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Employment Law

New penalties under Texas wage-theft law? I heard it’s now a criminal offense

04/30/2012
Q. I heard that a new law allows criminal prosecution of employers that commit “wage theft.” Is it true?

Does the FMLA apply to employees who have domestic partners?

04/30/2012

Q. Several of our employees live with domestic partners. Are our employees entitled to FMLA leave to care for a partner?

Port Arthur firm must pay more than $170,000 in OT

04/30/2012
Port Arthur-based Performance Blasting and Coating must pay $170,622 in back overtime pay to 314 current and former painters and sandblasters, following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

Feds cracking down on Dallas hotel pay practices

04/30/2012
The DOL has announced an initiative to investigate employee misclassification in the hospitality industry in Dallas. According to a department statement, previous investigations “have found significant and systemic violations of the minimum wage, overtime pay and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

You must pay for training that isn’t truly voluntary

04/30/2012
Do you require employees to complete after-hours training that will ben­­efit your operations but isn’t directly job-related? If so, you must pay them for their time, unless you can show that participation is truly voluntary.

Operating in Texas and Louisiana? Don’t rely on union contract to handle safety

04/30/2012
Watch out if—like many Texas energy-industry employers—you also operate in Louisiana under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement that covers workplace safety. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals just made life a little harder for you.

Constructive discharge claim requires showing more than hostile work environment

04/30/2012

Employees who quit and sue have a tough case to make if they allege they had no choice but to quit because conditions were so terrible. First, they must demonstrate that poor treatment created a hostile work environment. However, they must also show an additional, aggravating factor …

Beware justifying hiring or promotion with criteria that don’t appear in job description

04/30/2012
Here’s a reminder to pass on to everyone involved in the hiring or promotion process: You’re running a huge risk if you deviate from the job announcement’s minimum and preferred qualifications.

Hear me now? OSHA slams firm for noise hazards–again

04/30/2012
Apparently, Piping Technology & Products (PTP) is a noisy place—so noisy that management failed to hear OSHA the first time it cited the company a year ago. Now it must pay OSHA fines totaling $118,000 after inspectors discovered conditions leading to one willful and nine serious health and safety violations.

Always enforce ‘no unauthorized OT’ policy

04/30/2012
The first step to controlling overtime costs is to establish a sound policy forbidding unauthorized extra work for hourly employees. But a “no unauthorized overtime” policy is just the beginning. You must also enforce the policy for all nonexempt employees, and make sure managers understand why it is important.