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Texas

Guard against retaliation any time employee makes internal complaint about pay

01/31/2018

When a worker complains about being underpaid, that may be protected activity and punishing the worker for complaining may be retaliation. Advice: Take all compensation complaints seriously. Make sure supervisors don’t retaliate.

Make arbitration agreements separate documents, not part of your handbook

01/31/2018
If, like many employers, you have neglected updating your employee handbook, now is a good time to do so. That’s particularly true for Texas employers that use arbitration agreements to keep employment law disputes out of court.

Ensure harassment reporting policy is clear

01/31/2018

If you require employees to report alleged harassment, you have some legal protection if you take prompt action to stop the misconduct. However, if the reporting process is confusing, contradictory or otherwise ineffective, it may not benefit you at all.

Beware discipline after employee talks to EEOC

01/10/2018

It’s unlawful to punish employees for cooperating with the EEOC. If anyone who has been in contact with the EEOC is suddenly fired, reassigned or otherwise subjected to some negative action, you’re courting a retaliation lawsuit.

Austin sued by employee spurned after fire merger

01/03/2018

The former president of the union that represented employees of Travis County Emergency Services District 4 is suing the city of Austin and its fire chief over Austin’s refusal to hire him following the merger of ESD4 and the Austin Fire Department.

Acting fast to stop harassment brings quick end to lawsuit

01/03/2018

Employers that take prompt action after learning about sexual harassment generally won’t be held liable, as long as the harassment actually stops.

Training may be nonexempt even for exempt staff

01/03/2018

Do you offer an extended training period for newly hired workers who will be performing high-skill, exempt administrative jobs? If so, you may have to treat them as hourly workers during the training period when they are not actually performing work, but learning how to do their new jobs.

Employee’s lack of records won’t get pay lawsuit tossed, so make sure yours are accurate

01/03/2018

Workers who claim they should have been paid overtime don’t have to come forward with detailed pay records to move the case into discovery. That’s because record keeping is the employer’s responsibility under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Arbitration won’t work on wage claims if agreements are too one-sided

01/03/2018

If you structure an arbitration agreement so it takes away too many employee rights, you may find yourself in federal court anyway—first to litigate the validity of the agreement and then to try the case. 

Court OKs double trouble in pay bias case

01/03/2018

A federal court hearing a case brought by the EEOC against a Texas county has allowed an alleged victim of discrimination to add additional charges in an Equal Pay Act case the EEOC is already litigating. As a practical matter, that means the employer will have to fight even more attorneys while defending its pay practices.