A decision today from the Maryland Court of Appeals

In this relatively contentious dispute between a young lawyer associate and his former law firm employer over a small amount of allegedly unpaid wages, a medium amount of treble damages, and a large amount of attorney’s fees, we are called on to consider the intersection between a fairly complex choice of law doctrine and a fairly straightforward portion of Maryland’s Labor and Employment statute. We hold that unpaid wage claims arising from employment entered into in states other than Maryland are not excluded, for that reason alone, from being litigated under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law (“MWPCL”), Labor & Employment, §§ 3-501 et. seq. The choice of law doctrine lex loci contractus is not implicated, in the absence of an express choice of law selection in the contract, when such claims do not involve the validity, enforceability, interpretation, or construction of the employment contract. We suggest further that the MWPCL represents Maryland’s strong public policy. Final resolution of the parties’ dispute must await, however, another day in court.