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Louisiana

Case in point: How to handle tip-pooling arrangements in Texas

12/07/2015

You may have heard that the Department of Labor has been focusing some of its enforcement efforts on low-wage service industries, particularly restaurants and fast- food outlets. That’s true. But federal courts are also stepping in to ensure that low-wage employees get every penny they are entitled to. That’s what recently happened when the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a tip-pooling case that the employee who makes coffee in the back (the barista) should not be participating in the restaurant’s tip pool.

One year difference in age does not equal discrimination

12/07/2015
A recent case found that a mere one-year age difference wasn’t generally enough to show age discrimination.

Use crystal clear language in contracts when defining commissions, bonuses

12/07/2015

Do you pay some employees a bonus based on sales or hitting other quotas or targets? Make sure the agreement promising such bonuses is clear and unambiguous. Unclear language can result in you being tied up in years of litigation.

Slightly lower evaluation rating isn’t retaliation

10/05/2015
To constitute retaliation for engaging in protected activity, an employer has to do something that would dissuade a reasonable employee from complaining in the first place. A poor evaluation, by itself, isn’t enough.

Fired for gun in trunk: Can employee sue?

10/05/2015
A court is about to tackle a tricky issue: Does a state law authorizing employees who park in company lots to keep guns locked in their trunks also create a right to sue if the employee is fired for gun possession?

Gov’t staff can speak out on matters of public importance

09/09/2015
Public employees retain free speech rights under the First Amendment and can’t be punished for speaking out if they do so as citizens and not in their role as a government employee.

Trying to ensure pay equality? Be sure to account for even slight differences in duties

09/09/2015

Under the Equal Pay Act, workers of one sex who perform substantially similar jobs are entitled to the same pay as their counterparts of the opposite sex. But it doesn’t take much to make jobs dissimilar enough to thwart direct comparisons. Keep this in mind when preparing job descriptions and explaining pay differences.

It’s sometimes OK to fire disabled employee, but it’s a mistake to cite medical costs

09/09/2015
Before terminating someone who is disabled, make sure that you don’t inadvertently create a reason for them to sue you.

OSHA protects accounting whistle-blowers

09/09/2015

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, commonly known as SOX, employees who report alleged accounting irregularities internally and to OSHA are protected from retaliation if their employer punishes the activity. Making simple statements that aren’t very specific can be enough to meet the employee’s reporting requirement under the law. It’s enough that the employee reasonably believes that he is reporting wrongdoing. He doesn’t have to know the details, just that it probably violates the law.

David beat Goliath, employers sometimes beat the DOL!

07/29/2015
A Texas company has been awarded attorneys’ fees as compensation for aggressive DOL tactics.