On May 30, 2023, the Texas Legislature sent legislation to Governor Greg Abbott that will require employers in Texas to post notice to employees about reporting instances of workplace violence or suspicious activity. The legislation is expected to receive final approval in the coming days.
On May 27, 2023, Governor Greg Abbott signed into law the CROWN Act (House Bill No. 567), making Texas the twenty-first state to ban racial discrimination based on hair texture or hairstyle in schools, employment, and housing.
The Americans with Disabilities Act protects most job applicants and employees from discrimination, harassment, or retaliation based on disability. While employers are likely familiar with many of the physical and mental conditions that are commonly considered disabilities, one gaining more and more attention is obesity.
In most parts of the country, courts have not considered obesity as a disability unless it is caused by an underlying health condition. In Texas, however, courts have reached a different conclusion, holding that obesity in itself may be a disability in some cases.
Violating the Sherman Antitrust Act can result in criminal charges, not just civil liability. A criminal prosecution brought by the U.S. Department of Justice last fall is illustrative. The case also reflects a renewed, bipartisan effort at the federal level to crack down on non-compete agreements.
The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what’s happening in Washington, D.C. could impact your business.
On January 5, 2023, nearly eighteen months after President Biden signed an executive order directing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair to “consider working with the rest of the Commission to exercise the FTC’s statutory rulemaking authority … to curtail the unfair use of non-compete clauses and other clauses or agreements that may unfairly limit worker mobility,” the FTC has issued a far-reaching notice of proposed rulemaking that would prohibit the use of non-compete clauses and preempt all state laws providing lesser protection than the proposed rule.
A recent decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Klocke v. Watson, No. 17-11320 (August 23, 2019), appears to have answered a perennial jurisdictional question that had split federal district courts in Texas for several years: Are motions to dismiss pursuant to the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA) allowed in federal court?
A recent U.S. district court decision in Connecticut shows that drug testing applicants and employees in jurisdictions that authorize the use of legalized medical marijuana may present challenges.
