Court Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging Hospital’s COVID Vaccination Requirement
Houston Memorial Hospital and several affiliated health care facilities announced to their employees on April 21, 2021 that they had until June 7, 2021 to show proof that they were vaccinated against COVID-19. The vast majority of the employees did so, but a number refused and filed a lawsuit [...]
Reasonable Agreements and the FLSA: A Different Approach to Wage-Hour Issues Raised by Working from Home
We’ve always had employees who worked from home, either by their choice, their employers’ choice, or the nature of their work. Since March of 2020, however, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, working from home has become ubiquitous. The advantages of working from home have become obvious, and when [...]
Will the New Sheriff in Town be the Old Sheriff?
The issue of who is an employee versus an independent contractor never grows old, it seems. The basic federal guidelines for what constitutes an employment relationship were first enunciated by the Supreme Court in a pair of decisions growing out of President Roosevelt's New Deal legislation—the Fair Labor Standards [...]
The COVID Vaccine and Workplace Compliance
By Brian Farrington and Casey Erick It sometimes seems that an eternity has passed since early 2020, when COVID-19 began to affect our lives. However, in medical terms, the development of several highly effective vaccines in less than a year is astonishingly rapid. It now looks like we are [...]
Dallas Employee Sick-Leave Ordinance Slated to Start April 1 has Been Blocked
Updated, Mar. 31, 2020, via Brian Farrington -- this news updates an original article on this topic, from Casey Erick, Aug. 8, 2019. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has issued a preliminary injunction against the City of Dallas, preventing enforcement of Dallas’ paid sick leave [...]
Coronavirus: Texas Workforce Commission Issues Guidance for Separations
As part of Cowles & Thompson’s continuing effort to keep our clients informed during the Coronavirus pandemic, we wanted to address an issue that will affect many Texas employers. Texas Workforce Commission Guidance If you are forced to lay off or furlough employees because of the current pandemic, such [...]
What Employers Should Know about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
Brian Farrington, head of the Cowles Thompson Employment Law section, wrote the following summary of the new employee rights created by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The requirements go into effect 15 days after passage -- or April 1, 2020. (Per and update from the Dept. of Labor clarifying [...]
ALERT: Coronavirus and Recent Activities on Capitol Hill
With the unprecedented impacts related to the Coronavirus in the U.S. and globally, Cowles Thompson wants to share important news and decisions from Washington. UPDATE 3/22/20: Dow drops after Seante fails a second time to advance a Coronavirus stimulus UPDATE 3/17/20: Dow jumps on possible $1 trillion stimulus [...]
Supreme Court Casually Changes Decades of FLSA Enforcement
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 USC 201 et seq. (FLSA), is the federal wage and hour law. It establishes the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour, and mandates the payment of overtime at time and a half of employees’ regular rates of pay for hours worked [...]
To Whom Do Tips Belong? A Long and Winding Road
For as long as most people can remember, service employees in restaurants, bars, etc. have relied on tips from customers as a supplement to their income, or in many cases, as the principal source of their income. Recognizing this fact, the federal wage and hour law, the Fair Labor Standards [...]
