A Resource for Texas Employers
Yesterday, I had the privilege of speaking to the Texas Society of CPAs, Tarrant County Chapter, Nonprofit Study Group on current employment law issues affecting nonprofit organizations. Some of the topics we covered included the use of volunteers and unpaid interns by nonprofit organizations, proper classification of independent contractors and employees, and employment policies that are useful for nonprofits to adopt.
If …
Last week I had the privilege of volunteering at my firm’s pro bono legal clinic at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The clinic provides pro bono legal services and advice to our country’s veterans. The veterans who served have a wide variety of need for legal advice –primarily in the area of family law, estate and…
A federal judge in the Northern District of Texas has enjoined the National Mediation Board from conducting a union representation election involving the passenger-service employees of a major air carrier and the Communication Workers of America. You can read the TRO here.
I like to emphasize the importance that an employee’s personnel file accurately reflect the employee’s performance in reality. When an employer’s defense of a personnel action is based on an employee’s poor performance, fact finders expect that the poor performance to be documented in the employee’s file. Fact finders do not expect, without plausible explanation, to see satisfactory performance reviews…
In an election year, immigration issues remain front page news. With continuing scrutiny on immigration and employment, prudent employers should periodically conduct internal I-9 self-audits to ensure that its I-9 paperwork is complete and accurate. In this morning’s guest post, Chris Taylor, immigration lawyer and publisher of the Texas Immigration Law Blog, gives us his tips…
Common law employment claims have certain advantages for plaintiffs over statutory discrimination, harassment or retaliation claims. For starters, there are no administrative prerequisites to exhaust and the kinds of damages one can seek for common law claims can sometimes be be more "creative" than the straight forward, capped damages recoverable under statutory claims. In my nonscientific, anecdotal…
Texas is the only state that allows employers to opt-out of the workers’ compensation system. Nonsubscriber status comes with benefits and disadvantages. Wal-Mart Stores’ recent announcement that it would opt-out of the Texas workers’ compensation system is significant given that Wal-Mart is one of the largest private employers in the state.
I invited Steve Bent…
Texas is an at-will employment state where employees and employers are free to end the employment relationship at any time and almost for any reason. The Texas Supreme Court has created a single public policy exception to the at-will employment rule –the Sabine Pilot wrongful discharge claim. Under that judicially created claim, an employee has a…
This morning I heard about a new service offered by a Lubbock, Texas company that raised my eyebrows–nude maid service. I’ve heard of a lot of bad employment relations ideas in my career, but on my drive to work this morning, I was hard pressed to think of one that was worse than this…
I like to try cases to judges and juries but my enjoyment almost always comes at great out-of-pocket expense to my employer-clients in terms of cost of defense. The reality of any civil practice is that most cases will settle or be disposed of short of trial When it comes to settling employment disputes, the…
