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Ray Bissmeyer

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Ray Bissmeyer works closely with businesses of all types to keep some of their greatest assets—their employees—from becoming costly liabilities. Recognizing that employment-related claims are an unfortunate cost of doing business, Ray develops employment policies, procedures, and training programs that can keep those costs to a minimum. When incidents arise, he advises clients on how best to manage investigations and any advisable disciplinary or remedial actions.

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The United States Supreme Court issued an important decision for employers on January 15, 2025, where It held that employers do not have a heightened standard of proof to show that an employee is exempt from the “white collar” exemptions from minimum wage and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies Employers’ Burden To Prove FLSA White Collar Exemptions, but Questions Persist Regarding Salary Requirements

Yesterday, a federal court in Texas issued a nationwide injunction preventing the Federal Trade Commission’s rule banning nearly all employee non-compete agreements from taking effect on September 4, 2024. The case, Ryan LLC et al. v. Federal Trade Commission, Case No. 3:24-cv-00986 (N.D. Tex.), was brought by a Texas tax preparation company and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This ruling was widely expected because the court issued an order in July 2024 that blocked the FTC from applying the rule as to the plaintiff, but signaled that it would decide whether to issue a broader injunction before the FTC rule took effect. It followed through, and you can read the court’s opinion here.Continue Reading Federal Court Blocks FTC Rule Banning Employee Non-Competes

Workplace Violence Reporting Poster Required

Effective September 1, 2023, Texas employers of any size are required to “post a notice to employees of the contact information for reporting instances of workplace violence or suspicious activity to the Department of Public Safety.” On its website, the Texas Workforce Commission (“TWC”) has posted a notice to employers that compliance is expected beginning on January 8, 2024, and provided a poster to be posted in English and Spanish in a conspicuous place convenient to all employees to comply with this new requirement.

This requirement followed the enactment of Senate Bill 240, which requires healthcare facilities to adopt a workplace violence prevention plan, as described below.Continue Reading Legal Updates for Texas Employers in 2024

Late Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an Order and Opinion lifting the stay that previously had been entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit which had prevented the OSHA COVID-19 emergency technical standard (the “ETS”) that applied to employers with 100 or more employees from going into effect. This reversal puts many employers in the position of having to immediately restart compliance efforts that may have been paused during the pendency of the stay.
Continue Reading On Again; Sixth Circuit Lifts Stay on OSHA COVID-19 ETS

Nearly two months after President Biden unveiled his COVID-19 Action Plan, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that requires all employers with at least 100 employees to establish, implement, and enforce a written policy mandating that each employee either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing and wear face coverings indoors. OSHA clarifies that the ETS is meant to strongly encourage employers to stipulate that its employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but includes a narrow testing and face covering exception—at least for now.

Continue Reading OSHA Releases Highly Anticipated Vaccine Mandate ETS

Texas employers who have tried to adopt “best practices” with respect to the health and safety of their employees and customers during the past 18 months have faced quite a challenge. Disagreements between officials at the local, state, and national levels, and the healthcare professionals supporting those officials, have resulted in a variety of guidance, executive orders, and laws often imposing contradictory requirements with respect to operating limitations and requirements, masking requirements, social distancing, and, now, vaccination requirements. While many may differ on their political, religious, philosophical, or other bases for supporting or opposing such requirements, most employers have gotten to the point that they simply want to know what they need to do to keep the doors open while keeping employees and customers safe. However, the answer to the issue of whether vaccinations can be required of employees just got more difficult for Texas employers.

Continue Reading Dilemma for Texas Employers: Require Vaccinations or Not?

As we reported in June, the Texas Labor Code was amended effective September 1 to expand liability for employers as to employee claims of sexual harassment. Specifically, the amendments to the Labor Code:

  • Impose liability for sexual harassment claims on more employers, by expanding the protections of the Labor Code to employers with as few as one (1) employee;
  • Open the door for potential individual liability by owners, supervisors, and managers for claims of sexual harassment;
  • Require an employer to take “immediate” and appropriate corrective action in response to a claim of sexual harassment, potentially accelerating an employer’s need under federal law to take “prompt” remedial action; and
  • Increase the Charge-filing period for those claiming sexual harassment from 180 days to 300 days.

Continue Reading Reminder to Texas Employers: Update Your Harassment Policies and Training

As most Texas employers are aware, prohibitions on discrimination (which includes harassment) and retaliation are imposed by the Texas Labor Code only on those employers with 15 or more employees. These prohibitions mirror, for the most part, similar prohibitions imposed by various federal laws. As the Texas legislative session drew to a close, however, two significant but curious amendments to the Labor Code were passed and subsequently signed into law by Governor Abbott, which amendments go into effect on September 1, 2021.
Continue Reading Texas Law Expands Liability for Sexual Harassment

On March 8, President Biden took his first steps in reversing the Trump Administration’s Title IX policy by issuing an Executive Order 14021 (“Order”) directing the Secretary of Education to review the Title IX rules issued by the Trump Administration.
Continue Reading Change is Near: What the Biden Executive Order Means for Title IX Misconduct Claims