Maryland's New Remedy for Wage Theft

Abstract

Maryland employers and employees should know that a 2013 Maryland statute gives employees a new self-­help remedy for wage theft. The Maryland Wage Lien Law (“WLL”) allows employees to place a lien on their employers’ property when they have not been compensated for work they have performed. Any cheated employee can use it, from a doctor pursuing her medical practice to collect $104,000 in unpaid salary, to a short order cook seeking $104 in overtime pay from a restaurant. The process starts with an employee serving a Notice on the employer rather than file a full-­fledged complaint, and ends by investing cheated employees with the powers of UCC Article 9 secured creditors. This article describes the steps employees take to create and enforce the lien, and statutory provisions that provide employers with due process.

Keywords: wage theft, self-help remedy, wage lien, Maryland law