On October 1, 2007, amendments to the Maryland anti-discrimination statute (Article 49B) went into effect. The Maryland Commission on Human Relations has a new FAQ on the law here. For employment purposes, protected classifications under the law include race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability and genetic information. The law opens a new era in Maryland as employment discrimination plaintiffs will now have a cause of action in state court.
The most significant amendments to the law allow employees to bring lawsuits under the statute in state court after 180 days have elapsed since the filing of a charge of discrimination. Claimants may seek compensatory and punitive damages in addition to back pay. The law contains damage caps similar to those under federal law (Title VII) but does allow to uncapped back pay awards. Again, similar to Title VII, the law covers employers with over fifteen employees.
Maryland employers should make sure that their policies are up to date on the applicable protected classifications under both state and local law. The changes to the law also make 2008 a good time to conduct refresher training for managers on the discrimination laws and your company’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies. (If you don’t have one in place, start on one now!)
When and how was genetic information added to the protected classes?
It appears that the genetic information language was added sometime in 2001. The 2007 amendments, however, provide a private cause of action for employees for violations of the statute. (Effective October 1, 2009, the statute was renumbered as State Government § 20-606 – prior statute was Art. 49B § 16 – with no substantive changes).
The statue makes it unlawful for employers to:
“fail or refuse to hire, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to the individual’s compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of: (i) the individual’s race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, genetic information, or disability unrelated in nature and extent so as to reasonably preclude the performance of the employment; or (ii) the individual’s refusal to submit to a genetic test or make available the results of a genetic test.”
The statute also makes it unlawful for employers to “limit, segregate, or classify its employees or applicants for employment in any way that would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect the individual’s status as an employee” on the basis of the above characteristics.
Genetic information is defined as information “about chromosomes, genes, gene products, or inherited characteristics that may derive from an individual or a family member; obtained for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes; and obtained at a time when the individual to whom the information relates is asymptomatic for the disease” but does not include “routine physical measurements; chemical, blood, and urine analyses that are widely accepted and in use in clinical practice; tests for use of drugs; or tests for the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus.”
Genetic test is defined as “a laboratory test of human chromosomes, genes, or gene products that is used to identify the presence or absence of inherited or congenital alterations in genetic material that are associated with disease or illness.”