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Employment Law

Must I pay employees for weekend training?

11/12/2015
Q. I have arranged for my nonexempt hourly employees to attend a training session on a weekend, outside of their normal work hours. Must I pay them regular and/or overtime wages for their attendance?

Is nicotine addiction a disability?

11/12/2015
Q. An employee says she must be allowed to take smoke breaks. She claims she is so addicted to nicotine that she has a disability, and that therefore I must accommodate her requirements. If I don’t allow her to take smoke breaks, can she sue me?

Austin software firm sued for pregnancy discrimination

11/12/2015
Austin, Tx.-based e-MDs, which develops software for managing medical practices, faces charges it terminated an employee because she took maternity leave.

Internal complaint doesn’t equal whistle-blowing

11/12/2015

The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that simply complaining to one’s boss  about allegedly illegal activity is not whistle-blowing protected by the Texas Whistleblower Act. Employees must inform law enforcement.

Agencies: Tell staff they’ll get comp time instead of OT

11/12/2015
The Fair Labor Standards Act allows government agencies to offer comp time in lieu of overtime when employees work more than 40 per week. As long as you clearly let employees know that’s how you will treat OT, they can’t complain later.

Same person sends hundreds of applications? Don’t fall into discrimination lawsuit trap

11/12/2015

Sometimes an eager candidate will apply for several jobs with the same employer. If you are sure he or she isn’t qualified, you don’t have to agree to an interview for each open position. Be aware that if you do interview him for one of the positions and choose someone else outside his protected class, he may sue and argue he was much better qualified than whoever you did choose.

Think twice before suddenly withdrawing ADA accommodation that’s been working

11/12/2015
Once you have an accommodation in place for a disabled employee, don’t suddenly take it away. If the accommodation has been working, that may spur an ADA lawsuit.

Court stops funds diversion in largest EEOC verdict

11/12/2015
The battle to collect the largest EEOC verdict on record continues. A U.S. district judge has overridden a confidential settlement involving a Texas land deal that would have re-directed over half a million dollars away from a class of 32 intellectually disabled former employees of Hill Country Farms.

Home health care firm said to fire worker for being pregnant

11/12/2015
The EEOC claims Your Health Team illegally fired a home health care aide simply because she was pregnant.

Drivers ed: Take it up with the DOT first

11/12/2015
A truck driver who is required to maintain U.S. Department of Transportation certification can’t sue his employer for disability discrimination if terminated without first pursuing remedies through the DOT. Until he’s done so, he isn’t “qualified” for the position and can’t sue for alleged disability discrimination.