On March 20, 2009 I posted an entry about several leave of absence bills pending in the Texas Legislature. Today I want to highlight a few other bills that will effect Texas employers if passed.
Most wage and hour lawsuits in Texas focus on an employer’s alleged misclassification of an employee as exempt from overtime. However, a recent jury verdict from a federal court in Houston teaches that even in a highly unregulated wage and hour state like Texas, there are other wage and hour provisions employers must comply with and that can lead
Following a GAO report that concluded that the Department of Labor inadequately investigated complaints from low-wage and minimum wage workers who claimed that their employers failed to pay the federal minimum wage, required overtime, and failed to pay employees their last paycheck the DOL has reacted.
This week, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced that the
It seems likely that there will be some manner of labor organization reform to the almost seventy-five (75) year old National Labor Relations Act. Three bills pending before Congress offer differing levels of reform.
Pro-Labor: Employee Free Choice Act of 2009 (H.R. 1409) Would require the National Labor Relations Board certify a union (without
The EEOC recently released the latest statistics detailing the number of charges of discrimination filed in 2008. Last year marked the largest number of charges filed in a single year totaling 95,402 charges of discrimination. While every category of charges increased (and the total increased 15.2 percent over 2007), charges of age discrimination and retaliation increased
There are several pending bills in the Texas legislature that could effect the leaves of absence private employers must make available to their employees. Some of these types of leaves have already been passed in more liberal states such as California and Massachusetts. Pending leave of absence bills in the Texas legislature include:
On March 19, 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor issued four new model COBRA notices for use under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). ARRA authorized a 65 percent government subsidy for continuing COBRA health care coverage for employees laid off between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010. Additionally, the Department issued answers to 25 frequently
Weingarten rights are the rights a union member has to, upon request, have a union representative present during an employer’s investigatory interview that may lead to disciplinary action. For nearly thirty years Weingarten rights only applied to employees who worked at employers that had been organized by unions.
In July 2004 a primarily Democratically appointed National
Since at least 2004 Texas law has permitted Texas employers to enter into predispute agreements with their employees to waive a right to a jury trial. The predispute waiver of the right to jury trial can be a desirable option for employers that would prefer to avoid the potential jury trial of a civil rights
Furloughs: An Alternative to Layoffs.
During challenging economic times employers utilize various ways to reduce payroll expenses. These include layoffs, pay freezes or pay cuts, hiring freezes and reduced workweeks. However, in this latest economic crisis, employers are using employee furloughs with increasing frequency.
What is a furlough?
A furlough is a temporary, unpaid period of time away