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Employment Law

Is comp time in lieu of overtime legal?

08/11/2016
Q. We have a team of nonexempt hourly employees who will soon be putting in significant overtime for an important project. May we compensate them for their overtime work with additional paid vacation time equal to the total accrued overtime?

Do we have leave obligations to help a potential victim of domestic violence?

08/11/2016
Q. One of our employees may be a victim of family violence. What are our legal obligations to provide leave for family violence victims under Texas and federal law?

National origin bias: Heed new EEOC rules, increased enforcement

08/11/2016
In June, the EEOC proposed new regulations concerning Title VII’s national origin provisions. National origin discrimination complaints comprise about 11% of the charges the EEOC receives each year. The new proposed EEOC regulations target job segregation, human trafficking and intersectional discrimination.

Austin Park N Pizza pays $20,000 to settle disability suit

08/11/2016
Last year, the EEOC sued Austin’s Park N Pizza amusement park, alleging it failed to accommodate a disabled employee. Now the park has settled the dispute for $20,000 and significant injunctive relief.

Why employees harass: The top targets

08/11/2016
Last year, the EEOC received more than 28,000 claims by employees that they were unlawfully harassed at work. Here are the top reasons employees say they were targeted for harassment.

Texas court blocks union ‘persuader’ rule, appeal likely

08/11/2016

A federal court in Texas on June 27 ruled that the Department of Labor’s controversial “persuader rule” could not go into effect July 1. An injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas means employers have at least a temporary reprieve from having to disclose who advises them on ways to discourage union organizing.

Age-related comment doesn’t always show bias

08/11/2016
If you learn a manager made an age-related comment, don’t panic. Context is everything.  An obvious discriminatory statement— “I am terminating you because you are old”—is one thing. However, a general comment—for example, about the advantages of accepting a retirement package as an older employee—probably isn’t biased.

Must we ever pay for long commuting time?

08/11/2016
Q. An employee’s workday begins at a site location, which could be an hour or more from his home. There is no other “corporate office” location. It is my understanding that travel time to work (wherever that may be) is not compensable. Is that always true? What if that first work location is a long way from home?

NLRB approves temp and regular employee organizing

08/11/2016
The National Labor Relations Board, in its Miller & Anderson, Inc. decision in July, announced a new standard that makes it much easier for unions to organize temporary employees working at another employer’s facility.

NYC contractor pays $431k to settle prevailing wage dispute

08/11/2016
Under the Davis-Bacon Act, employers are required to pay prevailing wages to employees who work on federal contracts. Sam Schwartz Engineering, a paving contractor on a federal project in Manhattan, found out the hard way that violating the prevailing wage rule is expensive.