The Dallas Hospitality Employment Lawyer Blog

Last week, Philadelphia's City Council passed a new law taxing sugar-sweetened beverages.  Here are some FAQs:   What is a sugar-sweetened beverage?   Examples include soda, non-100% fruit drinks, sports drinks, flavored water, energy drinks, pre-sweetened coffee or tea, and non-alcoholic beverages intended to be mixed into an alcoholic drink.  The new law contains an ingredient-based definition.   Are there exclusions from the tax?   Yes, exclusions include, among other things, baby formula, any product, more than 50% of which, by volume, is milk, and any syrup or other concentrate that the customer combines with other ingredients to create a beverage.   How much is the tax?   The tax is one and one-half cents per fluid ounce for sugar-sweetened beverages.    How is the tax imposed?   The tax is imposed on each of the following:  (a) the supply of any sugar-sweetened beverage to a dealer; (b) the acquisition o...

Most hospitality employers that take the tip credit and accept credit card payments for tips for tipped employees offset a particular amount, usually a percentage, to recover direct fees charged by the credit card companies.  These direct fees, referred to as  "credit card issuer fees," include swipe fees, charge backs, void fees, and manual-entry fees.   In a 2006 Wage and Hour Division Opinion Letter, the United States Department of Labor opined that employers are permitted to deduct an average offset for credit card issuer fees as long as "the employer reduces the amount of credit card tips paid to the employee by an amount no greater than the amount charged to the employer by the credit card company."   In a decision issued yesterday, the Fifth Circuit agreed that a restaurant employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) when it deducted and retained 3.25% of its tipped employees' credit card tips because the deduction exceeded th...

In an opinion issued on Friday, the Fifth Circuit agreed with a decision from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas finding that the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB's) rules amending the procedures for determining whether a majority of employees wish to be represented by a labor organization for purposes of collective bargaining did not violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) or the Administrative Procedure Act.  A copy of the opinion can be found on the Fifth Circuit's website:  http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/electronic-case-filing/case-information/current-opinions .   Among other changes, the new rules: (1) allow for employees to take a vote on union representation as soon as eleven days after a petition for representation is filed; (2) defer employer challenges to voter eligibility issues until after an election is held; (3) remove the standard, twenty-five day delay that normally occurs between the time a regional director...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been busy over the past few weeks.  Here are the highlights of its latest activities: 1.  Issuance of Final Rules on Employer Wellness Programs .  If you offer employees a voluntary wellness program that's part of a group health plan, you'll want to review the final rules just issued, which, among other things, cap incentives an employer can offer to employees who participate. 2.  Publication on " Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act ."   In this document, the EEOC provides general information to employers and employees regarding its position on when and how leave must be granted for reasons related to an employee's disability.  It also inclues a discussion related to the interactive process, maximum leave policies, and reassignment. Of interest is the EEOC's discussion related to assessing whether an undue hardship will prevent an employer from granting leave as an a...

The battle over whether student privacy rights trump a transgender student's right to use the bathroom that corresponds to the sex with which he or she identifies continues, and two new developments move the issue closer to a possible review by the Supreme Court.   First, at the end of May, and on behalf of the State of Texas, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Obama Administration challenging the Administration's directive to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.  Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin joined in the lawsuit.  The suit is pending in the Northern District of Texas, Wichita Falls Division.  All of the plaintiffs seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.   Second, last week, the Fourth Circuit denied a rehearing request in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board , No. 4:15-cv54, in the United States...