Montgomery County: Council Adopts Minimum Work Week Bill

After almost four  years and consideration of a similar measure introduced in Nov. 2015, the full Council adopted legislation, Bill 12-19 - Human Rights and Civil Liberties - Building Maintenance Worker - Minimum Work Week,  to mandate a minimum work week for certain commercial office buildings. Notably, the Council adopted a version of the bill amended by the HHS committee.  Highlights of the bill are summarized below.

• Definition of building maintenance workers: The bill as adopted defines “building maintenance workers” to mean employees who provide janitorial services. 
• Allowance for part-time workers: 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 building maintenance worker.
• “Covered location:” The new law will apply to 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, and with an occupancy rate of 50% or more.
• Language clarifying bill’s application to covered office buildings: The bill provides that a covered location (those subject to the bill’s requirements) does not include: … a building used primarily for apartments, condominiums, retail stores, hospitals, schools, warehouses, parking garages, or data centers.
• Delayed effective date: The law is effective on Jan. 1, 2021.