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The Employer Handbook BlogA Texas federal judge should decide the fate of the FTC noncompete rule today. So, let’s make this interesting….
Let’s play a game of “closest to the pin.” Continue reading
No Chevron? No new overtime rules allowed, rules Texas judge.
On July 1, the U.S. Department of Labor increased the salary level nationwide to qualify for certain overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act from $684/week ($35,568/year) to $844/week ($43,888). On January 1, 2025, it will increase again to $1,128 per week or $58,656 per year.
Except for the State of Texas, as an employer. Continue reading
“Chevron” for non-lawyers
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its 40-year-old decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which had lawyers buzzing and many others wondering what the big deal with Chevron is anyway.
I’ll explain. Continue reading
Employers: It’s time again to have an employment lawyer review your severance agreements.
On Wednesday, an administrative law judge issued a cease and desist order forcing an employer to rescind overly broad nondisparagement and confidentiality language from its severance agreement and notify all former employees who signed them.
This could have been avoided. Continue reading
The difference between what an employees feels is a hostile work environment and a genuinely unlawful one.
An employee in his early sixties worked under several managers, one of whom referred to the employee as “my b***h,” “motherf****r,” “old fart,” and “old motherf****r.” Upon seeking a raise, another manager told him that he was making too much money already and that “knowledge [did] not matter.” The employee interpreted this as an ageist comment because knowledge comes with age. Sometime later, two of his managers told him the company was “getting rid of the older guys,” which the employee understood as a threat that the company would try to push him out. Continue reading
Here’s what not to do when an employee discloses her disability on her first day of work.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently sued an employer who told an employee to leave on her first day of work shortly after she requested reasonable accommodations for her visual impairments and later fired her the same day after the employee’s advocate offered to pay for accommodations.
Supreme Court to decide if former employees can invoke the ADA for post-employment benefits
Federal circuit courts are split over whether former employees may sue their employers under the ADA for discrimination in the provisions of post-employment benefits. Two say they can; four say they can’t. Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed to resolve the matter. Continue reading
Your non-competes and non-solicits may violate ANOTHER federal law: the National Labor Relations Act
The Federal Trade Commission isn’t the only government agency gunning for your company’s noncompetes.
Earlier this month, a National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge ruled that a non-union employer violated the National Labor Relations Act by utilizing unlawful noncompete and nonsolicitation provisions in employment agreements. Continue reading
Poor Yelp reviews — and not retaliation — are why this rude restaurant hostess got fired
The hostess at an Asian-American restaurant in Chicago, Illinois, was employed in that role for about two years.
Two years the restaurant probably wishes it could have back. Continue reading
The Supreme Court will review how employers can establish overtime exemptions
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to review and establish the burden of proof that employers must satisfy to demonstrate the applicability of an overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Continue reading