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What are tip-credits?  The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires employers of tipped employees to pay these employees a cash wage below the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.  The minimum cash wage for a tipped employee is $2.13 per hour, which the employer may then offset by taking a $5.12 tip-credit toward paying the…

Social Security Administration (“SSA”) no-match letters have returned—again. The letters have resumed after a SSA no-match letter-hiatus which began in 2007 when the Department of Homeland Security’s 2007 no-match regulation (which has now been rescinded) was blocked by a court. Employers are obligated to follow-up on the new no-match letters. Follow-up can be summarized in…

The Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Homeland Security (which includes Immigration Customs Enforcement—ICE) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on March 31, 2011. The purpose of the MOU is to help both agencies (DOL and ICE) share information in relation to their respective investigative efforts that is acquired during a government investigation…

In 2008, President George W. Bush amended the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) when he signed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). The ADAAA went into effect on January 1, 2009; however, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) just issued its final regulations on the ADAAA on March 25, 2011. Under the ADAAA, it…

In addition to my employment practice, I represent companies with their I-9/Immigration compliance matters, which is featured in the recently published Texas Super Lawyers, Rising Stars Edition: Daniel N. Ramirez – Texas Employment & Labor Lawyers – On the Job. This area of the law has steadily affected more and more employers throughout the nation—regardless…

The latter part of February 2011 was a busy month for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”).  ICE heated up its investigation efforts by starting 1,000 investigations of employers nationwide. These investigations are referred to as Notices of Inspections (“NOI”).  During the NOI process, ICE audits an employer’s original Form I-9s (“I-9”), documents submitted by employees…

Hotel News Now – Jacob Monty explains the importance of hotel companies having a proactive immigration compliance strategy, including accurate Form I-9s and E-Verify.  Read More.

The “M” word? What is it and what does the “M” word mean? With the increasing number of Hispanics in the workforce, it is important to know how to spot employment issues that are associated with Hispanic workers or employees who speak Spanish. This is important because, as with any workforce, an employer wants to…