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Texas

Election results may foreshadow change for Texas employers

12/01/2006

The new Texas House of Representatives will hold five more Democrats than it did the last session, although the Republicans remain in clear control. That means any legislation that seems anti-business—including bills affecting employers—will continue to face tough sledding in the Texas legislature …

North Central Texas Workforce Board earns large training grant

12/01/2006

The U.S. Labor Department recently awarded a $1.5 million job-training grant to the North Central Texas Workforce Board …

The new pension reform law: What it means to you

12/01/2006

In August, President Bush signed the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which includes many benefits-related amendments to the Internal Revenue Code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) …

How to pay hourly workers for weekend travel time

12/01/2006

Q. How do you pay hourly employees who are traveling on a day that’s not considered a workday, like Saturday or Sunday? What if they normally have a 10-minute commute to the office but instead they have to go to the airport, and the airport is an hour from their home?

Should we require harassment claims be in writing?

12/01/2006

Q. Our new plant manager wants me to revise our sexual harassment policy to require that complaints be in writing. He says this will formalize the procedure and help ensure that only valid complaints are filed. I don’t think this is a good idea. Is it?

Docking employee’s pay for missing laptop

12/01/2006

Q. An employee who recently quit hasn’t returned a company-owned laptop computer worth over $1,000. Can we withhold the value of the computer from the employee’s last paycheck?

Injured worker can collect workers’ comp and sue

12/01/2006

Q. One of our employees badly hurt himself when he tripped over some equipment that had been left by the building maintenance. Workers’ comp covered his medical bills and lost wages, but he also sued the building for negligence. Now we have a letter from the office building demanding that we defend them in the lawsuit and telling us we are responsible. How can that be? I thought we were protected by workers’ comp from any suit involving an employee injury?

Texas Supreme Court eases limits on noncompete pacts

11/01/2006

If you’ve shied away from using noncompete clauses with employees in the past due to the unpredictability of their legality in Texas, it’s time to rethink that strategy. Reason: The Texas Supreme Court last month reversed its 12-year-old precedent on compete contracts for at-will employees, and the news is good for Texas employers …

Workers must suffer ‘Adverse action’ to win bias case

11/01/2006

Federal law says you must grant employees "reasonable accommodations" for their religious beliefs and practices. But that doesn’t mean that any employees who are told they must work on their Sabbath have an automatic lawsuit …

Isolated comments on accent not enough to prove bias

11/01/2006

No doubt, your managers and supervisors know not to ridicule someone’s accent or way of speaking. But what if an employee’s communication skills suffer on account of his other accent? Are you prohibited from mentioning that accent and recommending remedial help to better communications?