The more information you know about your plan the better off you will be because your retirement plan account is very likely going to be one of your largest assets over the course of your life if not the largest. If you are new to saving for retirement or new to a plan this is a […]
Top Five Questions You Should Ask About Your 401k Plan (updated 2021) Read More »
EEOC lawyers have had a busy September starting and settling employment discrimination lawsuits. The EEOC accepts charges of employment discrimination in Fort Worth and Dallas at the Dallas, Texas office. Employment lawyers in Texas represent employees in these types of employment discrimination lawsuits. The following is just the listing of the EEOC activity reported in
EEOC employment lawyers busy this month on employment discrimination (2017) Read More »
Dallas employment lawyers sometimes offer free consultations in their Dallas, Texas law firms. Most of the well-known employment attorneys in Dallas and Fort Worth do not offer free consultations. They may charge a fee of $75-300. Some lawyers offer free consultations but these may be personal injury lawyers or other trial attorneys who take on
Dallas employment attorneys with free consultations? Read More »
Employment discrimination claims under Texas and federal law often require sorting through a web of statutory and administrative requirements. Many employment laws overlap. A set of facts of a Texas employee may provide several claims for employment discrimination due to the overlap. Maneuvering the overlap and setting up an employee for the best employment discrimination
Differences between racial discrimination claims under Title VII and Section 1981 Read More »
Employees suffering employment discrimination often worry about the effects of reporting employment discrimination to the EEOC. This is especially true for employees who still work at the job where discrimination occurs. Retaliation for complaining about employment discrimination is a real and serious concern. This concern may lead workers to not contact the EEOC or an
Are EEOC complaints confidential in Texas? Read More »
Texas employees often question the relationship between severance pay and unemployment benefits through the Texas Workforce Commission. Workers often think if they accept severance pay they are automatically ineligible for unemployment benefits in Texas. That is incorrect. The terms of the severance agreement determine whether you can receive severance and unemployment pay in Texas. Basic
Severance and Texas unemployment benefits: Can I take both? Read More »
EEOC mediations and lawsuits often end in settlement of claims for employment discrimination in Texas, including wrongful termination. An important question for many employees filing employment discrimination claims with the EEOC is what they can expect in a settlement. Many employment discrimination complaints filed with the EEOC in Dallas settle either in mediation with the
EEOC mediation and lawsuit settlement amounts in Texas Read More »
Texas employees are generally fall within the overtime pay law under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) employees in Texas must receive 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for each hour of work in a workweek over forty hours, unless they qualify for a salary exemption or exception
Texas Overtime Pay Laws: When To Contact an Employment Lawyer Read More »
Here’s a tricky situation: you follow a specific instruction from your manager or a company policy. Then your employer fires you. Can this happen for following orders? Unfortunately, in most cases the answer: yes. Seems bizarre–and it is–but this is the nature of the at-will employment relationship. In an at-will employment relationship the employer can discipline an employee,
Can my Texas employer fire me for doing what my manager told me to do? Read More »
Last week the EEOC settled a Title VII sexual harassment and retaliation suit against multiple Dunkin Donuts franchises. The $330,000 settlement, which covers multiple employees, includes a multi-year training and oversight provision to avoid similar events in the future. The EEOC press release describes the events alleged in the lawsuit as follows: Hillcrest Marshall violated federal law by
EEOC hits Dunkin Donuts franchise for $330k in sexual harassment suit Read More »
In a tough job market it’s always difficult to turn down a job but sometimes the company culture is so toxic or the boss is so insufferable that it’s more harmful to your health and career than the benefit of the paycheck. Of course, that’s an easy thing to say when you have a paycheck.
Texas Employment Attorney’s 10 Signs You Should Not Take That Job Read More »
Intermittent FMLA has always been and probably always will be a contentious issue between employer and employee. Employers often have negative attitudes about intermittent FMLA leave centered largely around self-serving beliefs that employees abuse the legally protected leave rights and do not really need the time off from work. Certainly some employees do abuse FMLA but
Can you get a beer on intermittent FMLA? Court says yes. Read More »
Most people understand volunteering means giving away free labor, often to a charity or other non-profit organization. However, sometimes Texas for-profit businesses seek “volunteers” as a way of receiving unpaid labor or an employer requires its employees to volunteer time for a charitable or civic cause. What about these situations? The Department of Labor has
What is a volunteer under Texas employment law? Read More »
The Texas Supreme Court has accepted a case out of the Dallas Court of Appeals that will give the state’s highest court the opportunity to expand or narrow its preemption doctrine on employment discrimination claims brought under Texas law. In 2009 the Texas Supreme Court rendered its opinion in Waffle House v. Williams that held
Texas Supreme Court to hear TCHRA preemption case Read More »
People often used the term lawyer and attorney interchangeably in the United States to denote people who work as legal professionals. Most do so without giving much thought as to why our profession has two labels for the same legal job. These terms have slightly different meanings. (And not just because lawyer jokes tend to
Difference between attorney and lawyer Read More »
Most of my work with FMLA clients in Texas involves helping them after they have sought FMLA leave and the employer has already violated their FMLA rights. As much as they need urgent help from an employment lawyer, it’s equally as important that employees understand how to properly exercise their rights under FMLA to ensure
7 Tips for Taking FMLA Leave Read More »
401k excessive fee litigation has been an active area of ERISA litigation for over a decade with 401k participants arguing the plan administrator–along with various other plan fiduciaries–breached the duty to prudently manage the investment options of the plan. Most of these cases argue the plan administrator failed to select investments with reasonable fees, particularly
Vanguard funds targeted in new 401k excessive fee litigation Read More »
On January 1, 2016 the new open carry law goes into effect across Texas. You may have seen coverage of the open carry protests around Fort Worth, Dallas and other cities. Much of that coverage was over people openly carrying assault rifles. The new open carry law does not change the status of long guns,
Texas Open Carry Law and Your Employment in Texas Read More »
Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted 1991, as an employment discrimination attorney I continue to see employees suffer discrimination on the basis of a disability. Sometimes discrimination is based upon a disability cured or treated and no longer presents an issue for the employee. Under the ADA and the Texas Labor Code’s prohibition
Sometimes an employee has a medical condition or disability that qualifies for FMLA leave and leave under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as a reasonable accommodation. The issue how to protect the employee’s job through protected leave under the ADA and FMLA is complicated. Each law provides a different set of rights to leave
Can I take FMLA leave and leave under the ADA at the same time? Read More »