972                                LAWS OF MARYLAND                       [CH. 698

Commissioner may take an assignment of such wage claim in trust
for the assigning employee and may bring any legal action necessary
to collect such claim, and the employer shall be required to pay the
costs and such reasonable attorney's fees as may be allowed by the
court. The Commissioner, in case of suit, shall have the power to
join various claimants against the same employer in one action.

91.    Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to interfere with, impede,
or in any way diminish the right of employees to bargain collectively
with their employers through representatives of their own choosing
in order to establish wages or other conditions of work in excess of
the applicable minimum under the provisions of this Act.

92.    If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any
person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act
and the application thereof to other persons or circumstances shall
not be affected thereby.

93.    This Act shall be known as the "Minimum Wage Act of the
State of Maryland."

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
June 1, 1965.

Approved May 4, 1965.

CHAPTER 698
(Senate Bill 594)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 122 of
the Code of Public Local Laws of Charles County (1964 Supple-
ment, being Article 9 of the Code of Public Local Laws of Mary-
land), title "Charles County", sub-title "Fire Companies", to in-
crease the annual sums appropriated by the Charles County Com-
missioners to rescue squads in the county, to change the number
of companies receiving payments, to require annual inspections of
rescue squads by the Charles County Volunteer Rescue Squad As-
sociation, reports of inspections, and to withhold and reallocate
funds for failure to meet standards, and relating generally to
rescue squads in Charles County.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 122 of the Code of Public Local Laws of Charles County
(1964 Supplement, being Article 9 of the Code of Public Local Laws
of Maryland), title "Charles County", sub-title "Fire Companies",
be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to
read as follows:

122.

(a) The County Commissioners shall pay the sum of [$2,000]
six thousand dollars ($6,000) THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUN-
DRED DOLLARS ($3,500) annually to each of the following rescue
squads of the County: