It’s that time of year where employers throw Halloween parties and accept employees wearing Halloween costumes in the workplace. Halloween is a fun way to play dress up and pretend; but it’s also a really good way to create lasting problems in the workplace. Attorney Robin Shea writes about Halloween-related employment problems from the employer’s […]
Halloween in the workplace? Keep yourself out of trouble Read More »
You may remember a few years ago there was a big kerfuffle about a Fidelity Investments employee in the North Texas who was fired for allegedly discussing fantasy football at work under an anti-gambling policy. Arguments were had whether fantasy football is gambling and whether it was fair that the employee was fired. It went
Can you be fired for playing fantasy football at work in Texas? Read More »
I get a LOT of calls and emails to my Texas law office from people who left their employer and the employer refuses to pay the former employee’s final paycheck. It’s inexcusable for employers to think that just because they no longer have to rely on the employee for continued work that they don’t have
Employer won’t pay your last paycheck in Texas? Read More »
Yes, under section 107 of the Family Medical Leave Act, a covered employee may file suit in a federal or state court with competent jurisdiction to hear the FMLA claims. That means an employee with FMLA claims can certainly file those FMLA claims in Texas state courts. Rules governing which Texas state courts have jurisdiction
Can I file an FMLA lawsuit in Texas state courts? Read More »
If you grew up in the 1980s or the first half of the 1990s you remember awesome Saturday morning cartoons. I’m pretty sure there’s still Saturday morning cartoons; but when I was a kid during this time period there was wall-to-wall cartoons from 6am until 11am. A few years they even ran until noon. It was
Employment blogs were en fuego a couple weeks ago about the new Pregnancy Discrimination Act guidance from the EEOC. The guidance clarifies important interactions between the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also addresses expanding protections under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act for the lactation provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The
EEOC Issues New Pregnancy Discrimination Act Guidance Read More »
No, an employer cannot require you to sign a waiver of protection under FMLA for future leave or protection from discrimination on the basis of prior use of FMLA. Department of Labor regulations on FMLA prohibit employers from requiring employees to waive FMLA rights and hold any waiver invalid. Like minimum wage and overtime protections, employers
Can my employer make me waive FMLA protection? Read More »
The headline sounds crazier than the facts behind this case, which involves a disability discrimination suit on a wrongful termination. The case arose in a California federal district court against the employer, Walgreens. (The case is EEOC v. Walgreens.) The case involves an employee who broke a workplace rule to avoid a diabetic shock and lost her
EEOC lands $180,000 settlement with employer who fired an employee for eating chips Read More »
This month the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from Texas, delivered a surprising appellate decision on overtime pay for workers in long haul freight transport in Allen v. Coil Tubing Services, LLC. In this case, the appellate court held that workers could be identified by class in determining whether an exemption
Fifth Circuit Deals Blow to Overtime Pay with MCA Exemption Read More »
I’ve written in the past about 401k fees and how they can cripple your retirement savings. For as many problems as those 401k fees can cause they often pale in comparison to the fees retirees will pay after they rollover and transfer their funds to an IRA. A Bloomberg article from June 17, 2014 discusses
401k and Pension Rollover Abuse Read More »
Employment lawyers like myself deal with my fair share of FMLA cases for clients. Among those FMLA claims I see employers violate FMLA often because the employer was ignorant of FMLA regulations or had serious misconceptions about FMLA. I also get plenty of calls from employees who believe their employer violated FMLA but the employee
5 FMLA Myths You Might Believe Read More »
The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Texas Labor Code require an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to a qualified employee to assist the employee in performing the essential functions of the employee’s job and/or access the workplace. These federal and state laws require employers to engage the employee in an interactive process to
Does an ADA accommodation have to be the one an employee wants? Read More »
An article published today by Ignites discusses the annoying habits of coworkers according to a poll of mutual fund employees. Although we’re not all mutual fund employees, the habits pointed out in the survey are the annoying habits you find across all industries. The worst of the worst was loud phone conversations. A lot of
Coworkers and Their Annoying Habits in the Workplace Read More »
I am a skeptic of Employee Stock Ownership Plans because they create unique financial risks to employees. The ESOP industry, unsurprisingly, takes issue with my position; but it’s hard to take their position seriously in light of cases like today’s appellate decision from the Seventh Circuit. Certainly I would agree that some ESOP plans are well-managed and
New case illustrates risk of ESOP mismanagement Read More »
If the calls and emails coming into my office are any indication then there is a growing problem with unpaid wages, minimum wage violations, minimum wage tip violations and unpaid overtime pay here in Texas. I am getting a lot of contacts from people with unpaid wages. The Fair Labor Standards Act and the Texas
Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas unpaid wage claims and attorney fees Read More »
I’ve written in the past about employee background checks and the laws that pertain to them here in Texas, particularly with regard to criminal background checks. Employment background checks in Fort Worth and Dallas are a big issue because right now it’s an employer’s labor market and even the slightest issue in a background check can
A peek into employment background checks from the employer’s perspective Read More »
Many large employers, particularly retailers, include anti-union information or videos as part of their new hire training process in an effort to prevent unions from gaining a foothold with workers. These videos have been around for a while in all their cheesy, disinformational glory. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) permits employers to share their
Behind the scenes with Target’s anti-union video Read More »
Sarbanes-Oxley, passed in 2002 in the wake of the Enron disaster, includes a protection in Section 806 that employees of a publicly traded company from retaliation for whistleblowing on accounting fraud and other prohibited acts under Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). In the past, most courts held that the employees of contractors to public companies did not enjoy
Sarbanes-Oxley retaliation claims apply to employees of contractors Read More »
The Family and Medical Leave Act is a federal law that protects the rights of employees to up to twelve weeks of medical leave within a twelve month period for treatment of a serious medical condition. FMLA protects not only the right to a single continuous leave period; FMLA also protects the right to take
Should I ask for FMLA intermittent leave? Read More »
Today’s society is moving increasingly towards becoming a paperless society. That includes the way we pay for goods and services. It is rare that people pay in cash, especially with the reward systems attached to credit cards. The convenience of throwing down plastic comes with a price, at least to the business owners. Credit card
When can employers deduct credit card fees from tips in Texas? Read More »