The Dallas Hospitality Employment Lawyer Blog

Employers with employees who drive as part of their job duties should know that Texas's texting while driving ban takes effect today.  Fines can range from $25 to $99, and up to $200 for repeat offenders. Drivers are, however, permitted to use hands-free devices. Employers should ensure employees are aware of the ban and penalties. 

Effective September 1, 2017, and pursuant to House Bill 1935, Texans over the age of eighteen will be permitted to open carry knives with blades longer than five and one-half inches.   Instead of prohibiting the carrying of an “illegal” knife, defined in the prior version of the law as “a knife with a blade over five and one-half inches,” including, without limitation, daggers, dirks, stilettos, poniards, bowie knives, swords, or spears, the new law focuses on public places where these types of blades (now known as “location-restricted knives”) cannot be open carried.     More specifically, under HB 1935, a person commits a felony of the third degree if he intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly possesses or goes with a location-restricted knife on the physical premises of a school or educational facility; on the premises of a polling place on the day of an election or while early voting is taking place; on the premises of any court buildings or court offices, or r...

Not long ago, I wrote about how the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB's) positions on various handbook policies transcended common sense.   In a recent opinion, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, holding that the following employer handbook policies did not , contrary to the NLRB’s opinion, violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act and “chill” an employee’s organizing rights: (1) encouraging employees to “maintain a positive working environment”; (2) prohibiting "arguing or fighting," "failing to treat others with respect," and "failing to demonstrate appropriate teamwork"; and (3) prohibiting access to electronic information by non-approved individuals. See T-Mobile USA, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board , No. 16-60284 ( 5th Cir. July 25, 2017).     According to the Court, the relevant inquiry isn’t whether a rule “could” conceivably be read to cover Section 7 activity, but rather whether a re...

In its ExxonMobil Corporation and WHM Custom Services Inc. v. Rincones decision issued last week, the Texas Supreme Court held that there is no independent cause of action in Texas for compelled self-defamation.  http://www.txcourts.gov/supreme/orders-opinions/2017/may/may-26-2017/ .   The crux of this sometimes-recognized tort is that a former employee's publication to a third party can satisfy the publication element of a defamation claim because the former employee is effectively compelled to publish the defamatory statement to prospective employers when the employee is asked why she left her former employment.  The claim often arose in cases where an employee alleged that the employer gave a false reason for the employee's discharge, and the employee was "compelled" to publish the false statement to prospective new employers during the hiring process.  Prior to the Supreme Court's decision, several appeals courts in Texas had recognized the t...

Pundits proclaimed that with the new administration, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) would dial down or pull back from its current position of DEFCON 2 with respect to employer handbook policies.  As evidenced by a decision issued by an Administrative Law Judge last week, it does not appear that a retreat is in sight.   In Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc. and United Government Security Officers of America, Local 25 , Case Nos. 01-CA-153956, 01-CA-158947, and 01-CA-165432 (May 12, 2017), the ALJ found that the following handbook policies violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), even though most of them were not actually at issue in the case:   1.  Integrity Code (communications):  employees should not engage in communications that "include material that is inappropriate, untrue, or disparaging to outside parties or to [employer]."  According to the ALJ, the NLRB has repeatedly held that such a prohibition is unlawful bec...

Currently pending before the Texas Supreme Court is a case involving three important issues for Texas employers, both public and private.   First, to invoke the TCHRA’s waiver of governmental immunity, must a plaintiff establish but-for causation found in the third step of the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework? Second, what kind of evidence can establish that same-sex harassment was not just about gender, but because of gender?   And third, must a supervisor actually exercise hiring and firing authority under the United States Supreme Court’s standard in Vance v. Ball State Univ . for the purpose of establishing vicarious liability?   In Alamo Heights Ind. Sch. Dist. v. Clark , No. 16-0244, Clark, a female physical education teacher and coach, claimed she was sexually harassed by her female supervisor and a co-worker, and fired in retaliation for her complaints.   In the trial court below, the school district filed a plea to the jurisdiction, which th...

Since the government's appeal of in injunction issued in December 2016 by Judge Amos Mazzant that blocked the implementation of the Obama administration's overtime rule overhaul, employers have been waiting to see whether the new administration will take up the battle cry or fall back and retreat.   This week, and for the second time since the government filed its appeal, the Fifth Circuit granted an extension of 60 days, or to and including June 30, 2017, for the government to file a reply brief.    Clearly, the government is waiting on the confirmation of Alexander Acosta as the new Secretary of Labor, and expects him to provide guidance regarding the administration's position on this issue.  Assuming that Acosta is confirmed, and based on his confirmation hearing testimony, it is unlikely that the Department of Labor will continue the appeal.  What is unknown is whether Acosta will consider more modest changes to the current ...