Longview News Journal by Jo Lee Ferguson 8/28/2021
QUESTION: Would employees who work for the Texas Legislature be eligible to file a federal wage and hour complaint following the governor’s veto of funding for legislative agencies and staff members?
ANSWER: First, a quick review: Abbott vetoed the funding basically to punish Democrats after House members left the regular session early to block an election bill they opposed by ensuring there wasn’t a quorum.
Pay was extended through the end of September. Also, now that the Texas Legislature is back together, it appears the House and Senate are poised to adopt measures to address this situation. That’s good, because there was little the employees could do otherwise.
“As soon as this happened we reached out to federal labor experts as well as other people,” said Tyler Sheldon, legislative director for the Texas State Employees Union. The union learned the employees affected by the veto “had no recourse unless they were forced to work without pay.” If there was no funding for them to continue working, though, those employees would have just been terminated.
More:
https://www.news-journal.com/features/answer_line/answer-line-no-federal-recourse-for-state-employees-in-pay-veto/article_f6e6e160-0556-11ec-9732-1b14bf991487.html
