Working on the Gulf Coast means the annual preparation for the possibility of a hurricane hitting your home or business. For employers, this means preparing a contingency plan for a disaster, and taking proactive measures to address not only the…
Yearly Archives: 2014
Hurricane Season Brings HR Issues
Tagged with: exempt, human resources, hurricane, non-exempt
Posted in Labor & Employment, Wage and Hour
Posted in Labor & Employment, Wage and Hour
New FAQ on Houston’s Anti-Discrimination Ordinance (HERO)
The City of Houston recently joined a number of cities that have passed their own anti-discrimination ordinances in an attempt to add coverage for sexual orientation and trans-gender discrimination, which are not explicitly covered under Texas or federal law. The attached FAQ…
Tagged with: Anti-discrimination Ordinance, HERO
Posted in Discrimination, Labor & Employment, Uncategorized
Posted in Discrimination, Labor & Employment, Uncategorized
Use of Non-Compete Clauses Increasing Across Professions
By Shaan A. Rizvi — The New York Times ran a fascinating article about the proliferation of non-competition clauses in employment agreements throughout the country. As the article correctly notes, non-competition agreements, or non-competes, were traditionally used most often in…
USCIS Provides Guidance on I-9 Completion for Remote Hires
By Nelsy C. Gomez – With the existing stringent rules regarding the proper and timely completion of the I-9 form, many employers still find themselves wrestling with the issue of what to do with employees who are hired and work…
Tagged with: I-9, immigration, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS
Posted in Federal Government, Immigration, Labor & Employment, Wage and Hour
Posted in Federal Government, Immigration, Labor & Employment, Wage and Hour
Houston Passes Controversial Anti-Discrimination Ordinance
Late in the evening on May 28th, the Houston City Council passed a city ordinance that prohibits discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or trans-gender status. The ordinance also prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex…
Posted in Uncategorized
IRS Says It Will Penalize Employers Dumping Employees into Obamacare
Before the ink on the Affordable Care Act was dry, prudent employers were analyzing the law to identify ways to save money and avoid many of the punitive aspects of the law. One question which has repeatedly been asked of…
Tagged with: ACA, Healthcare, IRS, Obamacare
Posted in Federal Government, Healthcare Reform, Labor & Employment, Wage and Hour
Posted in Federal Government, Healthcare Reform, Labor & Employment, Wage and Hour
NLRB Cracking Down on No-Taping Policies
It is well-established that the NLRB has been aggressively litigating cases involving social media policies and employees terminated for making disparaging comments online. Recently, however, the NLRB has expanded its reach even further into employee handbooks and have staked out…
Can an Employee Accept a Severance Payment and Still File a Discrimination Claim?
According to the EEOC, the answer to that question is not only “Yes,” but that any severance agreement which limits the employee’s right to file a charge of discrimination is unenforceable and illegal. This week, the EEOC filed suit against…
New Texas Supreme Court Case Helps/Hurts At-Will Status
On April 25, 2014, the Texas Supreme Court issued a decision in the Sawyer, et al. v. Du Pont case, which can be found here. The case involved questions from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the scope of…
Houston Mayor Proposes City Ordinance on Sexual Orientation Discrimination
Houston is one of the few major cities in the country without a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Neither federal nor Texas law includes such a protected category, however, other Texas cities such as Austin and…
