The Academy Course – Employment Issues provided valuable insight into preferred employment practices and the legal restrictions associated with hiring, termination, promotion, and employee discipline.
Emphasis was placed on risk management strategies, including recruitment practices, employee supervision, and effective documentation. Mr. Karpinski highlighted the importance of consistency in employment actions, noting supervisors must consider whether their decisions are equitable and uniformly applied across all employees.
Speaker: Kevin Karpinski, Partner, Karpinski, Cornbrooks & Karp, PA
Moderator: The Honorable Kenneth Kiler, Commissioner, Carroll County
Hiring Practices and Job Advertising
Karpinski provided an overview of lawful hiring practices, including requirements for job postings and employment applications. Under the Maryland Wage and Transparency Act, employers are required to include wage ranges, a detailed position description, and a description of benefits in job postings. He also noted that employment applications should not request information related to race, age, marital status, arrests or convictions, disability, or physical characteristics, as such inquiries may give rise to discrimination claims.
Performance Evaluation and Documentation
Karpinski noted that accurate performance evaluations are essential to provide a fair and honest representation of an employee’s job performance. Supervisors undermine their managerial responsibilities when they fail to document employee performance issues or counseling efforts. Consistent documentation is critical in supporting employment decisions and mitigating legal risk. Supervisors are therefore responsible for maintaining thorough records related to employee performance and corrective actions.
Americans with Disabilities Act As Amended Considerations
As discussed, the Americans with Disabilities Act as Amended of 2008 (ADAAA) significantly broadened the definition of disability, increasing employer obligations related to reasonable accommodations. Common errors that result in legal claims include incorrectly identifying essential job functions, broadly defining undue hardship, failing to document rationale for denial of accommodation requests, improperly considering employee performance when evaluating accommodations, and failing to account for the interaction between the ADAAA and other employment laws.
Sexual Harassment and Hostile Work Environment
Karpinski offered that to establish a claim, an employee must demonstrate that the harassment was based on gender, the conduct unwelcome, and that it was sufficiently severe or pervasive to create a hostile work environment. To determine whether harassment is pervasive involves evaluating the frequency and severity of the conduct, whether behavior was physically threatening or humiliating, and whether it unreasonably interfered with the employee’s work performance.
Our speaker Kevin Karpinski, Partner at Karpinski, Cornbrooks and Karp is diving into all things employment! Here he shares the details of what to include in a job application form: pic.twitter.com/j5XkWXiEGC
— Maryland Association of Counties (@MDCounties) December 12, 2025
Overall, the Employment Issues Academy Course reinforced the critical importance of fairness, consistency, and legal compliance in employment decision-making. Collectively, the presentation underscored the responsibility of supervisors to apply policies uniformly, maintain thorough documentation, and remain informed of legal obligations to promote equitable treatment and reduce organizational liability.
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