Texas Employment Law Archives

Washington, D.C.-based trade union American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees is wary of the language in proposed changes to a city’s policy regarding discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and employee conduct. The rules that the trade union is in contention of are the ones that would affect an employee while the said employee is off […]

A 100-acre plant for Texas Instruments on Forest Street in Attleboro may be the cause of death and illness for a number of ex-workers at the plant. The Bristol County, Massachusetts plant processed toxic chemicals, such as uranium, for nuclear reactors at the site. Over two dozen former Texas Instruments employees – and the estates of former employees who […]

Judge Marcia A. Crone of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction last Monday, October 24 against the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule. The regulation recently imposed by President Obama mandates that contractors who are looking for federal work should disclose recent law labor violations. Opponents […]

Illinois will officially implement the Employee Sick Leave Act on January 1, 2017. The new act requires employers to grant sick pay for employees whose immediate family members find themselves ill. This new policy can also be thought of as the “kin care” law. The intention of the law is to complement the one recently passed in Chicago, which provides the […]

A new resolution that seeks to include worker protections was approved by the City Council of Austin on Thursday, September 1. The Council added the resolution to a new program intended to expedite the permit process for construction projects. The worker protections include mandating that construction workers be paid a living wage of $13.03 per hour, receive proper […]

Kelley Rieves, a former assistant manager for Buc-ee’s, was sued by her employer in the 165th State District Civil Court for breach of contract. Buc-ee’s claims that Rieves allegedly left the company in July 2012 even though her contract clearly stated that she should remain employed with Buc-ee’s until at least August 2013. According to the lawsuit, […]

The United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), in a 60-page report issued last Tuesday, August 2 showed that San Antonio, Texas-based petroleum refineries company Tesoro Corp. failed to follow basic safety procedures over a period of many years that caused 19 employees to be injured or be exposed to injury. The Golden […]

A Texas Court of Appeals in Houston, Texas affirmed the decision made by the 149th District Court in Angleton to grant a staffing company’s motion for summary judgement, ruling that a workers’ compensation nonsubscriber is not liable for negligence. Ramiro Najera, the plaintiff, performed responsibilities such as fumigating packaged rice and collecting garbage and dead […]

After the firefighters’ union in Austin seemed to have won an impasse with the city over new terms for a hiring process and cadet training standards, a Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney issued a letter threatening that the resolution may send the DOJ back to court. Subsequently, the union issued an amended resolution, KXAN reported on February 5. […]

Federal Judge Lee Yeakel recently resolved discrimination investigations beginning in April 2013 by signing a decree between the City of Austin in Texas and the Department of Justice concerning the state fire department’s hiring procedures, KXAN reported on November 7. Results from the investigation prompted Yeakel to agree that discrimination was present in the hiring […]