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Texas

How do I get workers comp coverage?

10/07/2014
Q. How do I go about obtaining workers’ compensation coverage? Once I have this coverage, what related rights do I have?

What’s not covered by workers’ comp?

10/07/2014
Q. As a Texas employer, what types of workplace injuries are excepted from my workers’ compensation insurance coverage?

Texas employers: Getting bias cases into federal court just got a little easier

10/07/2014

“You have been sued.” When employers first read these words and realize the lawsuit launched against them is in a state court, most Texas employers—indeed, most employers—make it their first order of business to get the case moved to a federal court. Why? Defense attorneys cite various advantages to be gained from such a change, which is known as removal.

Feds sue Keene company over missing retirement funds

10/07/2014
The DOL is suing a Keene-based rehabilitation therapy practice after investigators discovered that the owner had been deducting retirement plan contributions from employees’ paychecks for the past two years without forwarding any money to the plan.

Trouble bubbles at valve plant in San Antonio

10/07/2014
San Antonio-based Taprite Fassco Manufacturing, a company that supplies CO2 regulators to the beer and soda industries, may get a bit of indigestion courtesy of the EEOC. The commission is suing the company, alleging that it demoted a female employee who raised concerns that men were paid more than women in comparable positions.

Miscalculating overtime pay costs San Antonio company almost $150K

10/07/2014
San Antonio-based Costa Solutions has agreed to pay 63 current and former employees $146,459 in back pay and overtime following a DOL investigation. Costa provides logistics and freight-handling services to retail business, including the H-E-B Grocery chain.

Texas recognizes unjust enrichment as legitimate claim

10/07/2014
Texas courts will recognize a claim of unjust enrichment as part of a lawsuit alleging that a purchaser or seller breached the contract terms of the sale. In other words, such a lawsuit can include more than a breach-of-­contract claim; plaintiffs can also argue that the breach unjustly enriched the breaching party.

Employee references aren’t a matter of ‘free speech’

10/07/2014
Answering reference calls? Don’t think all responses are protected by “free speech” rights.

Resist qualification inflation: Super skills don’t make position exempt

10/07/2014

The U.S. Department of Labor considers the minimum job requirements for a position—not the people who hold those jobs—when determining whether the employees are nonexempt, hourly workers or exempt under the FLSA. If you hire overqualified applicants, their training and experience doesn’t transform the job from hourly to exempt.

Don’t play God! It’s not up to you to decide what’s a real religious belief

10/07/2014

Employers must reasonably accommodate employees’ religious beliefs unless doing so would cause undue hardship. Some employers take this to mean they get to decide what constitutes a genuine religious belief—and nix requests for time off for religious observances that don’t fit their defi­nition. That’s legal blasphemy!