Mr. Bradley Stonefield must observe all employment laws in Austin, TX for the new limousine service. Throughout processes that would involve the 25 employees, Mr. Stonefield must ensure compliance with the law for the success of the business. Failure to comply with these laws could result into long legal tussles with employees and their representatives and cause financial ruin to the company.
This memo focuses on relevant employment laws as well as how they are legally used. In addition, the memo explores consequences of failure to comply with the employment laws. These laws are different, but an employer must observe all of them, including others not covered in this memo.
The memo focuses on four employment laws that Landslide Limousines must observe. These employment laws include Texas Payday; Texas Minimum Wage Act; the Texas Child Labor Law; and Employment Discrimination.
The Employment Laws for Austin, TX and Consequences of Noncompliance
Texas Payday
Texas Labor Code has a provision for the Texas Payday Law. The law accounts for all private business organizations, irrespective of their sizes. Any person that engages in service provision for payment is regarded as an employee, apart from relatives and independent contractors.
There are specific payments that fall under the Texas Payday Law. The company will account for all compensations irrespective of how they are calculated; commissions and bonuses based on the agreement; and specific fringe benefits due based on a written agreement or the company’s policy.
Noncompliance with the Texas Payday Law has severe consequences to an employer. The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) investigates and determines if an employer did not obey the law and acted in a bad faith. The TWC reviews administrative penalty against the employer equivalent to the wages claimed or $1,000, whichever is less.
At the same time, any employee who files a complaint in a bad faith may also bear similar penalties. Overall, it is against the law for an employer to fail to pay wages after receiving notification from TWC and to hire or continue to employ a person with the intent of not paying due wages.
Texas Minimum Wage Act
The TWC offers information to both the employer and employee on the Texas Minimum Wage Act, and their respective duties, rights and remedies under the Act.
The Act requires an employer to have a minimum wage for non-exempt employees, provide written statements of employees’ earnings, recognize the TWC as an agency responsible for providing information on Texas minimum wage provisions, offering civil remedies and exempting certain employers from the Act.
Currently, Texas has adopted the Federal Minimum Wage of the year “2009, which was $7.25 per hour”. The Act does not bar employees from bargaining for higher wages.
Employers could include tips, meals and lodging costs to the minimum wage, but only under specific restrictions. An employer may not compensate workers who reside on the business premise for on-call time together with the normal working hours.
In some instances, an employer may continue to pay sub-minimum wages to employees who have certain medical conditions, particularly mental illness.
Any employer who pays lower than the legal minimum wage may face legal action from employees. An employee can file a complaint within two years from the due date to claim the unpaid wages and any amount incurred as damages. In addition, the employer must bear legal costs.
The Texas Child Labor Law
The law considers employees under the age of 18 years. The Texas Child Labor Law protects children from harmful employment. In addition, it does not allow any child under the age of 14 years to be employed, except under certain situations.
The TWC also controls all issues related to child employment with the aim of protecting the rights to education, health, safety and well-being. The TWC has a right to inspect the working condition for children, and employers who hinder investigation could face criminal charges. Businesses must observe the state law, “except entities subjected to the Federal law of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)”.
Driving
Under the Texas State Law, children may be employed to operate a motor vehicle for a commercial purpose under specific conditions. The child may work under direct supervision of their parents or legal guardian in their business.
The child must have a valid driver’s license. Children may work in businesses where they do not require a commercial license to conduct the job. Finally, a child cannot operate a vehicle with more 15,000 pounds of total weight and has over two axles.
In addition, Texas State Law requires children between the age of 14 and 15 years old not to work for more than 8 hours in a day, 48 hours in a week and cannot report to work before 5 a.m. Still, children cannot work after 10 p.m during school days and past midnight on other days.
Any violation of the “Texas Child Labor Law is a Class B misdemeanor”. Nevertheless, if a person employs a child who does not meet the minimum age requirement for “a type of employment, but did so in good faith relying on an apparently valid certificate of age, then that may be a defense against prosecution”.
Therefore, noncompliance with the Texas Child Labor Law is a criminal offense with criminal penalties. In addition, the TWC may evaluate all administrative penalties against the employer of up to $10,000 per violation.
Employment Discrimination
A former, current, or prospective employee can complain against an employer in the State of Texas under the Texas Labor Code. The TWC reviews many cases related to employee discrimination on the following areas:
- Not hired due to a disability
- Gender
- Nationality of origin
- Race or ethnic
- Harassment based on age differences
- Denial of benefits due to pregnancy
- Retaliation against employees because of filing a complaint
For example, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits discrimination based on employee age, particularly employees who are over 40 years of age.
Employers must not discriminate because of age when hiring, promoting, discharging, compensating, or on other terms of the employment policy (Ray, Sharpe, & Strassfeld, 2011). Employers who fail to comply with this Act may be fined up to $500 or be imprisoned for a period not exceeding a year or face charges on both counts.
The TWC shall review all discrimination complaint and works with its Civil Rights Division (a neutral investigator) to ascertain if any discrimination took place under the Texas Labor Code. The Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for solving any employment discrimination in the State of Texas.
It is against the Texas Labor Code for any employer to retaliate against employee because of filing a discrimination complaint, supporting a complaint, opposing discrimination or engaging in a proceeding. Therefore, an employer cannot dismiss, demote or harass any employees on such grounds.
Texas Labor Code on employee discrimination affects employers with more than 15 employees.
Recommendations on how Landslide Limousines can be compliant
The Texas Workforce Commission is responsible for ensuring that all employers in Austin, TX adhere to the Texas Labor Code. These laws were enacted to protect both the employer and employees from any forms of abuse and exploitation.
Failure to comply with the Texas Labor Code has legal penalties and financial implications for the company. Mr. Bradley Stonefield, therefore, should consider the following recommendations when handling employee issues for Landslide Limousines.
- Both the employer and employees should understand the Texas Labor Code to allow them to observe their rights and obligations
- Landslide Limousines should not employ any child because of difficulties in meeting requirements associated with child labor in Texas
- The company must not discriminate any potential employees based on their age, nationality, race, gender and disabilities among others
- In case of any employment discrimination against Landslide Limousines, the company should not retaliate against employees, potential employees or former employees
- The employer and the employee must understand the role of Texas Workforce Commission, Civil Rights Division, and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
- Employees and the employer must not act in bad faith against each other
References
Gould IV, W. (2013). A Primer on American Labor Law (5th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ray, D., Sharpe, C., & Strassfeld, R. (2011). Understanding Labor Law (3r ed.). New York: LexisNexis.
Texas Workforce Commission. (2014). Employment Law: Discrimination, Wages & Child Labor. Web.