A Resource for Texas Employers
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued its second Administrator’s Interpretation. The Administrator Interpretations are issued by the Division in areas where it believes it is useful to clarify the law as it relates to an entire industry, a category of employees, or to all employees.
Administrator’s Interpretation No. 2010-2 discusses the Fair Labor Standards Act’s…
Since at least 1995 Texas law has provided that women has a right to breastfeed in public in any place in which they are legally authorized to be. Last week, the health care reform signed by the President amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to require covered employers to provide reasonable break time for nursing…
As a light dusting of snow falls on much of North and West Texas, I thought it was a good time to review the rules regarding deductions from exempt employee salaries for weather-related absences. Employees qualifying for the white collar exemptions (e.g., professional, administrative and executive exemptions) are generally entitled to receive their entire salary for any…
There has been a significant amount of litigation against employers over the compensability of work time for putting on and taking off safety-related clothing and equipment prior to the start of a shift but necessary for the work to be performed. For example, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation recently agreed to pay $1 million in back wages to settle a…
Recently I wrote about the risks posed by misclassifying employees as independent contractors. In an unpublished opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the federal appellate court that hears appeals from Texas) reversed a summary judgment awarded in favor of a company that had classified two cable splicers who performed post-Katrina telecommunications…
Employers have long been challenged by a variety of wage and hour litigation such as misclassification cases and off-the-clock overtime cases. One of the latest trends in wage and hour litigation is attacking a company’s classification of its workers as independent contractors instead of employees. Because independent contractors are not entitled to certain aspects of benefits provided…
Employees frequently stay connected with work through company issued smart phones. Smart phones, like the iPhone, Blackberry, and Treo, allow employees to have access to their work e-mails, calenders and contacts –in addition to making and receiving calls. In my practice, a smart phone is incredibly useful in staying in touch with my client’s needs when I’m in…
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…
