What Maryland law adds on top of federal law for nurses and EMS, and who to call.
Every rule here was read on the statute, regulation or agency page it cites. Checked November 10, 2026.
General information, not legal advice. Laws change and your facts decide how they apply. Before you act, confirm with the agency listed here or with an employment lawyer or your union representative.
Who to call in Maryland
Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry (Employment Standards)Unpaid wages and state labor complaints. Start a complaint
U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour DivisionUnpaid wages and overtime, PUMP Act, FMLA. Contact · 1-866-487-9243
OSHAPrivate-employer safety complaints, and retaliation for raising safety (30 days under the OSH Act). Public employees: see Unions and public employers. Contact
A Maryland employer can't require an RN or LPN to work past the regularly scheduled hours on the predetermined schedule. Mandatory overtime is allowed only when every condition in the law is met at once, including a nonrecurring emergency the employer couldn't reasonably anticipate and exhausted efforts to get volunteers. Once you've reported the patient's status and handed care off to another appropriate nurse, you aren't responsible for that patient past your scheduled hours.
Who it covers: Licensed RNs and LPNs in Maryland.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
All of these together: an unanticipated, nonrecurring emergency not caused by poor employer planning; all good-faith attempts to get volunteers exhausted; you have critical skills the work needs; the patient's care requires continuity through a case, treatment or procedure; and the employer told you why.
Jobs where on-call rotation is a condition of employment.
Nurses working in community-based care.
Doesn't cover a nurse employed in an administrative, executive or professional capacity as the Commissioner of Labor and Industry defines it by regulation; check whether your employer treats you as exempt. (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-403(1))
"an employer may not require a nurse to work more than the regularly scheduled hours according to the predetermined work schedule."
Quit or fired, you are owed all wages for work done before you left by the day you would have been paid if you were still employed.
Who it covers: Employees of Maryland employers.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
Accrued leave doesn't have to be paid out if the employer has a written policy limiting it, told you about its leave benefits when you were hired, and the policy doesn't entitle you to it. (Md. Code, Lab. & Empl. § 3-505(b))
"each employer shall pay an employee or the authorized representative of an employee all wages due for work that the employee performed before the termination of employment, on or before the day on which the employee would have been paid the wages if the employment had not been terminated."
For Maryland we have not yet confirmed state rules on staffing ratios, plans and committees, meal and rest breaks. That does not mean Maryland has no rule on them: we leave a topic off until we have read it at the source, and only federal rules are shown for it here.