A Resource for Texas Employers
In March 2010, the President signed the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (“HIRE Act”). The law was part of a $17.6 billion jobs creation package that includes incentives for businesses to hire unemployed workers. This law provides Texas employers with an opportunity to reduce some of their payroll tax obligations for 2010.
The HIRE Act provides…
Last week the EEOC issued two Informal Discussion Letters addressing employment practices or policies that might create liability under a disparate impact theory of discrimination. Since the discussion letters do not constitute official opinions or interpretations of the Commission, the significance of back-to-back letters on the same topic is not the content (the letters do not break any new legal ground or make any surprising pronouncements)…
By Executive Order dated March 25, 2010, Houston Mayor Annise Parker, added sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories under the City’s anti-discrimination, harassment and retaliation policy. The Order prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on gender identity and sexual orientation in all of the City’s employment, contracting and vending activities and in the provision and accessing of…
I wrote about an unusual dispute between the EEOC and a San Antonio law firm where the EEOC sought enforcement of an administrative subpoena seeking law firm records in connection with a charge of discrimination filed by a former employee of the firm. You can read that post here.
Well, like Spring itself that blows in like…
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…
With Congress finalizing a health care reform bill to send to the President, what exactly will the 2,000 page bill mean for Texas employers? As reported today by U.S.A Today, employers should expect, among other things:
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This week the Department of Labor published a poster that must be used by all employers employing employees under H-2A visas. H-2A visa holders are non-immigrant employees employed in temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs. A copy of the required poster (in English) can be accessed here. (Spanish here) This poster is required by federal rules published February…
When investigating a charge of discrimination, the EEOC has the authority to issue administrative subpoenas requiring employers to produce relevant information. This power, however, is rarely used because most employers voluntarily comply with the EEOC’s reasonable requests for information.
In San Antonio, a law firm respondent is testing the EEOC’s powers to require information be produced…
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…
Companies using independent contractors to perform work normally performed by employees beware; state and federal governmental taxing authorities are challenging those classifications in an effort to increase tax revenue on wages that are not properly reported. According to a recent article by the Associated Press, "the Internal Revenue Service and 37 states are cracking down on…
