Employee.
Any person employed to work at or for an employer within
the geographic boundaries of the city, who is required under state
or federal law to be paid at a premium rate for hours worked in excess
of 40 hours per workweek or work week; including but not limited to
full-time employees, part-time employees, and seasonal and temporary
workers.
Employer.
Any individual, partnership, association, corporation or
business trust or any person or group of persons, or a successor thereof,
that employs another person, including any such entity or person acting
directly or indirectly in the interest of the employer in relation
to the employee.
Emergency.
A fire, flood or natural disaster; severe weather that threatens
employee or public safety; threats to an employer or employer’s
property; a state of emergency declared by the Governor of Texas;
or a significant disruption or risk of significant disruption to passenger
air travel.
Work schedule.
All of an employee’s regular shifts, including specific
start and end times for each shift, during a work week.
Work week.
Period of seven consecutive days beginning on any designated
day.
(Ordinance 2264, 11/12/20)
(a) On or before the commencement of employment, employer shall provide the employee with a written work schedule that runs through the last date of the currently posted schedule. Thereafter, an employer shall provide written notice of work hours as set forth in subsection
(b).
(b) Written
notice of the work schedule shall be provided in a conspicuous and
accessible location where employee notices are customarily posted.
If the employer posts the notice in electronic format, all employees
in the workplace must have access to it in the workplace. The posted
work schedule shall include the employees’ shifts at that worksite,
shall indicate whether or not they are scheduled to work that week,
and shall be posted no later than 10 days before the first day of
any new schedule.
(c) Nothing in this section
95-2 shall be construed to prohibit an employer from providing greater advance notice of employee’s work schedules and/or changes in schedules than that required by this section.
(Ordinance 2264, 11/12/20)
(a) An employee may decline, without penalty, to work any hours or additional shifts not included in the posted work schedule, except as provided in subsection
(b), below. If the employee voluntarily consents to work such hours, such consent must be recorded by distinct written communication for each day on which the employee consents to additional hours or shifts.
(b) In an emergency, an employer may require an employee to work additional hours or shifts not included in the posted work schedule without obtaining voluntary consent provided in subsection
(a), above.
(c) Any additional
hours or shifts required in an emergency without voluntary consent
shall be paid to the employee at a rate three (3) times that of the
employee’s regular hourly rate of pay.
(d) If an
employer reduces an employee’s hours from what is included in
the posted work schedule, employee shall be paid for one-half of the
total hours reduced at the employee’s regular hourly rate, unless
reduction is due to an emergency.
(e) Requiring
an employee to work additional hours or shifts not included in the
posted work schedule without obtaining voluntary consent and without
there being in effect a bona fide emergency shall be unlawful and
shall be punishable by a by a fine of $100.00 for a first violation
and $500.00 for any subsequent violation. A court may enjoin repeated
violations of this provision.
(Ordinance 2264, 11/12/20)
(a) Every
employer, if it requires employees to work additional shifts or hours
under the emergency provision, must keep a log of such instances,
including the name of each affected employee, the additional hours
or shifts worked, the rate of pay actually paid the affected employee,
and the specific reason for the emergency. The employer must also
log each instance in which it reduces an employee’s hours from
what is stated in the posted work schedule, including the name of
each affected employee, the hours reduced, the reason for such reduction
and whether it was due to an emergency, and the amount actually paid,
if any, for that reduction. This log must be retained for at least
one year and must be made available for inspection to any employee.
(b) Every
employer, if it requires employees to work additional shifts or hours
under the emergency provision in a given month, must file a report
with the city by the end of the following month, which states the
dates and hours of the additional shifts required, the number of employees
affected, the specific reason for each emergency, and the total emergency
overtime hours that were required in the month. Each monthly report
must be signed under penalty of perjury by a responsible official
of the employer. The city shall maintain these reports available for
inspection by the public for a period of not less than three years.
(c) Failure
to keep a log or to file a verified monthly report when required shall
be unlawful and shall be punishable by a fine of $100.00 for a first
violation and $500.00 for any subsequent violation.
(Ordinance 2264, 11/12/20)
(a) It shall
be unlawful for an employer or any other person to interfere with,
restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any
right protected under this chapter.
(b) No person
shall take any adverse action as to an employee that penalizes such
employee for, or is reasonably likely to deter such employee from,
exercising or attempting to exercise any right protected under this
chapter. Taking an adverse action includes threatening, intimidating,
disciplining, discharging, demoting, suspending or harassing an employee;
assigning an employee to a lesser position in terms of job classification,
job security, or other condition of employment; reducing the hours
or pay of an employee or denying the employee additional hours; and
discriminating against the employee.
(c) There
shall be a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if the employer or
any other person takes an adverse action against an employee within
90 calendar days of the employee’s exercise of rights protected
in this chapter unless due to disciplinary reasons for just cause,
provided the employer documents in writing the incident relating to
the employee’s discipline.
(d) The city
or any person aggrieved by a violation of this chapter, or any entity
a member of which is aggrieved by a violation of this chapter, may
bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against
an employer for violation of this chapter.
(Ordinance 2264, 11/12/20)
(a) This
chapter does not apply to a small business.
(b) This
chapter does not apply to hospitals or other facilities providing
medical care.
(c) This
chapter does not apply to public employees, including federal, state,
municipal or public school district employees.
(d) If any
provision, section or clause of this chapter or application thereof
to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall
not affect other provisions or applications hereof which can be given
effect without the invalid provision, section or clause, and to this
end the provisions of this chapter are declared to be severable.
(Ordinance 2264, 11/12/20)