If your gin had a contract with TEEMCO for an SPCC plan, or for Tier II reporting, you will probably be contacted by Jessica O'Hern from Affordable Compliance Engineering. Jessica contacted our office Monday to let us know they had acquired the data from the SPCC plans that TEEMCO had done. Since they already have all the data, [...]
We have received the first contact back from the Wage and Hour Inspectors. In the first contact, the inspectors called the gin and pressured them to sign agreements quickly to avoid court action. The gin received instructions on which workers to pay back wages, and also received a very concerning tolling agreement that allows the [...]
A new I-9 form has been issued and must be used for all new hires after January 22, 2017. This does not affect your current employees, but for any future hires, go to our web site and use the I-9 link found on the forms page. The updated form is already available there, so this [...]
As most of you know by now, there are several teams of DOL Wage and Hour inspectors going through cotton gins in the Lubbock area. If you are inspected, please let us know, and please forward any citations you receive as soon as you receive them. Most inspections are going relatively smoothly, but there are [...]
We have received two calls this morning from Lubbock area gins that have been visited today by the US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division. We have talked about these inspections for years during our district meetings. They are looking at whether gins are properly recording hours worked and properly paying overtime, which gins [...]
We reported yesterday that the new rule increasing the minimum wage levels for salaried employees who are exempt from overtime pay would be effective on December 1, 2016. Yesterday, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas granted a temporary injunction against the rule. Twenty one states had challenged the rule, arguing that Congress [...]
Effective December 1, 2016 there are changes to the minimum wage level for any employees who are classified as salaried employees exempt from overtime pay. Starting on December 1, employees that are classified as exempt from overtime pay will have to be paid a minimum of $913 per week or $47,476 annually for a full-year [...]
Training Videos Now Available Online The NCGA Safety Videos and other videos, such as Inside the Cotton Gin, are now available online. You can find links to these videos on the TCGA web site, in the members only section, under the gin safety tab. Some of these videos are in YouTube. For these links you may [...]
Don't Forget about the New OSHA Reporting Rule: With ginning season underway in West Texas, we have seen several instances where reportable injuries have not been reported to OSHA within the new time limit. Remember that under the new rule, Employers are now be required to report all work-related fatalities within 8 hours and all in-patient [...]
Texas Cotton Ginners' Association Cotton Gin Safety Program Acknowledgments This online version of the safety program would not have been possible without the expertise and efforts of David Oefinger. Many thanks to David for updating the format of our program, and for making the many changes needed to bring this program up to date. Thank [...]
