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Texas

Inheriting workers? Review pay for past bias

10/29/2020
If you are adding employees from another company via a merger or acquisition, pay attention to an important pay discrimination problem. Before using your new employees’ previous compensation to set their pay, consider whether that could trigger an Equal Pay Act lawsuit.

Choosing applicants based on ‘it factor’: Is that job bias?

07/23/2020
Here’s a $215,000 reminder that it’s always better to use objective, quantifiable measures in hiring, rather than relying on subjective factors.

Texas firm pays to settle discrimination charges

06/04/2020
A Texas company has paid a seven-figure sum to settle an EEOC lawsuit that accused managers of “pervasive use of racial slurs” and “circulating racist social media posts.”

Root out all demographic hiring preferences

04/30/2020
We all know hiring managers shouldn’t discriminate against some candidates because of protected characteristics. It’s just as unlawful for them to favor certain candidates because they belong to a particular ethnic group or nationality.

Document, date every disciplinary detail

04/16/2020
Workers who suspect they are about to be fired may try to short-circuit the termination process by claiming discrimination, harassment or retaliation. It’s an intimidation tactic. Fight back with documentation of every step of the disciplinary process, with dates when key events occurred.

3 lawsuit-proof alternatives to layoffs

03/19/2020
With business slowing nationwide because of the coronavirus pandemic, many employers have already laid off staff, and many more fear they will have to do so soon. Before you commit to wholesale reductions-in-force, there are three alternatives worth considering.

Sugar Land, Texas manufacturer settles sex harassment suit

03/02/2020
Element Plastics, a manufacturer based in Sugar Land, has settled charges it sexually harassed and retaliated against a female employee.

Multiple FLSA violations cost employer $100,000

03/02/2020
Tostada Regia restaurants in Houston will pay 438 employees at its eight locations a total of $100,126 after it found multiple ways to violate the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Confessing previous firing doesn’t equal defamation

03/02/2020
Potential employers often ask up-front whether an applicant has been fired for cause in the past. Recently, a fired worker tried to claim that having to reveal the past amounted to self-defamation. It didn’t work.

Signed arbitration agreements are valid in Texas

03/02/2020
A solid arbitration agreement likely will be enforced under Texas contracting law.