USA – TEXAS Law and Practice Contributed by: Alana Ackels and Katie Beaird, Bell Nunnally & Martin
ware is implemented, employers should give notice to employees. Duty of Employers to Ensure Safety of Remote Workers It is an employer’s duty to provide a safe work envi - ronment for their employees. But what if the work environment is now the employee’s home or a shared office space? Employers should implement policies regarding locations for work, including policies that prohibit conducting work calls, meetings or emails while operating a vehicle or conducting non-work activities (eg, taking a work call while hiking). Addi - tionally, employers may evaluate providing equipment that would prevent certain ergonomic issues. Duty of Remote Workers to Report Any Change of Address Remote workers sometimes do not see the impor - tance of updating their employer as to where exactly they are working from. Although it may not matter if an employee works remote temporarily while visit - ing another state, there has been a sharp increase in government agencies finding that employers failed to register to do business in the proper state and did not pay the proper employment taxes because an employee moved to a state other than that which the employer had accounted for. This can also cause issues in workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance and other programmes run on the state level. Thus, it is important to have remote workers update or confirm their address on a biannual basis and have a policy that the employer must approve any move outside their current city by remote employ - ees. Even an employee moving cities within the same state can have a detrimental impact – for example, a minimum-wage employee moving from Dallas, Texas (where the minimum wage is USD7.25 per hour) to Austin, Texas (where it is USD15 per hour) would not earn the applicable minimum wage as a result. 5.2 Sabbaticals It is very uncommon in Texas for employers to have a sabbatical leave policy, except for some governmental employers. Rather, Texas employers are only required to provide unpaid leave for certain reasons, including for disabilities and serious health conditions, and to care for newborn or adopted babies. Employers are
given the option to approve leaves that do not fall under these laws, which some employers have opted for. In that instance, employers should have a care - fully drafted leave policy that is uniformly applied to all employees so as to avoid claims of discrimination. If an employee does take an extended leave of absence from work, without an agreement or policy otherwise, the employer has no obligation to return that employee to their position at the end of such leave. Additionally, employers would not be required to maintain certain benefits during the employee’s absence. 5.3 Other New Manifestations New work is a social concept that focuses on creating an environment where employees work to live rather than live to work. New work encompasses innovative approaches to work that address changing technolo - gies, organisational structures and employee expecta - tions. Recent manifestations in this field reflect a shift towards more flexible, collaborative and technology- driven work environments. The goals of new work initiatives are to: • increase job satisfaction; • improve quality of life; • improve productivity; • increase engagement levels; • establish better working relationships with col - leagues; • provide more time for leisure and self-care activi - ties outside work hours; and • give better accessibility for neurodivergent employ - ees. Most recently, new work combines modern practices such as: • flexible and remote work; • desk sharing or unconventional office spaces; and • flat hierarchies. While most people understand flexible and remote work as it is, advances in virtual and augmented tech - nologies to explore remote collaboration and training are expected. In other words, remote work may not
787 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook