide notice by:
(1) displaying the model notice or another notice containing the same information in a conspicuous and accessible area at each of the employer’s work locations in the County;
(2) including the model notice or another notice containing the same information in an employee handbook or other written guidance distributed to all employees; or
(3) distributing the model notice or another notice containing the same information to each employee when the employee is hired. (2015 L.M.C., ch. 29, § 1.)
(a) An employer must keep, for at least 3 years, a record of:
(1) earned sick and safe leave accrued by each employee; and
(2) earned sick and safe leave used by each employee.
(b) After giving the employer notice and determining a mutually agreeable time for the inspection, the Director may inspect a record kept under subsection (a) for the purposes of determining whether the employer is complying with this Article. (2015 L.M.C., ch. 29, § 1.)
(a) A covered employee who did not receive earned sick and safe leave in violation of this Article may file a complaint with the Director under Section 27-7.
(b) The County Executive may delegate the authority to enforce this Article to a State agency that is legally authorized to enforce the County earned sick and safe leave requirements. (2015 L.M.C., ch. 29, § 1.)
(a) Members. The Executive must appoint, subject to confirmation by the Council, a Racial Equity and Social Justice Advisory Committee. The Committee must have 17 voting members.
(1) Voting members. The members must reflect a range of ethnicities, professional backgrounds, socioeconomic status, and places of origin to reflect the racial, economic, and linguistic diversity of the County’s communities, with an emphasis on those most disproportionately impacted by inequities. Each member should have some experience in redressing disparate impacts based on race and social justice issues.
(A) One member should be a designee of a public education system in the County.
(B) One member should be the Chair of the Housing Opportunities Commission or the Chair’s designee.
(C) One member should be a designee of the County Council.
(D) One member should be an employee of the County Department of Health and Human Services.
(E) One member should be an employee of the County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.
(F) One member should be a sworn officer of the County Police Department.
(G) One member should be the Chair of the Montgomery County Planning Board or the Chair’s designee.
(H) Ten members should be a public member with experience in redressing disparate impacts based on race and social justice issues. Each public member must reside in the County.
(2) Term. Each member serves a 3-year term. A member must not serve more than 2 consecutive full terms. A member appointed to fill a vacancy serves the rest of the unexpired term. Members continue in office until their successors are appointed and qualified.
(3) Compensation. Except for the 10 public members, members must receive no compensation for their services. Each of the 10 public members may receive an annual stipend of $2,000.00 and reimbursement for expenses incurred in serving.
(b) Chair and Vice Chair. The Committee must annually elect one member as chair and another as vice chair and may elect other officers.
(c) Meetings. The Committee may meet at the call of the chair as often as required to perform its duties, but at least 6 times each year. The Committee must also meet if a majority of the members submit a written request for a meeting to the chair at least 7 days before the proposed meeting. A majority of the members are a quorum for the transaction of business, and a majority of members present at any meeting with a quorum may take an action.
(d) Staff. The Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice must provide the Committee with staff, offices, and supplies as are appropriate.
(e) Duties. The Committee must:
(1) adopt rules and procedures as necessary to perform its functions;
(2) keep a record of its activities and minutes of all meetings, which must be kept on file and open to the public during business hours upon request;
(3) develop and distribute information about racial equity and social justice in the County;
(4) promote educational activities that increase the understanding of racial equity and social justice in the County;
(5) recommend coordinated strategies for reducing racial and social justice inequity in the County;
(6) advise the Council, the Executive, and County agencies about racial equity and social justice in the County, and recommend policies, programs, legislation, or regulations necessary to reduce racial and social justice inequity;
(7) meet periodically with the racial equity and social justice lead for each department and office; and
(8) submit an annual report by December 1 of each year to the Executive and Council on the activities of the Committee.
(f) Advocacy. The Committee must not engage in any advocacy activity at the State or federal levels unless that activity is approved by the Office of Intergovernmental Relations.
(g) The Executive may establish one or more limited issue task forces to study and make recommendations on a specific racial equity and social justice issue. A limited issue task force established by the Executive ceases to exist once it has completed its assigned task. The appointment of members of a limited issue task force must not be subject to confirmation by the Council. Each recommendation of a limited issue task force must be shared with the Council, the Executive, and the Racial Equity and Social Justice Advisory Committee. (2019 L.M.C., ch. 27, §1; 2020 L.M.C., ch. 38, §1.)
Editor’s note—2019 L.M.C., ch. 27, § 2, states:
Transition and Effective Date.
(a) The first report of the Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice required in Section 1 must be submitted to the Council on or before September 30, 2020 and the first report of the Racial Equity and Social Justice Committee required in Section 1 must be submitted to the Executive and the Council on or before December 1, 2020.
(b) Section 2-81C as added by Section 1 of this Act takes effect on August 1, 2020.
As used in this Article:
Building maintenance worker means an individual employed at a covered location performing janitorial services. A building maintenance worker does not include:
(1) a managerial or confidential employee;
(2) an employee who works in an executive, administrative, or professional capacity;
(3) an employee who earns more than twice the wage requirement established under Section 11B-33A; or
(4) an employee who temporarily replaces a building maintenance worker who is absent for less than one week.
Covered employer means any person, individual, proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, Limited Liability Company, trust, association, or other entity operating and doing business in the County that employs one or more persons as a building maintenance worker at a covered location in the County. Covered employer includes the County government, but does not include the United States, any State, or any other local government.
Covered leave means paid or unpaid leave voluntarily used by a building maintenance worker as authorized by Federal, State, or County law, a collective bargaining agreement, or a written employee handbook.
Covered location means an office building or contiguous group of office buildings under common ownership or management occupying a total of 350,000 square feet or more in the County with an occupancy rate of 50% or more. Covered location does not include:
(1) an office building or group of office buildings owned by the United States, any State, or any local government; or
(2) a building used primarily for apartment or condominium dwelling units, retail stores, hospitals, schools, warehouses, parking garages, or data centers.
Director means the Executive Director of the Office of Human Rights and includes the Executive Director’s designee.
Employ means to engage a person to work for compensation.
Minimum work week means the minimum number of compensated hours provided to a building maintenance worker in any work week.
Office means a room, set of rooms, or a building where the business of a commercial or industrial organization or of a professional person is conducted.
Work week means a fixed regularly recurring period of 168 hours or 7 consecutive 24 hour periods. (2019 L.M.C., ch. 25, §1.)
(a) Minimum work week. Except as provided in subsection (b), the minimum work week for each employee working as a building maintenance worker at a covered location for a covered employer must be at least 30 hours unless the employee is taking covered leave.
(b) A covered employer may preserve up to 30% of the total hours scheduled for all building maintenance workers at a covered location for part-time workers with a minimum shift of 4 hours per day and 20 hours per week per covered building maintenance worker.
(c) Complaints. A building maintenance worker who is aggrieved by a violation of this Article may file a complaint with the Director under Section 27-7.
(d) Retaliation prohibited. A person must not:
(1) retaliate against any person for:
(A) lawfully opposing any violation of this Article; or
(B) filing a complaint, testifying, assisting, or participating in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this Article; or
(2) obstruct or prevent enforcement or compliance with this Article. (2019 L.M.C., ch. 25, § 1.)
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