by Alonzo Martinez - Forbes
The Denton City Council is exploring the adoption of a Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance that would restrict an employer’s inquiry into a job applicant’s criminal history. While the ordinance promotes inclusivity and provides individuals with prior criminal records a fair chance in the job market, it imposes additional compliance requirements on employers.
by Greta Ravitsky, Mason Garner - Epstein Becker Green
The State of Texas infrequently regulates the workplace. This summer, however, Texas enacted two notable workplace laws about which employers should be aware.
On June 13, 2023, Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 2127, the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act (the “Act” or “H.B. 2127”), which amends various Texas statutory codes, including the Labor Code, and preempts local lawmaking in various statutorily governed areas to assert Texas’s “sovereign regulatory powers.” Referred to by its opponents as the “Death Star Bill,” the Act is slated to take effect on September 1, 2023, and effectively prevents cities and counties from passing local ordinances beyond the scope of existing state laws in numerous fields of regulation, including labor and employment, agriculture, and finance.
by M. Brett Burns, Robert T. Bumbacher, Crawford C. LeBouef - The National Law Review
Earlier this year, Harris County, Texas, which encompasses a substantial majority of the City of Houston, became the sixth Texas city or county to embrace a “ban the box” policy when it adopted the Fair Chance Policy.
As we have previously posted (see here and here), “ban the box” policies are gaining support around the country, with over 37 states and over 150 cities and counties having adopted some form of a ban the box policy, including several in Texas. Generally, these policies are designed to ensure that potential employers consider a job candidate’s skills and qualifications first, thereby eliminating any implicit bias or negative implication to his/her application due to a criminal conviction or arrest record. As the name suggests, these policies typically eliminate the box (or question) on an employer’s employment application where the applicant must check off whether or not he/she has a criminal record.
by Jay Wallis - WFAA
DALLAS — A Dallas County jury found Charter Communications, which also operates as Spectrum, acted negligently in hiring a field technician who killed one of its customers. The company now owes billions of dollars in damages.
The jury awarded $7 billion in punitive damages against Charter for "systemic safety failures" in connection to the 2019 murder of 83-year-old Betty Thomas by one of the technicians. Earlier in June, a jury also said Charter had to pay 90% of $375 million in compensatory damages to Thomas' family.
by Will Anderson - Dallas Business Journal
Of the many clashes at this year's Texas Legislature about state control versus local control, one has particular significance for businesses: who gets to set rules around hiring and employee benefits at private companies.
Senate Bill 14 would stop municipalities and counties from adopting rules around terms of employment "that exceed or conflict with federal or state law." Those terms include employment leave, hiring practices, employment benefits and scheduling practices. That would bar things such as mandatory paid sick leave in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, and could impact other local ordinances that have been in effect for years.
Read more: https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2021/05/20/texas-local-control-hiring.html
