Tag: Department of Labor

Anatomy of an EEOC Charge in Texas

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When a Texas employee believes he or she has been discriminated against at work because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information under a number of federal laws, they can file a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. All of the laws enforced by the EEOC, except the Equal Pay Act, require an employee to file a charge before filing a job discrimination lawsuit. The employee must bring the charge within 180 days from the day the discrimination took place, or within 300 days if a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis. With allegations of age discrimination, the filing deadline[…]

Dnt Txt N Drv

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While many states, including Pennsylvania, have implemented laws the ban texting while driving, the federal government has also thrown its hat into the ring. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has implemented a Distracted Driving Initiative, which will focus on texting while driving. OSHA calls upon all employers to ban texting while driving and remove any practice or policy that requires or encourages workers to text while driving. The first part of OSHA’s call to action is certainly easy to implement. Simply add a section in your employee handbook prohibiting texting while driving (and maybe take it a step further by prohibiting cell phone use in general while driving) and ensure that all of your employees are aware of[…]

Let the Audits Begin

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Tax day is past, and now everyone can start worry about being audited. And while you may be worried about an IRS audit, you shouldn’t forget about the Department of Labor. The Fair Labor Standards Act gives the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division broad investigative authority to review employer records and conduct on-site inspections. Luckily, you can take some steps to prepare for a DOL audit and avoid a great deal of trouble (and expense) down the line. Review Job Descriptions You should be reviewing job descriptions periodically, just to make sure that the description matches the position. When conducting your wage and hour audit, you need to ensure that the people you are classifying as exempt are actually exempt.[…]