Experienced Glen Burnie Employment Attorney Serving Maryland Employers and Employees
When it comes to developing a compliance program, protecting your company, or enforcing your rights under federal or Maryland labor and employment laws, experience matters. Glen Burnie employment lawyer Joyce E. Smithey brings well over a decade of experience to representing Glen Burnie, MD employers and employees in compliance matters and dispute resolution.
Joyce E. Smithey is an experienced Glen Burnie employment and labor law attorney who represents employers and employees. For more than 18 years, she has devoted her practice to helping employers avoid issues while vigorously representing both sides to employment-related disputes in administrative hearings, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and litigation. As a result of her extensive experience and her clear devotion to protecting her clients’ interests, Ms. Smithey has been named both a Maryland Super Lawyer and one of Maryland’s Top 50 Women Attorneys.
In addition to her practice experience, our Glen Burnie employment attorney also regularly writes and speaks on topics affecting Maryland employers and employees. This includes authoring and contributing to key authorities on Maryland employment law, as well as lecturing at law schools and organizations ranging from bar associations to the Maryland Association of CPAs.
More About Glen Burnie Employment Lawyer Joyce E. Smithey
A graduate of Severna Park High School, Pepperdine University, and Boston University School of Law, Joyce Smithey made her way back to Maryland more than ten years ago after beginning her legal career in New Hampshire. She joined the law firm of Smithey Law Group LLC in 2007, and today she leads the firm’s labor and employment practice group while representing individual and corporate clients in Glen Burnie and throughout Maryland.
By focusing her practice in employment law and representing both employers and employees, our Glen Burnie labor lawyer has been able to develop a unique, deeply insightful, and strategic approach for her clients in a wide range of employment-related legal matters.
Insightful, Experienced Representation for Employers and Employees in Glen Burnie, MD
Ms. Smithey’s experience includes counseling employers on compliance and claim prevention, as well as representing both employers and employees in disputes involving a wide range of employment-related issues. Our Glen Burnie labor attorney regularly handles matters in the following areas:
- Discrimination and Harassment – Including sexual harassment and discrimination based upon age, disability, family responsibilities, genetic status, marital status, national origin, political opinion, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. An experienced Glen Burnie employment attorney can make a big difference in how your case is handled.
- Employment Contract Matters – Including severance negotiations, enforcement of restrictive covenants, and other employment contract-related disputes.
- Equal Pay Act Violations – Claims involving unlawful wage disparity based upon gender.
- Medical Leave Issues – Claims involving unlawful medical leave practices, including violations of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
- Retaliation and Reprisal – Including termination and other forms of discriminatory treatment based upon an employee’s report of improper activity (whistleblowing) or other protected activity.
- Wage and Hour Issues – Including discrimination claims based on age and immigration status, and other violations of the Maryland Wage and Hour Law or the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
- Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act Violations – Claims against covered employers involving insufficient notice of plant closings and large-scale layoffs.
- Workplace Privacy – Including matters relating to access to employee email accounts and other technology-related privacy issues.
- Wrongful Discharge – Including wrongful termination claims based upon discrimination, retaliation, breach of contract, and other improper grounds for dismissal.
Wrongful Discharge
As you may already know, Maryland is an “at-will” work state. This means that the employee-employer relationship can be terminated at any time, for any reason, by either the employer or the employee. In other words, in an at-will work state, a worker can be fired for any reason or no reason at all. But if this is true, how can an employee sue an employer for wrongful termination?
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The reason isn’t as mysterious as you may think. Yes, your employer can fire you for any reason or no reason at all – but the reason must be a legal one. Illegal reasons for ending someone’s employment come mostly from violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and include, but are not limited to:
- Race, Color
- Ethnicity
- Age
- Sex
- Gender
- Sexual Orientation
- Marital Status
- Pregnancy
- Disability
Employment Contracts
Other illegal reasons for being fired that are not related to the Civil Rights Act include termination in violation of an employment contract or in violation of public policy. If you have an employment contract, you likely are not an “at-will” employee at all. If you have such a contract, you likely have more job security than at-will employees and cannot be fired for any reason that contradicts the terms of your contract.
Public Policy
Any termination that contravenes public policy is likely illegal. Whistleblowers are a good example. The public policy protects people who report the illegal activities of their employer by forbidding the employer from retaliating
See more of Ms. Smithey’s areas of practice.
On the employer side, Ms. Smithey represents local, regional, national, and international businesses that have a presence in Glen Burnie and in other locations throughout Maryland. With respect to representing employees, our dedicated Glen Burnie employment lawyer works with individuals at all levels of seniority and across a wide range of occupations and professions.
No question is too simple, and no matter is too complex. If you are looking for experienced legal representation for any employment-related legal matter in Glen Burnie, MD, schedule an initial consultation with Glen Burnie employment attorney Joyce Smithey today.
Schedule an Initial Consultation with Glen Burnie Employment Lawyer Joyce E. Smithey
Joyce E. Smithey is an experienced employment law attorney and a partner at the Maryland law firm of Smithey Law Group LLC. She provides experienced legal representation for employers and employees in Glen Burnie, Maryland, and statewide. If you would like to discuss your legal needs with an experienced Glen Burnie employment attorney in a confidential, one-on-one environment, please feel free to arrange an initial consultation. To get started, call (410) 919-2990 or submit a request for a confidential consultation online now.