Texas Employment Legal Questions

In order to help you with this question, I need a little more informtation.  In addition to be in a "salaried" employee, are you also treated as exempt from overtime pay requirements?  In other words, do you get overtime pay when you work more than 40 hours in a single week?  Also, in anticipation of a follow up question I may have.  In 20 words or less, what is your job title and what, very generally are your duties?  Do you have hire and fire authority or do do you supervise any other employees?    ... Read More

In generl, there are no limits to the number of hours an employer can require an employee to work.  However, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires most employers to compensate employees for any hours over 40 in a single week at 1.5 times the employees' regular hourly rate.    ... Read More

An employer is not obligated to pay an employee for unused vacation and sick leave, unless it has a written policy that states it will do so.  In any such policy, the employer can place limitations or conditions on payments.  If your employer has no written policy, it is not required to pay you any unused vacation or sick leave.  If your employer has a written policy that it will pay unused vacation and sick leave to persons such as yourself and it is refusing to honor its own policy, then you can contact the Texas Workforce Commission - Labor Law Department and an file a complaint under the Texas Payday Act to recover such sums.  The TWC will only look back 180 days in such complaints, no further. ... Read More

Your employer and the temp agencies are likely violating the overtime laws by this practice.    If there are a number of employees affected by this practice, the most efficienct way to remedy the violation and recover both upaid overtime and liquidated damages is to retain an attorney (typically on a contingent fee basis, ie you don't pay unless you recover) to bring what is known as a collective action on behalf of all such employees.  You can recover up to 3 years unpaid overtime plus a like amount in damages plus attorneys fees.  When did the problem first start? In what City is the Company located?        ... Read More

There is no easy "yes" or "no" to this question.    Most likely your employer is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  That law required employers covered by its terms to pay employes overtime (1.5 times the regular hourly rate) for any hours worked over 40 in a seven day workweek.  However, there are some exemptions to that requirement for certain types of employees.  By way of example, professionals (lawyers, doctors, CPAs, engineers etc) are exempt from this requirement as are managers, some supervisors, some top level office administrators, commissioned sales staff, interstate truck drivers and computer programming employees.  But title alone is not the determiner, the regulations governing these exemptions have more detailed requirements.  You can learn mor about this reqirement and its expemptions on the website of the US Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division. If you are qualified for one of these exemptions or became so qualified in the middle of a pay period, I am not aware of any restriction that would prevent your employer from moving you from an hourly to salaried status.  However, if you had already worked more than 40 hours that week, before the move was made, I would suspect that the employer would owe you for those overtime hours.  Also, be aware that is is a common mistake or even an intentional attempt to avoid paying overtime for an employer to misclassify someone who should be an hourly employee as a salaried employee.  If you believe that this is what is occuring to you, the USDOL website above will explain how to file a complaint.... Read More

Under the Texas Payday Act (Texas Labor Code Chapter 61), an employer must pay a salaried employee once per month and an hourly employee twice per month.  The employer must also give employees notice of the pay dates.  Your employer is probably trying to evade its obligation to pay employment taxes, overtime and workers compensation by treating you as a "1099 Employee" - There is no such thing, but we see it all the time.  You can report the employer to the Texas Workforce Commission - Labor Law Department, but you may well get fire for that report, as the Payday Act has no anti-retaliation provision in it.  If you allow yourself to be treated as a contract/1099 employee, you are going to have some future headaches with taxes owed to the IRS, if you are injured on the job or if the employer makes you work more than 40 hours per week.  You should give some consideration to finding a new job.... Read More

Go to TBLS.org.  That is the Texas Board of Legal Speciliazation.  Find and attorney who is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law in your area.  You should expect to pay a higher hourly rate for a Board Certified Attorney, but you should also expect that that lawyer will know most of the answers to your questions off the top of his or her head. Good luck.    ... Read More

The information in this response is based on Texas law.  You may have claims under Florida law, which I would not be qualified to address.  First things first, either ask your old employer if it will reinstate you or start getting your resume out to new employers. Most employees in the United States are "at-will" and may be fired or may resign at any time for any reason or no reason.  So unless the Florida employer was offering you a contract which limited its ability to fire you, your question has to be analyzed in light of the possibility that you could have moved to Florida and been fired after your first day of work and, unless you had a contract  with your current employer, that you could have been fired at any time from your old employer.  If you had been offered such a contract by the new employer, you should probably seek the advice of a Florida attorney as to whether or not the new employer breached it. If the new employer did not offer you a contract that limited its ability to fire you, what you may have is a claim for your reliance damages (out-of-pocket expenses you incurred in reliance on the offer), such as expenses incurred moving or preparing to move, and any expenses you incur in locating replacement employment, uninsured medical expenses if you had health insurance at your old employer which has been cancelled.   There could be other types of expenses at well. So keep good records and receipts going forward. However, the types and amounts of these expenses may not be fully known until you find a new job.  That is when you could better make the judgment as to whether a claim against the new employer would be worth while.  Sorry for the misfortune and best of luck.  ... Read More

Most employees in Texas are "at-will" employees and can be fired or demoted, transferred or paid in any manner the employer sees fit, unless such actions are based on unlawful discrimination.  Exceptions exist to this "at-will" relationship if you have a specific written promise of certain wages, job duties or length of employment, which may come in the form of an offer letter, a contract or a collective bargaining (union) agreement with the company.  Short of those execptions, an employer can pay you (or not pay you) whatever he/she/it wants, even if it is unfair, as long as it is: 1) above minumum wage; 2) includes overtime (1.5 times the hourly rate) for non-exempt employees when you work over 40 hours in a week; and 3) as long as the differences in your pay and someone else's pay are not the result of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, religion, color, national origin, disability, pregancy or the filing of a workers comp claim. If you are at-will and you have no reason to believe that unlawful discrimination is the reason for the pay difference, your best bet is to find another job.  If you think you are being discriminated against on the basis of one of the above catagories (but not because your boss doesn't like you or plays golf with other workers) then you can report the discrimination to the EEOC or Texas Workforce Commission.  Be prepared to present them with evidence of your claim of illegal bias.  Just because you are a particular race, age or gender, etc. and your boss is something else, is not proof of discrimiantion.  If you are not getting minimum wage or overtime, you can report that to the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.  They have offices in all of the major Texas metropolitan areas. Good luck.  ... Read More

This matter is too complex and too time-sensitive to waste time looking around on a website looking for free or ad hoc advice.  National labor relations laws are very worker/union friendly and responsive conduct which seems reasonable to the employer could generate an unfair labor practice complaint to be used as a lever by the union to gain an advantage in any representation election.  Also, recent amendements to the NLRA election rules make union election petitions a very quick process. Unless you want a union representing all of your employees, my best advice to you is to IMMEDIATELY find and hire a qualified labor attorney who has experience in fighting unions.  These folks are not easy to find in Texas because unions are not predominant in the workforce here.  Ask a lot of questions.  Employment lawyers are not the same as labor lawyers, even though they may hold a board certification in "labor and employment law."  Try www.lawyers.com or its sister site www.martindale.com. Look for indicators that the attorneys who show up in the search results have labor/management, union election, NLRA or NLRB experience.  ... Read More

Most employees who are paid an hourly wage must be paid overtime (1.5 x hourly rate) for each hour each workweek over 40 hours.  However, some employees who meet certain tests presecribed by the US Department of Labor are exempt from the overtime pay requirement if they meet those tests and are paid a guaranteed salary over the minimum prescribed amount.  These folks are typically, managmement, professionals, outside sales or computer experts, but there are other exemptions as well. A properly classified exempt employee may be required to work as much overtime as his employer requires, subject to the employee's freedom to resign if the work schedule is too demanding.  That said, misclassifying hourly workers as salaried exempt workers is a common mistake or worse, a common scheme used by employers to avoid having to pay overtime.  For an analysis of whether your father-in-law is properly classified, an attorney would need to know some facts about his job duties and pay structure.  The penalties for an employer mis-classifying a non-exempt employee as exempt are significant and can be severe if other employees were also subject to the same mis-treatment.  ... Read More

This is not the type of question that someone is going to be able to advise you on over the internet.  The WARN Act has a number of variables that are not inculded in your question.  Best advice is to see a qualified labor and employement attorney, as the consequences of tetting this wrong could be significant.  If that is not something you want to do, you might try the US Department of Labor's website or contact them.    ... Read More

The Texas Payday Act, which is part of the Texas Labor Code, requires that salried employees be paid at least once per month and hourly employees be paid twice per month.  This rule applies to all employees in Texas, regardless of where the company's headquarters are located.  You can file a complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission's Labor Law Department if you believe the employer is violating your rights.  However, you should be aware that the Payday Act does not contain an anti-retaliation provision and your employer may fire you if it figures out you filed the complaint.  If you go forward with this, ask the TWC whether your can file your complaint anonymously.    ... Read More

Your question is loaded with lots of possibile issues.  Only true "employees" are entitled to overtime. That said, too many employers try to cheat the system (trying to get out of the employer's share of employment taxes, overtime, workers compensation, benefits) by wrongly classifying employees as independent contractors.  I hear the term "contract employee" or "1099 employee" all the time.  There is no such thing.  You are most likely an employee if you consistently work for the same employer, you are paid by the day or by the hour, the employer provides your tools and materials, and your employer supervises and controls the details of your work.  You are likely an independent contractor if you provide your own tools and material, if you are free to do the work when and how you want, if you are free to sub-contract your work or hire assistants, if you are free to work for other companies, if you are paid by the job and if you have a risk of loss in the work you are doing. If you are treated as an employee, but paid as an independent contractor, you (and everyone you work with who is simialrly treated) may have a claim against your employer for any unpaid overtime you worked in the last 3 years.  You can contact a private attorney with Labor & Employment Experience or the US Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division.  There are DOL offices in all of the major Texas cities.  In DFW that office is in Arlington. Good luck.... Read More

I suppose it is possible, that your employer is not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which could be true if she does no business outside the State of Texas, including purchasing goods or services, or makes under the statutory threshold in gross revenues which, off the cuff, is about $300k.  If she is covered, "not offering overtime" is not an option for her.  There are no unique Texas exemptions as the FLSA is a federal law. You can address your failure to pay overtime complaint to the US Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division.  There are offices in each of the big cities in Texas - DFW sharing one in Arlington or you can contact a private attorney with experience in labor and employment law.  See www.tbls.org for Board Certified Labor & Employment attorneys.  ... Read More

Most EEOC charges are dismissed without a finding of discrimination.   The agency seems to lack both the budget and the willpower to adequately investigate these claims.  And yes, the dismissal will be communicated to the Company.  But not to fear, neither the fact of the dismissal nor the reasons therefor are admissible in evidence if you bring the case in court.  The Company's attorney will not factor dismissal as either a help or a hinderance in his or her evaluation and defense of the court case, should you decide to bring one.  That said there are a couple of reasons to keep pushing the EEOC to investigate the case and there is one reason to go ahead get the dismissal right to sue letter - which is required to go to court. Keep Pushing Free discovery - everything the Company produces to the EEOC can be obtained by you or your attorney, thus lessening the amount of work to be done during the case Mediation - if you think there is an ice cube's chance that the company will settle, push the EEOC investigator to get the Company to mediate.  But be aware, the Company is not required to particpate in mediation and will often refuse to, at least until the case gets filed in court Ask for the Dismissal and Right to Sue Your attorney will have to tell you whether or not your case is eligible to go to state court rather than federal court.  Depending on where you live/work, the state courts may be a better place to bring your case.  If your case is eligible to go to state court, there is time limit after your charge is filed (2 years I think, but double-check) to file a lawsuit in state court, whether or not the EEOC is finished invesitgating it.  If that opportunity is availabe, you don't want to miss it waiting around on the EEOC to finish its investigation. Good luck.... Read More