MD state workers rally against “illegal” sick leave policy

Members of the Maryland Professional Employees Council (AFT) rallied last Friday to protest the new sick leave policy at the State Department of Assessment and Taxation (SDAT). On June 7, SDAT “implemented an illegal sick leave policy that required employees to disclose private medical information to justify the use of earned sick leave,” MPEC reported. “We will not stand idle while sick leave, and thus families, are attacked.” MPEC President Jerry Smith said the policy “demonstrates the agency’s fundamental misunderstanding and misapplication of both state and federal law, and demonstrates a belief by the Director’s office that they are entitled to violate employees’ fundamental privacy rights."

NOTE: This post has been updated; MPEC is part of AFT, not AFSCME.

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