December 2010

Employers often consider asserting counterclaims against employees who file lawsuits against them.  Most lawyers representing employers counsel against filing counterclaims except in exceptional cases (e.g., an employee’s theft of trade secrets or breach of a covenant not to compete). However, where an employer pays an employee valuable severance benefits in return for a release…

There continues to be a substantial increase in the number of unemployment claims filed by Texas employees. This increase has the potential to raise the unemployment tax rate for employers that do not take proactive steps to manage their Texas unemployment tax rates.  The state unemployment tax rate is the only business tax an employer can control.

To understand how to…

The Texas Workforce Commission has published the unemployment tax rates for 2011.  The minimum tax rate increases from .72 percent to .78 percent.  The maximum tax rate; however, will drop from 8.60 percent to 8.25 percent.  The average unemployment tax rate will increase from 1.83 to 2.03 percent and the average experience tax rate will be 1.96…

The Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled that the provisions of the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 extending the charge filing deadlines for certain pay discrimination claims should not be automatically applied to pay discrimination claims arising under state law.

In Tarrant Regional Water District v. Villanueva, Tamara Villanueva brought suit against the…

In less than a month, the Texas Legislature starts its 82nd Legislative Session.  In Texas the Legislature only meets in regular session for 140 days every two years.  The 82nd Legislative Session kicks off on January 11, 2011.  Over the term of the session, I’ll try to identify the bills that, if passed, will impact Texas employment…