In today’s Supreme Court of Texas orders, the Court held that the State of Texas (including its political subdivisions such as counties) is immune from worker’s compensation retaliation suits. You can read a full copy of the Court’s opinion in Travis Central Appraisal District v. Norman here.
Case Summaries
Oral Complaints of Wage and Hour Violations Sufficient to Provide Protection from Retaliation
By Russell Cawyer on
The Fair Labor Standards Act is the federal law that requires most employers to pay a minimum wage and overtime. The FLSA also includes an anti-retaliation provision that prohibits an employer from discharging any employee who has "filed a complaint" under the FLSA because of that complaint. The issue at the high court in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain…
USERRA Provides No Cause of Action for Hostile Environment Discrimination
By Russell Cawyer on
In an issue of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the federal appellate court hearing cases from Texas), held that the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) provides no cause of action for a hostile work environment that is created because of a service member’s military service.
The Plaintiffs, in Carder…
Anti-Discrimination Provisions Related to Prior Bankruptcy Do Not Apply to Applicants
By Russell Cawyer on
Posted in Case Summaries, Discrimination
Federal law prohibits private employers from terminating the employment of or discriminating with respect to employment against an individual because the individual is or was a debtor under the Bankruptcy Code. In a recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the appellate court held that the anti-discrimination provisions of the…
Supreme Court Blesses Cat’s Paw Theory of Discrimination
By Russell Cawyer on
The U.S. Supreme Court recently considered the circumstances when an employer may be liable for employment discrimination based on the unlawful, discriminatory animus of an employee who influenced, but did not make, an ultimate employment decision. This theory is commonly referred to as the Cat’s Paw theory derived from fable about the monkey who convinces the cat…
Fort Worth Court of Appeals Enforces Mutual Waiver of Jury Trial
By Russell Cawyer on
I’ve written several posts advocating the advantages of employer’s use of waivers of jury trials to resolve employment disputes with employees. (See posts here and here). To recap, the mutual waiver of jury trial provides the employer and employee a fair way to resolve employment disputes without some of the disadvantages that other forms…
Supreme Court of Texas Agrees to Hear Two Employment Cases
By Russell Cawyer on
The Supreme Court of Texas has agreed to hear argument in two employment cases.
In Prairie View A&M University v. Diljit K. Chatha, (No. 10-353) the Court agreed to consider whether the 180-day statute of limitations for a government employee’s complaint about discriminatory pay begins from the date of the first paycheck reflecting the decision or the…
Supreme Court Recognizes Third-Party Retaliation Claims under Title VII
By Russell Cawyer on
The U.S. Supreme Court announced that employees, who never engaged in protected activity, can bring third-party retaliation claims against their employers when they suffer an adverse employment action due to their connection with a person who has engaged in protected activity.
The facts of Thompson v. North American Stainless are straightforward. In February 2003 North American Stainless was…
Dallas Court Vacates Arbitration Award in Discrimination Case Because of Arbitrator’s Failure to Disclose Prior Contacts with Party Representative
By Russell Cawyer on
It is pretty difficult for a party to get an adverse arbitration award reversed or vacated. A recent Dallas Court of Appeals decision shows the rare instance were such a reversal occurred. In Alim v. KBR (Kellogg, Brown & Root) –Halliburton, the Dallas court held that an arbitrator’s failure to disclose, in an employment discrimination, breach of…
El Paso Court of Appeals Holds that Employer May Use Mandamus Petition to Challenge Trial Court’s Jurisdiction Where Employee’s Charge of Discrimination was not Timely
By Russell Cawyer on
The El Paso Court of Appeals held this week that a Texas employer can use mandamus petition to challenge a trial court’s jurisdiction where the plaintiff-employee failed to file his charge of discrimination timely. A link to the opinion is here.