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Employment Law

If fired worker lists us as a reference, will we get in trouble for telling the truth?

03/01/2010

Q. Another company has requested a reference for an employee that we fired. The company has a signed form giving the employee’s written consent to ask us for a reference. Will we have legal problems if we provide negative information about the employee?

What to do about late time sheets?

03/01/2010

Q. One of our field technicians is consistently late in providing her time sheets. This interferes with promptly billing our customers for work performed. Can we delay paying this employee as an incentive to submit her time sheets on time?

Don’t fear personal liability for some firings

03/01/2010

If you have hiring and firing responsibilities, you may worry from time to time whether you could be held personally liable for your decisions. Now a Texas appeals court has answered that question—at least in situations involving the firing of someone who refuses to engage in an act she believes is illegal. The court said there is no personal liability.

Uniformly enforce blanket ‘no-hire’ policies

03/01/2010

Some employers don’t want to hire applicants who haven’t succeeded elsewhere and create a blanket no-hire rule for any applicant who isn’t eligible for rehire by a former employer. If you’re tempted to do the same, make sure you enforce the rule uniformly and don’t make exceptions.

EEOC: Texas awards grew in 2009, even as complaints fell

03/01/2010

Texas workers who complained about workplace sexual harassment, religious intolerance, and age and race discrimination collected $2.7 million more in FY 2009 than they did in 2008.

Prepare for parades, pickets and bullhorns: Court lifts limits on many strike activities

03/01/2010

Here’s a bit of bad news for employers with union-represented employees who are considering going out on strike: A recent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling has struck down a number of picketing permit restrictions passed by local ordinance. The decision’s basis: unions’ right to free speech. The result may be some very public protests by labor unions when disputes spill over.

Hiring work-release prisoners? Some aren’t covered by FLSA’s pay, overtime rules

03/01/2010

If you’re considering hiring inmates through a work-release program, carefully weigh whether you will have to pay them as regular employees under the FLSA, or whether you may be able to pay them less. According to a recent 5th Circuit decision, prisoners specifically sentenced to hard labor may not be covered by the FLSA. Their employers may pay them less than minimum wage, and they’re not eligible for overtime pay.

Retaliation: General griping isn’t protected activity

03/01/2010

Employees sometimes gripe rather generally about working conditions. If those complaints don’t relate to some specific allegation based on protected characteristics like sex, age, national origin or the like, courts probably won’t consider the complaint protected activity that sets up a retaliation lawsuit.

Mere ‘cold shoulder’ doesn’t a hostile environment make

03/01/2010

Don’t worry too much about having a perfectly cordial workplace. As long as the workplace is relatively harmonious, courts won’t step in, as the following case shows.

Freeport HR director sues for defamation, retaliation, bias

03/01/2010

A former city of Freeport HR director has sued the municipality and one of its administrators for defamation and retaliation, and is charging that she was paid less than a male co-worker. Minette Ashley filed suit in Brazoria County District Court after City Manager Jeff Pynes fired her and then accused her of bias.