Austin Employment Law Blog

Some Texas employees who work on-call shifts may be eligible for overtime pay. As evidenced by a court case in Ohio, however, there can be some confusion regarding when that overtime pay is required. The judge in that case found that a nurse who was on call throughout the weekend should have been paid overtime even though she didn't work the entire 48 hours that she was on call.

The nurse worked an on-call shift every other weekend. This was in addition to her usual work week. She was paid her regular rate for the on-call time, but she argued that she should have been given overtime. The hospital argued that since the nurse was not working for the entire 48 hours, this was not warranted. The court disagreed. First, it argued that it was compensable time since the hospital paid her the regular rate.

Mental illness is a common cause of workplace burnout and absences in Texas. Across the United States, approximately one in five adults are affected by mental illness per year. Employees who are struggling with mental health problems can request a reasonable accommodation from their company's human resources department.

A reasonable accommodation is an alteration in a person's job schedule or activities in order to help him or her deal with a medical condition or disability. For example, an employee may request a reasonable accommodation for his or her work to be scheduled around therapy appointments or a quieter work environment.

Employees in Texas should be aware of their rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The underpinning of FMLA is that it is supposed to help preserve family stability, which in turns makes for a more stable and productive employment situation.

Employees are eligible for FMLA leave if they work at a company that has a minimum of 50 employees in a 75-mile radius and if they have been at the job full time for one year. FMLA leave can be taken for the adoption or birth of a child, for an employee's own serious medical issues or for the serious medical issues of a close family member. It may be a physical or mental issue. FMLA leave lasts for up to 12 weeks, but it does not have to be consecutive, and in some cases, a person's physician may have them take intermittent leave.

Some Texas employees might be well-acquainted with what constitutes overt workplace harassment and discrimination but may not know what to do about more subtle forms. Actions such as looking at a minority employee whenever someone mentions race, staring at a pregnant woman's stomach, or refusing to make eye contact may all feel like they could be discriminatory actions, but it may be difficult to document or report them.

Such actions present challenges for both human resources departments and employees. It is important for human resources departments to make employees feel they can communicate even about minor incidents. Human resources professionals then must judge whether the issue is a person's work style or actual bias. For example, some people might not make eye contact with anyone in the office as part of their regular work style. Human resources professionals might also consider how they integrate information on these more subtle forms of discrimination into their training. This can include training on unconscious bias.