labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Is your Texas USERRA poster up to date?  The regulations have been recently updated by the Department of Labor and they are said to be final.  By law, every employer should have an accurate poster displayed, even if there currently aren’t any employees would serve in the military. 

USERRA stands for Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.  It was created for the civilian job protection of people who serve in the military temporarily.  It was originally put into effect in 1994, but it has been recently changed.  Federal government workers are now able to file claims under USERRA.  Claims are investigated by a division of the Department of Labor called VETS (Veterans Employment and Training Service). 

Typical claims are for reemployment after less than five years of military service.  Job protection is normally given to those who serve in the military for up to five cumulative years.  Special cases may even allow for reemployment after seven cumulative years of military service.  So basically, if someone has served for less than five years, they are typically reemployed at their civilian job by their employer.

If the VETS for some reason is unable to resolve the issue, the Department of Justice will bring the case to the federal District Court.  This is done without any fees that the worker has to pay.  It is more than likely that the VETS won’t have to refer the claim, as most employers will reemploy workers that were away serving the country for a time.

Many government employees will have a slightly different claims process.  Instead of the Dept. of Justice, the Office of Special Counsel handles claims for federal government employees or those who work for the Postal Service if the VETS are unable to resolve the situation.  After that, the claim is reviewed by the Merit Systems Protection Board.  They can honor claims and provide compensation. 

Texas is known as one of the biggest states in the Union. It’s known for those big cowboy hats and big cowboy boots. The steaks are big in Texas, as are the big oil men driving their big Cedillas. And the list of rules and regulations that employers must deal with because of the state law is a pretty big deal too.

The Texas Labor Law Poster Requirements are like most other states, though. The Texas Labor Law Poster Requirements include basically two parts to them. There is the federal side, whereby all employers according to the Texas Labor Law Poster Requirements have to have the six federal postings.

The last time that we covered the Texas Labor Law Poster Requirements, we didn’t touch upon these six federal postings in great detail. So I’ll take this chance to do so now. These six federal postings in the Texas Labor Law Poster Requirements include the following:

There is the USERRA posting to instruct employees how they ought to be treated if they are on active duty with the armed forces. There is the OSHA posting, for employee safety and work site health maintenance. There is the Family and Medical Leave Act posting, which covered the law on how much time employees can take off for personal and medical reasons.

There is also the federal minimum wage posting, and it’s instructions on other matters from the Fair Labor Standards Act. There is the Equal Employment Opportunity posting for what types of discrimination are prohibited in the workplace. And there is the Employee Polygraph Protection Act posting for how employees are protected against forced lie detector testing by their employers.

Then there are also eight state postings as part of the Texas Labor Law Poster Requirements. These include three on workers’ comp rules. Then there are the child labor posting, the fair employment posting, the payday notice, the “notice,” and the unemployment insurance posting.

If you live in Texas and you have ever wondered about whether a child can perform a certain duty, whether an employer has violated your rights, or whether you could possibly owe an employee money, then you need to know about Texas Labor laws. Those are the laws that cover all the different aspects of working and the rights and responsibilities of both employers and employees.

The Tax and Labor Law Department of the Texas Workforce Commission covers the Texas Child Labor Law and the Payday Notice, as well as the Minimum Wage Act for the state of Texas. These are all laws that must be displayed on posters on the walls of every place of employment in the state. These posters assist employees in learning what the laws are and how they work. The posters also tell employees how to reach the Workforce Commission if they have a question or if they feel there has been a violation.

In addition to these three posters, the other Texas (TX) Employment Labor Posters that are required in the workplace are: Workers’ Compensation Notice - Part 1, Workers’ Compensation Notice - Part 2, Worker’s Compensation - TWCC # 5, Unemployment Insurance, and the Fair Employment Notice.

In addition to the Texas Employment Labor Posters, the Federal government has several posting requirements of its own. These include the following posters: USERRA - Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law, Federal Minimum Wage, Employee Polygraph Protection Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and OSHA-Job Safety & Health Protection.

By keeping the posters in a conspicuous place as required, employers are assisting their workers in being informed and knowledgeable. It is the employer’s responsibility to update the posters as the laws change, so that the workers know what the new laws are right away.

I think now would be a good time to discuss the labor law posters for Texas with you. These posters are designed to let employees know about the rights and protections they are granted under both federal and state laws. The posters must contain specific information, they must be displayed in an appropriate area, and they must be updated whenever necessary.

The state requirements for the labor law posters for Texas are: Child Labor, Workers’ Compensation - Part 1, Workers’ Compensation – Part 2, Workers’ Compensation - TWCC #5, Notice, Payday Notice, Unemployment Insurance, and Fair Employment Notice. The federal requirements for the labor law poster for Texas are the same as the requirements for the rest of the United States.

Not only do the labor law posters for Texas include the employees’ rights and protections, they also include information about where and how an employee can file a complaint if the law has been broken. It’s illegal for any worker to be retaliated against for filing a claim or by voicing a complaint.

The labor law posters for Texas must be displayed in a conspicuous area so that all employees have an opportunity to see them. Since the laws are meant to provide the employees with information, this requirement makes sense. The labor law posters for Texas should also be kept free of any type of graffiti or any other unauthorized writing. For this reason, employers may want to enclose the labor law posters for Texas in glass or clear plastic.

It’s the employer’s responsibility to update the labor law posters for Texas whenever a change to the posters is made. The employer must make sure he/she knows when the posters need to be updated. They should also know which posters need to be displayed in their workplace. Failure to display the correct posters in the appropriate area is against the law.

Updating your Texas and Federal Labor Law Posters is even more important, as a high-profile case hits the news this week. The U.S. Labor Department recently sued a Houston drywall firm to recover over $500,000 in back wages for employees working on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Employers should realize that they could be fined up to $7,500 depending upon state, for not displaying the appropriate Texas and Federal Labor Law Posters. The Houston firm’s alleged violations include overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division following an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD). Back wages are expected to exceed $500,000 for more than 500 construction workers. Also named in the department’s lawsuit are the president of the company and a company vice president.

“To protect workers engaged in hurricane recovery and rebuilding, last year the department deployed additional investigators to the Gulf Coast region to better ensure that employers fully comply with wage and hour laws,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao. “This legal action is among our many efforts on behalf of these workers who are doing vital work for the Gulf Coast region’s recovery and who deserve and are entitled to receive all the wages they have earned.”

The drywall company performed on contracts for reconstruction along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The WHD investigation of the Beau Rivage Hotel and Casino contract in Biloxi, Miss. and other worksites, found that the employer regularly misclassified employees as independent contractors and failed to pay them the additional half time overtime premium for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The company also failed to maintain accurate records of employees’ wages and hours of work.

For more information about the provisions of the FLSA, contact the DOL’s toll-free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243) or the Houston Wage and Hour office at (713) 339-5500.