These days, any employee can record video (with and without audio) of the workplace with his or her phone. And more and more employers are using video recordings to resolve employment relations investigations and disciplinary issues. To help employers with this growing use of video recordings in the workplace, below are six practical tips employers …read more »
Register Now: Mandatory FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Coming in January 2020 for Employers of CDL Drivers
Starting January 6, 2020, employers must use a new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Clearinghouse for drug and alcohol testing and verification of their drivers with Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs). The Clearinghouse centralizes data about CDL drivers in a single database, and this article explains what employers need to report to the Clearinghouse and …read more »
Three Things Employers Need to Know Now About EEO-1 Component 2 Pay Data
Most employers are familiar with their EEO-1 reporting obligations, but the new EEO-1 Component 2 data obligations have created confusion. EEO-1 Component 2 data is pay and hours worked data, including matching demographic data, that the EEOC is requiring some employers to submit. The agency’s stated intent for collecting the data is to determine whether …read more »
Businesses Should Update Indemnity Agreements to Protect Against Contractor Lawsuits
In the past decade, many businesses have significantly improved compliance under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and other employment laws when it comes to their own employees. At the same time, many workers who provide skilled services to those businesses now do so as independent contractors, often based on service agreements between businesses and …read more »
CBD: What Employers Need to Know
CBD seems to be everywhere lately. You may have noticed ads for CBD oil and other products, promising all types of health benefits—from eliminating acne to improving brain function to alleviating cancer-related symptoms. New shops selling CBD have popped up, and established businesses have gotten into the act. There is even a one-mile stretch in …read more »
Four Government-Drafted Resources for Employers You Might Have Missed
It’s hard to imagine a better defense an employer could have than “the government said I should do it this way.” But even though government agencies take months or years to create guidance for employers, too often that guidance never gets used (or even heard about). Below are four government-created resources with guidance for employers …read more »
New Congress and Legislature, New Proposed Employment Laws
It’s still early, but members of Congress and the Texas legislature have proposed a few laws that have a better chance of passing than others. Here I discuss four proposed laws, one federal and three from Texas. They have gotten attention, and have a reasonable chance of being passed, because the federal one was introduced …read more »
Fifth Circuit Upholds Right to Wear “Fight for $15” Buttons at Work
The National Labor Relations Act requires employers to allow all employees—including non-unionized ones—to express opinions on the terms and conditions of their employment. The National Labor Relations Board and the Fifth Circuit recently reaffirmed this idea in a case where the employer argued that the employees’ expression would hurt the employer’s business. The case is …read more »
Being on Leave Makes Current Employees Unemployed: Texas Supreme Court’s Counterintuitive Unemployment Act Decision
Usually disputes over unemployment focus on whether a former employee was fired for work-connected misconduct or quit for a good enough work-connected reason. But when exactly is a person unemployed, so that he or she can file for unemployment in the first place? The Texas Supreme Court’s answer: an individual “qualifies as unemployed so long …read more »
“But We Can’t Do That” — Documenting Undue Hardship Can Help Protect Employers Against ADA Claims
When a disabled employee requests an ADA accommodation, employers should have an interactive discussion to determine what accommodations might work. And a big part of that discussion is asking the employee to suggest possible accommodations. But if an employee suggests an accommodation that would cause the employer an “undue hardship,” the employer can reject that …read more »