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Employment Law

New Texas gun legislation has implications for employers

01/04/2016
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed two pieces of legislation into law recently, regulating where and how Texans may carry firearms. As of Jan. 1, licensed gun owners may carry holstered handguns anywhere that concealed handguns are per­mitted—with some exceptions.

Internal complaint not enough: Whistle-blowers must file report with police

12/31/2015
Texas government employees who blow the whistle on their employers are protected from retaliation. But it takes more than just voicing an internal complaint or even cooperating in an audit to make a claim of whistle-blower retaliation stick.

No harm in being more generous than FMLA

12/29/2015
Employers are supposed to let employees who need FMLA leave know about their eligibility and what’s involved in taking leave. But what if you offer a leave plan that goes above and beyond what the FMLA requires? Courts won’t hold that against you—even if you flub the FMLA’s notice requirements.

EEOC expands outreach to immigrant groups

12/28/2015
A recent EEOC settlement may portend more litigation, especially for industries that employ large numbers of immigrants.

Worker older when hired? Then age bias is unlikely

12/24/2015
Do you have an older worker who now alleged age discrimination? If you hired him recently, chances are you can use his age at hire as evidence you didn’t discriminate.

New classification aims at ‘gig’ economy

12/22/2015

Traditionally, there are four possible ways to classify people who perform work. But two classifications—independent contractors and employees—cover most work. Except, some say, in the emerging sharing or “gig” economy. Now two economists at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, D.C., have proposed a new category: independent worker.

Can we require employees to pay for the portraits we display on our website?

12/21/2015
Q. I have a professional photographer come in on each employee’s first day of work to take photos for our company’s website. I ask each employee to pay half the cost of this service. A new employee is refusing to pay half the cost of his photos. Can I force him to pay?

Courts willing to make easy arbitration agreement fixes

12/21/2015
If some part of your arbitration agreement is deemed unconscionable but there’s an easy way to fix it, at least one California court will do it right then and there.

Quickly address allegations of disability discrimination

12/21/2015
If you find out that a supervisor may have treated a disabled worker poorly, fix the problem promptly.

Calif. rule on paying for time spent on security checks more generous than federal law

12/21/2015

About a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that under the Fair Labor Standards Act, time spent waiting for security checks after the end of a shift were not compensable minutes. California, however, has greater worker protections built into its version of the FLSA. That’s why a group of Apple store employees brought a suit over their own wait time at the end of their shifts, seeking compensation despite the Supreme Court decision.