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Texas

In pay discrimination cases, job duties—not titles—are what count for comparison

02/02/2009

Employees may assume that, just because they hold the same job title as another employee, they should receive the same pay. But the label an employer assigns to a job isn’t nearly as important as the job duties performed by the person holding the job.

Class actions aren’t just for large groups anymore

02/02/2009

When we think of class-action lawsuits, we usually think big. Such lawsuits can involve thousands of employees and millions of dollars. But they can also involve just a handful of employees, as a federal judge just ruled.

Court: Government executives considered at-will employees

02/02/2009

Some government employees have a “protected property” interest in their jobs. Others are at-will employees. Those with high-level jobs are typically at-will employees.

Inside job: Did Houston firm swipe trade secrets?

02/02/2009

Multinational materials processing company Saint-Gobain is suing a Houston competitor, Centronic LLC, and two former Saint-Gobain employees, alleging they illegally brought proprietary information with them when they went to work for Centronic.

Anti-virus software maker must ward off wage & hour suit

02/02/2009

Add another big company to the list of those accused of shorting employees for overtime pay. A sales representative who worked for anti-virus software publisher McAfee recently filed suit claiming it violated the FLSA by failing to pay him overtime.

Former Victoria’s Secret employee claims pregnancy bias

02/02/2009

A Beaumont-area Victoria’s Secret employee recently filed suit in Jefferson County District Court alleging she was discriminated against because of her pregnancy. Krystal Burns brought her suit under Title VII, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Texas Labor Code.

Texas town settles retaliation lawsuit with firefighter

02/02/2009

The city of Grand Prairie recently agreed to settle for $150,000 in a retaliation suit brought by a firefighter who says top brass objected when he tried to protect a co-worker from harassment.

What’s the best way to legally limit the length of leaves of absences?

02/02/2009

Q. How do we handle an employee who is on an indefinite leave of absence and does not know when he will be able to return to work?

What should we do? Employee wants a transfer as a reasonable accommodation

02/02/2009

Q. One of our employees recently developed a condition that makes it difficult for her to perform the essential functions of her job. She has asked to be transferred to a job she can perform. Are we obligated to do this?

Employers cut ’09 salary budgets; raises fall below 3%

02/01/2009

Remember those surveys last summer forecasting steady 3.6% salary increases for 2009? Forget about it. U.S. workers, on average, are now projected to receive annual merit increases of between 2.3% and 3.0% …