Case Study: Employment Law Compliance Plan For Landslide Limusines

MEMORANDUM

TO: Bradley Stonefield, CEO
FROM: Tameka Thomas
Date: December 21,2014
Subject: Employment Law Compliance Plan for Landslide Limousines
CC: Traci Goldman, Manager- Atwood and Allen Consulting

This memorandum will address your request for an employee law compliance plan for Bradley’s Stonefields limousine service in Austin, Texas. Mr. Stonefield would like to have 25 employees in his business by the end of the first year. The Employment Law Compliance Plan will include various local, state, and federal employment laws that affect the hiring and jobs of individuals for the company. It will also include the penalties and repercussions associated with violating any employment laws. Below you will find an overview of each law as well as a summary of consequences if you do not abide by these rules.

Cascio (2014) states “The American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, state and local government services, public
accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation”. The ADA (2010) prohibits discrimination in all employment practices, including job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. The ADA (2010) applies to recruitment, advertising, tenure, layoff, leave, fringe benefits, and all other employment-related activities. If you receive an application for employment at your limousine company and the person is qualified for the job, you must make the required modifications to the business for that employee. The ADA (2010) handbook states that a special tax credit is available to help smaller employers make accommodations required by the ADA. An eligible small business may take a tax credit of up to $5,000 per year for accommodations made to comply with the ADA. The credit is available for one-half the cost of "eligible access expenditures" that are more than $250 but less than $10,250 (Texas Workforce Commission, 2014).

Mr. Stonefield if your limousine company has an employee that feels like they have been discriminated against they will file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or state human rights agencies. The Texas Workforce Commissioner (2013), states that an employee may receive the following remedies hiring, reinstatement, promotion, back pay, front pay, restored benefits, attorney’s fees and court cost. That employee might also receive compensatory and punitive damages. Compensatory damages are awarded to compensate a complaining party for losses or suffering inflicted due to the discriminatory act or conduct (Texas Workforce Commissioner (2013). The limit in the state of Texas for a business of 15 to 100 employees is 50,000. The Workforce Commissioner handbook states that punitive damages are awarded to punish the respondent and to deter future discriminatory conduct. They are not available against a federal, state, or local government, a government agency or a political subdivision (Texas Workforce Commissioner (2013). Punitive damages are available only where the respondent acted with "malice or with reckless indifference to the federally protected rights

Employment Law Compliance Plan
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December 21, 2014

of an aggrieved individual." This amount is calculated by the quantity of malice. This cost is not "grossly excessive" or "shocking."

Your state also has the Texas Payday Law, which covers all Texas business entities, regardless of size, except for public employers such as the federal government, the state or a political subdivision of the state. All persons who perform a service for compensation are considered employees, except for close relatives and independent contractors (Texas Workforce Commission, 2011). This law will cover the employee and the employer. The Texas Payday Law states that the pay should be given in United States currency, and delivered to the employee at work by direct deposit or mail by the payday.

If an employee is fired, laid off or discharged from the company the employer has six calendar days to give the employee their final pay.
If a business does not comply with this act, the company can receive a 1000.00 fine. If there are two or more violations of the Fair Labor Act or the final wage payment, the Texas Wage Commission (TWC) may require a bond issued by a surety company. TWC sets the bond amount it must guarantee the payment of any sum recovered against the employer under Texas Payday Law and that the employer will pay the employees in accordance with the Texas Payday Law for a period of up to three years. If an employer fails to deposit the bond required, we may pursue a court order that the company cease doing business until they furnish the bond. Because of the high cost of such surety bonds, the requirement that an employer furnish such security could cause the failure of a business (Texas Workforce Commission,
2011).

Mr. Stonefield your state has several, state, federal and local laws that pertain to employment in Texas. In order to make sure that Landslide Limousine has complied with all of the regulations and legislation in Texas, you must consult a lawyer. This agent will be required to make sure all of your policies and regulations are in compliance with the laws of Texas.

References

Cascio 9ed. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books /9781121903814/page/13

Department of Justice. (2010). American with Disabilities Act Title II Regulations Handbook. Handbook, Nondiscrimination on the Bases od Disability in State and Local Government Services, Austin.

Texas Workforce Commission. (2014, November 26). Retrieved December 21, 2014, from http://www.twc.state.tx.us/ui/lablaw/texas-payday-law.html

Texas Workforce Commission. (2011). Especially for Texas Employees. Austin, Texas, United States of America.