Employers

Before sunrise Monday, Kevin and Shelley Taylor set out from their Millersville home to a new employment center for the Maryland Live! Casino, a slots parlor next to the Arundel Mills mall seeking workers for 1,500 jobs. Having tracked the progress of what will be the state's largest casino, the Taylors believe the facility could provide opportunity for their five-member family. Though Kevin Taylor has a job, he wants a better-paying one. And Shelley Taylor has been out of work for several months.

A 61-year-old white woman, who says she was wrongfully fired from the Baltimore prosecutors' office after 25 years on the job, has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit alleging age, race and gender discrimination in the 2010 termination. Antoinette E. Swiec, of Baltimore, is seeking $400,000 in compensation from the Baltimore state's attorney's office on each of two counts, claiming she was fired because the predominantly young, African American division she worked for wanted her out. The lawsuit was filed in  U.S. District Court Monday, and was to be served on Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein, though the firing occurred under his predecessor, Patricia C. Jessamy.

Young workers will have to scramble to land jobs — even unpaid ones — this summer, but the employment outlook for them is brighter than it was last year. "The economy generally is picking up," says Robert Trumble, a management professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. "If unemployment keeps inching down … it increases opportunities for teens in the summer. " Last summer was the worst for young job seekers since 1948, when the government began tracking the numbers.

A series of emails between Gov. Martin O'Malley  and Purdue Industry's top lawyer have drawn criticism from an environmental group for showing undue "coziness" between the two. O'Malley's office denies that conclusion -- but the exchanges do provide political-types a peek into how the state's governor manages key relationships (and some insight as to what exactly he's doing with his Blackberry all the time.) The emails , obtained by public interest organization Food and Water Watch, cover three main topics: O'Malley's attempts to bring Perdue on board with a legislative priority; the governor smoothing ruffled feelings from the poultry giant after a news story the company didn't like; and requests by the lawyer the company for help securing federal funds for a project he supports.

Jeremy Schwarz's op-ed piece contrasting unemployment insurance and welfare makes several points that don't bear up under scrutiny ("Unemployment benefits are not like welfare," Dec. 21). He's correct that people pay insurance to protect themselves in case of an adverse event; however, workers do not pay for unemployment insurance. Unlike Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, to which both employers and employees contribute, unemployment insurance is paid entirely by the employer.

Using returning troops to patrol our borders, as a recent letter writer suggested ("Put Iraq veterans to work on the U.S.-Mexico border," Oct. 26), may seem like a good idea, but if they would only be able to patrol part of it, what good would it do? The best way to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the border get a job would be to stop hiring them. If there's no job, there's no reason to come here. Create a bigger penalty for the employers who hire them. John Cramblitt, Parkville

Businesses often complain of being overwhelmed by government regulations. But when your practice is not to hire someone because they've been unemployed, well, you deserve regulation. According to the National Employment Law Project, Sen. Blumenthal of Connecticut introduced legislation this week to ban employers from only hiring those that currently have jobs. “A snapshot sampling of recent online job postings disclosed a large number of ads explicitly limited to those who are 'currently employed',” said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project.  “This perverse catch-22 requires a worker to have a job in order to get a job, and it means highly qualified, experienced workers who want and need work can't get past the starting gate in the application process simply because they lost their jobs through no fault of their own. As a business practice, this makes no sense, and as a way to rebuild the economy, it only debilitates workers, particularly the long-term unemployed.” A similar bill has been introduced in the House that prohibits employers with 15 or more workers from discriminating against workers based on their unemployment history.

Think twice before sneaking time at work to shop online on Black Friday, Cyber Monday or other times during the holiday. As many as 60 percent of employers say they will be block workers' access to online shopping sites this season, according to a survey of more than 1,400 companies by Robert Half Technology. That's up from 48 percent of companies with 100 or more employees that did so last year. The new survey also found that 23 percent of companies this year “will allow access but monitor for excessive use.” Thirty-four percent monitored shopping last year.

In his letter to The Sun ("Readers respond," March 26), Donald Frost laments giving illegal immigrants the right to pay in-state tuition to state colleges and universities. What he and so many others seem to forget is that these immigrants are being employed by our fellow American citizens, who, by and large are allowed to continue this practice with impunity. Surely, these illegal employers — who ignore checking the status of those they hire — are well known to the authorities, but, with a wink and a nod, get overlooked or given a slap on the wrist.

Last week at the Howard County Fair, I spoke with Comptroller Peter Franchot about the upcoming Special Session. We discussed Governor O'Malley's comments that he is open to increasing taxes during the Special Session in October. I was pleased to hear that the comptroller agreed with me that during such difficult economic times, the last thing that the state of Maryland should be doing is raising taxes. With Maryland being 50th in the nation in private sector job creation, we need to take steps to encourage job growth not discourage it. Instead of raising taxes, Maryland needs to enact legislation and implement regulations that will demonstrate to employers that they are welcome in Maryland.

Two Maryland employers have warned state labor officials of layoffs that could affect nearly 400 workers. Saks Fifth Avenue said it would terminate a third of its workforce, or 223 employees, at its Aberdeen distribution and order fulfillment center starting in late May, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said Tuesday. Julia Bentley, a Saks spokeswoman, said the retailer was opening a new fulfillment center for saks.com in Tennessee and was phasing out such jobs in Aberdeen.

The White House, Department of Labor and others have announced an update on a program to get companies, cities and federal agencies to commit to youths for the summer. Employers have agreed to hire tens of thousands of young people. To find internships and job postings near you, visit the Summer Jobs+Bank . Among the companies hiring in the Baltimore area: BGE, AOL, DAP, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, The Business of Life, Ripken Baseball, Northrop Grumman, Johns Hopkins Health System Corp., and the American Red Cross.

I take exception to the illogic displayed in columnist Marta H. Mossburg's recent commentary ("Biology really is destiny," April 25). She clearly understands nothing about women who oppose restrictions on contraceptives. Some of us think a prescription drug package on our health insurance should cover this prescription drug even if our employer thinks it shouldn't. And since when is a prescription drug plan "free?" Since when did employers belong between patients and their doctors?

In more than 30 states, if a corporate chieftain were to ask top executives to contribute to a politician, an inquisitive voter could easily learn that the firm was bankrolling the candidate. But not in Maryland. Campaigns are not required to disclose the occupation and employer of large contributors. That will change as of June 1 if Gov. Martin O'Malley signs legislation approved by the General Assembly that would require campaigns to gather such information from donors who give $500 or more to a single candidate during a four-year election cycle.

Maryland employers added 1,500 jobs in March — thanks entirely to growth in the private sector — but the state's unemployment rate inched up as the pool of would-be workers expanded more rapidly. The jobless rate was 6.6 percent in March, up from 6.5 percent in February, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated Friday. That's because the labor force, the number of adults working or looking for work, grew by 4,200 people in March, according to the agency. An improving economic situation typically brings out more job seekers, as people who had been discouraged by earlier difficulties get back in the hunt.

Moving to the forefront of social media privacy law nationwide, the Maryland General Assembly has passed legislation prohibiting employers in the state from asking current and prospective employees for their user names and passwords to websites such as Facebook and Twitter. If Gov. Martin O'Malley signs the bill — his office said it was one of hundreds of bills it has yet to review — the bill would make Maryland the first state in the nation to set such a restriction into law. Other states are considering similar legislation, including Illinois and California.

Two Maryland employers have warned state labor officials of layoffs that could affect nearly 400 workers. Saks Fifth Avenue said it would terminate a third of its workforce, or 223 employees, at its Aberdeen distribution and order fulfillment center starting in late May, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said Tuesday. Julia Bentley, a Saks spokeswoman, said the retailer was opening a new fulfillment center for saks.com in Tennessee and was phasing out such jobs in Aberdeen.

While nearly 14 million unemployed Americans are searching for work, some employers are limiting their hiring to preferred candidates: People who already have jobs. Recruiters and worker advocates say companies are screening out applicants who don't have a job or who haven't worked for many months. The unfairness — at a time when nearly 45 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for more than six months — isn't lost on the jobless. "How ridiculous is that?

It certainly is a hardship for American employers to provide health insurance to their employees. But what Columnist Robert Ehrlich ("A death-knell for employer-funded insurance," April 1) seems not to realize is that the cost of insurance makes American products far less competitive on the world market because most employers in technologically advanced countries do not have to bear this burden. Health care is provided by governments, not by employers. If there were a single-payer health care system in the United States, American producers would be able to sell many more of their products.

The Supreme Court directed a harsh spotlight on Obamacare this past week, but the problems with the law go far beyond the constitutionality of the "individual mandate. " One of the great unknowns generated by the passage of Obamacare goes directly to the heart of health care choice: the notion that increased employer costs and regulatory burdens would cause employers to simply pay fines (and send their newly insurance-deprived employees to state-run exchanges) rather than continue employer-subsidized insurance.