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Texas

Clear violation of your rules? Courts won’t second-guess disciplinary decision

03/28/2025

You have workplace rules for a reason, and you can require employees to follow them. If someone breaks your rules or violates your policies, feel free to discipline them. As long as you enforce your rules evenhandedly and impose discipline consistently, courts are unlikely to second-guess your decision to punish employees.

Court says DOL can use salary level to determine exempt classification

03/03/2025

The Biden administration’s bid last year to raise the white-collar overtime salary threshold from $35,568 per year to $58,656 is dead, the victim of a series of court rulings that said the Department of Labor overstepped its authority by mandating such a big jump. However, one aspect of the OT threshold process stands.

Expect to pay for ignoring persistent sexual harassment

12/23/2024

Ignoring an employee’s complaints that she was subject to ongoing sexual harassment just cost an employer more than $2 million. The EEOC sued on the employee’s behalf and won the largest damages award it has ever obtained in the Northern District of Texas, among the most conservative federal courts in the nation.

Happy holidays! 8 essential rules for seasonal pay and hiring

11/08/2024

Questions regarding overtime, holiday pay and seasonal hiring often arise this time of year. Here are the eight simple rules you need to know to make this holiday season run smoothly.

Judge enjoins NLRB in-house trial over constitutional challenge

10/10/2024

The Supreme Court ruled that agency trials conducted by administrative law judges appointed by the agency violated the constitutional right to trial by jury. Since then, some employers have questioned the process that agencies like the NLRB use when charging employers with violating laws including the NLRA.

Federal appeals court affirms: Overtime salary test is valid

09/20/2024

Ruling in Mayfield v. DOL, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge by a Texas restaurateur who argued that nothing in the Fair Labor Standards Act gave the DOL the authority to base overtime pay on anything except the kind of work employees perform.

DOL’s 80/20 tip-credit rule overturned

08/30/2024

A federal appeals court on Aug. 23 struck down a Department of Labor rule governing how tipped workers must be paid for performing work for which they cannot receive tips.

Court order signals FTC’s noncompete ban may be struck down

07/08/2024

A federal judge in Texas on July 3 issued a preliminary injunction that partially prohibits the Federal Trade Commission from enforcing a rule that bans employers from using noncompete agreements. The court’s ruling likely means the rule will be overturned before it takes effect in September.

Despite federal court’s narrow restriction, start complying with new OT rule

07/01/2024

Ruling on the first of two lawsuits seeking injunctions to block the rule, Judge Sean D. Jordan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas decreed June 28 that Texas state government agencies do not have to comply with the overtime rule. All other employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act do.

He said, they said: No records puts employer in a messy place

06/20/2024

Lawsuits for unpaid overtime aren’t always so cut-and-dried. They can come in layers, with each layer costing you more. The 5th Circuit ruled that an employer could be liable for unpaid overtime if it misclassified workers as independent contractors, even though the workers had scant evidence of their unpaid overtime.