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Employment Law

Must we compensate for travel time?

01/05/2009

Q. I have an employee who has a substantial daily commute—75 miles each way. Do I have to compensate the employee for time spent traveling to and from work?

Do year-end bonuses affect pay status?

01/05/2009

Q. What effect do end-of-year bonus payments have on a nonexempt recipient’s hourly rate of pay?

What are the child labor rules?

01/05/2009

Q. I own a pizza shop. Is it legal for me to hire a 15-year-old to work in the store?

Absent genuine doubt, grant FMLA care request

01/05/2009

Here’s a risk you’ll run into if you refuse to let an employee take time off to care for a child she says has a serious health condition that requires her care: If you guess wrong and the case goes to trial, it’s up to the jury to decide whether the child’s condition rose to the serious level.

5th Circuit passes on NLRB cases from elsewhere

01/05/2009

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, whose decisions cover Texas employers, tends toward conservative rulings. It recently rejected a case that could have opened up the litigation floodgates for companies that have pending unfair labor practice charges.

DOL cracks down on OT cases: Houston firm an early target

01/05/2009

JVA Insulation Inc. of Houston has agreed to pay $203,640 in back wages to 53 insulation installers who claimed the company had failed to pay them overtime. The DOL found that the company violated the FLSA by paying its employees on a piece-rate basis for all hours worked …

Insist whistle-blowers use internal process before suing or calling authorities

01/05/2009

It may not be particularly comfortable for government employees to bring alleged wrongdoing to their supervisor’s attention, but whistle-blowers have to muster the courage to do just that. The Texas Whistleblower Act says so.

Federal employees must act fast to file claims of alleged discrimination

01/05/2009

Federal employees have to file discrimination claims as soon as they suspect they have been subjected to some form of discrimination. They can’t wait until they have figured out who, what, when, where and why they didn’t get a job or promotion.

Without ‘ultimate employment action,’ it’s hard to make discrimination claims stick

01/05/2009

Employees who think they are victims of some form of discrimination must show they were treated differently in some important way because of their race or other protected characteristic. But minor annoyances—such as heavier workloads—are not usually considered discrimination.

Hang tough when there’s absolutely no discrimination

01/05/2009

Sometimes, you have to trust that your lawyer and the courts will do the right thing and toss out a clearly frivolous case. As long as you are sure that you have solid reasons for firing an employee who wasn’t doing her job—and that you didn’t treat her any differently than any other employee with the same track record—fire her.