2 women charged in raid on Laurel massage parlor

The last Anne Arundel County massage parlor to remain in business was raided by police again this week - the second time in a month, according to police reports.

Police charged two women working at S.K. Therapy, in the 3500 block of Laurel-Fort Meade Road, in Laurel, with prostitution, police said yesterday. Detectives from the county police vice unit made an unannounced inspection of the parlor Tuesday night, according to police reports. They also arrested unlicensed massage therapists there earlier this month.

During the past six months, police said the vice unit has investigated six massage parlors in the county. Five of them have since been closed by the state health department, police said.

Salary calculation wins approval of U.S. court

Anne Arundel County's method of calculating salary and overtime pay for its police dispatchers and evidence technicians was legal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled this week.

The workers had argued that the county posted the job's annual salary assuming a 40-hour work week. But because of the job's unusual schedule - six days on and three days off - employees sometimes actually worked fewer hours per week and could not earn the posted annual salary unless they worked overtime.

Between $150,000 and $250,000 in back pay was estimated to be at stake, officials said. After the dispatchers filed suit in 1996, the county and AFSCME local negotiated a new contract based on an hourly rate to eliminate the conflict.