Houston Employment Law Blog
Is my employer taking advantage of my benefits plan?
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) protects employees who receive welfare or retirement benefits from their employers. Specifically, ERISA protects your savings from abuse and entitles you to information about your plan. But sometimes, employers fail...
Understanding ERISA’s Mental Health Parity Act
Mental health struggles have become an epidemic in the U.S. In Texas specifically, one out of five adults will experience a mental health issue this year. Sadly, more than 20% of children ages 9-17 are already diagnosed with mental health problems. Being that...
How to determine if a salary is fair
Employees in Texas and throughout the country may be curious to know if they are being paid the same as colleagues who perform similar jobs. However, it is generally not acceptable to simply ask people to talk in detail about their annual salaries. Instead, it is a...
You can obtain benefits, regardless of subjective symptoms
A disabling condition can change your life. Not only can it physically drain you, but it can cause you a considerable amount of emotional and financial stress as well. It can keep you out of work and from participating in the activities you love. Your rights under the...
Labor Department raises overtime threshold for salaried workers
A decision from the U.S. Department of Labor has made it possible for 1.3 million more salaried workers to collect overtime pay. The federal government has lifted the salary threshold for mandatory overtime pay to $35,568. In 2016, the Obama administration had set the...
The potential consequences of an ERISA violation
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act provides several protections for those who receive benefits from their employers. For example, Houston companies that are covered by ERISA must tell employees how a retirement plan or pension is funded or what its key...
The energy sector has a pay equity problem
It is common knowledge that women in general do not earn the same amount as their male counterparts. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “women, on average, earn less than men in nearly every single occupation for which there is...
Women in Houston’s tech industry have very little wage gap
In Houston, there’s one industry where the wage gap between men and women employees is virtually nothing: the tech industry. According to a 2019 study by SmartAsset, Houston female tech employees make 99% of what male employees do. That’s the highest...
Lyft wage audit shows pay is equal for its female employees
For many female workers, the pay gap is a constant reminder that pay inequality still exists. But more companies have tried to fix the pay gap by auditing their pay practices. These audits show companies where inequalities exist in their pay structures, letting them...
CDC settles overtime, FLSA claims for $11 million
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has agreed to settle a wage and hour dispute with employees for a total of $11 million. Texas and federal laws require employers to make certain minimum payments to employees, including obeying minimum wage requirements...
