Labor / Employment Laws

There are many employment and labor laws. Everyone knows about minimum wage and child labor regulations. Sometimes the line becomes fuzzy, like cottage industries, which are where people contract to do piece work at home. Of course there are prohibitions as well. For example, in companies with more than 16 employees, it is illegal to make a hiring or firing decision based on an employee's or potential employee's race, religion, creed, age, color, or national origin. There is a dispute as to whether one may discriminate as to disability, as a blind person can't drive and therefore can't be hired as a truck driver. On the other hand, an employer may be required to provide reasonable accommodations to allow the disabled person to work, assuming he or she has the necessary qualifications to perform the job duties.

There are also other types of distinctions: whether an employer has an open shop, closed shop or union shop. An open shop means an employee may not be required to join the labor union. A closed shop is where an employee must join a union in order to work for a particular employer. A union shop is where an employee may work temporarily in a closed shop. There is also the concept of employment-at-will and person service agreements. In Texas, all employment agreements are presumed to be at-will unless the parties change that relationship in a way that limits the employer's right to terminate the employment. If one is working in an open shop, union shop or closed shop, then the collective bargaining agreement or union contract between labor and management takes the employment relationship out of the at-will employment. For disputes in that arena, usually the union will represent the employee against the company before the National Labor Relations Board.

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