Texas Employment Law Update – December 2018

Court of Appeals Declares Austin Paid Sick Leave Law Unconstitutional

On November 16, 2018, the Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, at Austin, held that Austin’s paid sick leave violates the Texas Constitution because it is pre-empted by the Texas Minimum Wage Act. According to the court’s opinion, “We hold that the Texas Minimum Wage Act (TMWA) preempts local regulations that establish a wage, that the Ordinance establishes a wage, and that, accordingly, the TMWA preempts the City’s Ordinance as a matter of law, thus making the Ordinance unconstitutional. See Tex. Const. art. XI, § 5 (mandating that no city ordinance “shall contain any provision inconsistent with the Constitution of the State, or of the general laws enacted by the Legislature of this State”).”

The ordinance was scheduled to take effective October 1, 2018, was temporarily blocked in August 2018, and will now be remanded to the lower court for a temporary injunction and further proceedings consist with the court of appeals’ opinion.

Read the opinion