Whether all of your employees are based in Texas or only a handful, you will need to provide a Texas-specific handbook to ensure your employees know the policies and rights entitled to them by their state. Find the required state policies for Texas, federally required policies, and other optional policies below.
Filing a Complaint The Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division (TWCCRD) Employment Discrimination Inquiry Submission System (EDISS) is the method to submit your employment discrimination complaint. It provides an ample amount of space to describe how you have been discriminated against.
A hostile work environment is a workplace where an employee feels uncomfortable, intimidated, or harassed due to their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, or any other protected characteristic. This can include verbal or physical harassment, such as offensive jokes, slurs, or physical touching.
If you have experienced workplace harassment and believe it is illegal, you can report it to your employer, file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or file an official lawsuit.
You can also report to the Texas safety hotline at 1-800-452-9595 or online.
The three major common law exceptions are public policy, implied contract, and implied covenant of good faith. The at-will presumption is strong, however, and it can be difficult for an employee to prove that his circumstances fall within one of the exceptions.
(a) "Misconduct" means mismanagement of a position of employment by action or inaction, neglect that jeopardizes the life or property of another, intentional wrongdoing or malfeasance, intentional violation of a law, or violation of a policy or rule adopted to ensure the orderly work and the safety of employees.
All Texas employees are entitled to basic employee rights including the right to privacy, fair compensation and freedom from discrimination in the workplace.
For instance, it would be illegal for an employer to terminate an employee because of race, religion, age or disability discrimination or retaliation. Other examples would include terminating an employee because the employee disclosed she was pregnant, or because the employee made a workplace safety complaint.