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Employment Law

Oral agreements may be too vague to be enforceable

12/03/2009

Oral agreements are as binding as written ones, but they can be considerably less precise. Consider this case, in which a disgruntled employee claimed an oral agreement affected future compensation:

4 discriminatory hiring practices will lure EEOC to your door

12/03/2009

Since 2007, the EEOC has been engaged in a major push to stamp out race-based discrimination in hiring. Known as E-RACE, the initiative’s goal is to “eliminate recruiting and hiring practices that lead to discrimination by limiting an employer’s applicant pool.” When targeting employers for enforcement action, the EEOC often zeroes in on four recruitment and screening practices:

Fort Worth extends bias protection to transgenders

12/03/2009

On Nov. 10, the Fort Worth City Council voted to amend the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance to include discrimination based on transgender status, gender identity, or gender expression. Fort Worth now joins Austin, Dallas and El Paso as the only Texas cities banning such discrimination.

Noose, slurs lead women to sue for discrimination

12/03/2009

Two former employees of Trey Industries are suing the commercial construction company, claiming they were fired after complaining about racism they experienced while working at a Marathon Oil facility in Texas City.

After the deluge: Hurricane Ike washes up an age bias lawsuit

12/03/2009

A former employee of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston has filed a lawsuit alleging he was fired last year because of his age. Thomas Galan claims he was let go at the age of 53 after Hurricane Ike forced UTMB to temporarily shut down in September 2008 and lay off hundreds of employees.

Congress passes new law expanding family medical military leave

12/03/2009

Just when you thought you had implemented all the necessary changes to your family- and military-leave policies, the law has again changed. On Oct. 28, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2010 fiscal year, which includes provisions that expand the military leave entitlements of the FMLA.

Can we administer a polygraph test to find out if one of our employees has been stealing?

12/03/2009

Q. I am a manager for a local bank. I strongly suspect that one of my tellers is stealing because his drawer is short every week. I have interviewed several employees, but no one knows anything, and the teller refuses to answer any questions regarding the missing money. Can I require him to take a polygraph test?

How does the Texas job reference law affect what I can say about former employees?

12/03/2009

Q. I recently received an inquiry for a reference regarding a former employee. Does the job reference law alter what I should disclose regarding this person’s employment history?

Worker complained of bias? Discipline with care

12/03/2009

Employees who complain about alleged discrimination are protected from retaliation for doing so, even if it turns out that their discrimination claims don’t hold water. The idea is that employees shouldn’t have to fear reprisal if they complain internally about discrimination or go to the EEOC. If one of your employees files a discrimination complaint, be careful how you discipline him for any workplace rule-breaking.

Justify different penalties for like violations

12/03/2009

When it comes to discipline, equal treatment is the only safe way to go since you don’t know which employees might sue for alleged discrimination based on membership in a protected class. That doesn’t mean, of course, that you can’t come up with different punishments when the circumstances warrant. The key is to document why you punished one employee more severely for seemingly similar rule violations.