Author: Adam Kielich - Page 5 - Texas Law Guide

Planning for a QDRO in your Texas divorce

During the asset division in a Texas divorce, an employer-sponsored retirement plan may be subject to the property division. Texas follows the community property rules, which distinguishes between property acquired during the marriage as marital property (community property) from property acquired before the marriage or during the marriage as the individual’s property (separate property). Community […]

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Frequent urinarion at work and disability discrimination in Texas

Disability Discrimination Law

Frequent urination can be caused by a number of medical conditions. Frequent restroom breaks can cause problems with the employer who wants the employee to be at his or her work station during the work day. In addition to the physical discomfort, it can be emotionally uncomfortable as co-workers or managers make comments about the

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Terminating a parent’s rights in Texas: The Financial Risks

Child Custody Law, Divorce Law

Parents in Texas sometimes decide they want to terminate another parent’s rights to their children. Often this occurs after a divorce or child custody case issued orders assigning rights to each parent. At some point after the end of the case relationships break down and one parent decides it is time to sever the parent-child

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Social media can ruin your employment in Texas

Employment Litigation Attorneys, Wrongful Termination Law

In 2012 I had an article published in the National Law Review regarding social media and workplace harassment claims. In the article I discussed the different approaches courts take to whether they consider social media activity to be within the workplace or beyond the doors of the work site. For hostile work environment claims, it

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Employee confidentiality agreements may violate the National Labor Relations Act in Texas

Employee rights lawyer

If you grew up in the 1980s or the first half of the 1990s you remember awesome Saturday morning cartoons. I’m pretty sure there’s still Saturday morning cartoons; but when I was a kid during this time period there was wall-to-wall cartoons from 6am until 11am. A few years they even ran until noon. It was

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Valuing pain and suffering losses in Texas personal injury lawsuits

Car Accident Laws, Serious Bodily Injury Lawyers, Slip and Fall Injury Law, Wrongful Termination Law

When I speak with potential clients for personal injury or employment law claims, such as wrongful termination or discharge, in Texas I often notice some uneasiness during the conversation when discussing making the client whole for non-physical losses like pain and suffering. Decades of insurance industry advertising has been very effective in making people feel like

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EEOC Issues New Pregnancy Discrimination Act Guidance

Disability Discrimination Law, Employee rights lawyer, Sex Discrimination Law

Employment blogs were en fuego a couple weeks ago about the new Pregnancy Discrimination Act guidance from the EEOC. The guidance clarifies important interactions between the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also addresses expanding protections under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act for the lactation provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The

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Can my employer make me waive FMLA protection?

Employee rights lawyer, Wage & Hour Lawyers

No, an employer cannot require you to sign a waiver of protection under FMLA for future leave or protection from discrimination on the basis of prior use of FMLA. Department of Labor regulations on FMLA prohibit employers from requiring employees to waive FMLA rights and hold any waiver invalid. Like minimum wage and overtime protections, employers

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EEOC lands $180,000 settlement with employer who fired an employee for eating chips

Disability Discrimination Law, Employee rights lawyer, Employment Litigation Attorneys

The headline sounds crazier than the facts behind this case, which involves a disability discrimination suit on a wrongful termination. The case arose in a California federal district court against the employer, Walgreens. (The case is EEOC v. Walgreens.) The case involves an employee who broke a workplace rule to avoid a diabetic shock and lost her

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10 Things to Do After a Slip and Fall Injury in Texas

Slip and Fall Injury Law

Injuries in grocery stores, department stores, restaurants and other public places have been a source of personal injury claims for over a century. These slip and fall injury claims have encouraged restaurants and stores to improve the safety features but injuries still happen due to poor upkeep and negligence to ensure the public areas are

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Fifth Circuit Deals Blow to Overtime Pay with MCA Exemption

Employee rights lawyer, Employment Litigation Attorneys, Wage & Hour Lawyers

This month the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from Texas, delivered a surprising appellate decision on overtime pay for workers in long haul freight transport in Allen v. Coil Tubing Services, LLC. In this case, the appellate court held that workers could be identified by class in determining whether an exemption

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Racial harassment case recently decided by the Eleventh Circuit

Employment Litigation Attorneys, Racial Discrimination Law

Today’s post discusses an interesting case brought in Alabama under a racial harassment or hostile work environment case. This case is Adams v. Austal, U.S.A., LLC and the Eleventh Circuit’s appellate court’s decision is available here. The appeal deals with whether an employee may rely on evidence that the workplace was objectively hostile that he

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401k and Pension Rollover Abuse

Employee rights lawyer, Employment Benefits Law, Retirement Plan/401k/Pension

I’ve written in the past about 401k fees and how they can cripple your retirement savings. For as many problems as those 401k fees can cause they often pale in comparison to the fees retirees will pay after they rollover and transfer their funds to an IRA. A Bloomberg article from June 17, 2014 discusses

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5 FMLA Myths You Might Believe

Employee rights lawyer, Employment Litigation Attorneys, Wage & Hour Lawyers

Employment lawyers like myself deal with my fair share of FMLA cases for clients. Among those FMLA claims I see employers violate FMLA often because the employer was ignorant of FMLA regulations or had serious misconceptions about FMLA. I also get plenty of calls from employees who believe their employer violated FMLA but the employee

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Six Risks in Child Custody Modification Lawsuits in Texas

Child Custody Law, Divorce Law

When a Texas family court issues a custody order in a divorce with children or child custody case the court makes decisions based upon the facts of the family at that time. As parents start living separate lives and children grow older their lives change and sometimes that requires revisiting the original court order. If

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What it takes to get an uncontested divorce on your own in Texas

Divorce Law, Uncontested Divorce Attorneys

Last Wednesday I was at the Dallas County Family Courts helping a client wrap up an uncontested divorce. The early morning court sessions are typically open to what are called “prove ups” in which parties present testimony on uncontested issues (such as name changes, uncontested divorce decree signing, etc.) and the judge grants the orders

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Dress up like the KKK and sue for race discrimination

1 Comment / Racial Discrimination Law

Yes, you read that correctly. Three Boeing employees transformed their work uniform into makeshift KKK uniforms and lost their jobs. Then they filed suit for race discrimination because their African American coworker did not lose his. Yes, you read that correctly, too. This is the backdrop for Barker v. The Boeing Company, filed in Pennsylvania.

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Does an ADA accommodation have to be the one an employee wants?

Disability Discrimination Law, Employee rights lawyer, Employment Litigation Attorneys

The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Texas Labor Code require an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to a qualified employee to assist the employee in performing the essential functions of the employee’s job and/or access the workplace. These federal and state laws require employers to engage the employee in an interactive process to

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7 Surprising Reasons Why You Might Want a Lawyer for your Uncontested Divorce

1 Comment / Child Custody Law, Divorce Law, Property Division Attorneys, Uncontested Divorce Attorneys

I’m going to tell you something many people would find shocking. Although I offer uncontested divorces in Dallas and Fort Worth, I don’t believe everybody needs a lawyer for uncontested divorce. Seriously. You can get an uncontested divorce in Texas without a divorce lawyer. People do it every day. There are basic forms available online that

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East Loop 820 Wreck in Fort Worth involving truck carrying modular home

Car Accident Laws, Serious Bodily Injury Lawyers

Wednesday on east loop 820 in Fort Worth, Texas near Lancaster Avenue, a highway car accident occurred in which a truck carrying part of a modular home crashed into the Lancaster Avenue bridge causing damage to the modular home and another vehicle on the Fort Worth freeway. A passenger in the other vehicle was airlifted to

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