• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly
Connection failed: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No such file or directory

Texas

Jury awards $250,000 to former strippers in Houston

05/04/2015
Two former exotic dancers will split a $250,000 award after a jury sided with them in their suit against Houston nightclub Tiffany’s Cabaret. The jury found the club illegally made the women share their tips and wrongly forced them to pay to dance there.

Public employees do have to follow employers’ decisions

05/04/2015
While public employees typically have greater protections on the job than employees working in the private sector, they don’t have unlimited protection from interference with their jobs.

Court holds firm on 180-day deadline for filing discrimination complaints with TCHR

05/04/2015

A Texas court has refused to give workers additional time to file discrimination lawsuits based on a so-called “discovery” rule. The case involved an employee who argued he had more time to sue because he did not realize he had been discriminated against during the 180 days immediately following the alleged discrimination. He said it took longer than that for it to become obvious that bias had occurred.

Sorry, it’s never acceptable to make jokes comparing employees to animals

05/04/2015
If you want to lose a hostile environment lawsuit, go ahead and ignore complaints and let managers act like bigots and racists. A recent case illustrates just how big a mistake tolerating such nonsense can be.

Texas leads nation in number of EEOC charges

05/04/2015
More EEOC charges originated in Texas in fiscal year 2014 than any other state.

Stress from tough boss isn’t a disability

05/04/2015
Some supervisors are hard to handle, especially for subordinates sensitive to criticism. But the resulting stress isn’t usually a disability under the ADA and therefore doesn’t have to be accommodated.

NLRB probes slow response to post office data breach

04/13/2015
The National Labor Relations Board has taken the U.S. Postal Service to task over its delay in informing its employees of a cyber breach in the late summer or early fall of 2014.

What are we up against? We’re being sued for misappropriation of trade secrets!

04/13/2015
Q. I recently hired someone who previously worked at a competitor’s company for some time. When she began working for me, she made some great suggestions regarding new business strategies, processes and products for us to implement. Now, a few months later, her former company is suing me for misappropriation of trade secrets. What does this mean?

Employee has to miss work for jury duty: Am I allowed to terminate him?

04/13/2015
Q. One of my employees has informed me that she received a jury duty summons and must be absent from work to serve. Can I discharge my employee for being absent from work while serving as a juror?

Are we liable for negligent hiring if employee had criminal conviction?

04/13/2015
Q. Recently, one of my employees accidentally injured a client while operating a forklift during work hours. The client is now threatening to sue me for negligent hiring of this employee, because the employee has a prior—and unrelated—conviction. Does this accusation have legal grounds?