New Law Imposing Civil Penalties for Violations of Maryland’s Equal Pay Law

On October 1, 2019, a new Maryland law goes into effect that will impose civil penalties of up to 10% of awarded damages for repeat violations of Maryland’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Law. 

The Equal Pay Remedies and Enforcement Act, which can be found here, allows a court or the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to award penalties against an employer who has been found to violate the Equal Pay for Equal Work Law two or more times within a three year period.  The penalty is discretionary and would be paid to the State.

The Equal Pay for Equal Work Law, found here, generally prohibits employers from paying lower wages or providing less favorable employment opportunities based on sex or gender identity when the employees perform similar work.  The law does not prohibit variations in pay that are based on certain enumerated reasons (i.e. seniority or merit systems, jobs that require different skills, etc.) or other factors so long as the variations are not based on sex or gender identity.