Dallas Senior Trial Attorney Deontae Wherry

You landed the deal of the year. The contract is signed, the client is happy, and a commission is coming your way. Then everything changes: maybe a better opportunity appears and you decide to resign, or maybe your employer lets you go. Either way, the same question arises, and in Texas the answer often surprises people. When you leave a job, whether you quit or you are terminated, are you still owed the commission on a deal you closed?

The most important thing to understand is this: whether you get paid may come down to what your paperwork says. Being strategic, before you resign and before a separation catches you off guard, can be the difference between walking away with what you earned and walking away with nothing.

The post I Closed the Deal, Then I Quit: Where’s My Commission? appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Cassidy Monska

Labor Day means different things to different people. For some, it is the unofficial end of summer, a day for barbecues, back to school sales, and one last trip to the lake. But the holiday has a history worth remembering, especially if you are someone who clocks in, punches out, and wonders whether the system is actually looking out for you.

Where Labor Day Came From

The post More Than a Long Weekend: What Labor Day Actually Stands For appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Riley Carter

Most employees sign a proprietary information or trade secret agreement on their first day, somewhere in a stack of onboarding paperwork handed over between the tax forms and the direct deposit authorization. Very few employees read it closely, and almost no one keeps a copy. The document usually resurfaces only at the moment it matters most, when the employee has accepted a new position and the former employer sends a letter reminding them of “continuing obligations.” Understanding what these agreements actually require, and what they cannot lawfully require, is essential for any employee considering a move.

These agreements travel under a variety of names, including confidentiality agreement, nondisclosure agreement, proprietary information and inventions agreement, or employee agreement regarding confidential information. The label matters far less than the contents. A single document may contain several distinct promises, including a duty not to disclose or use confidential information, an assignment of inventions and work product to the employer, a promise to return all company property and delete company data, a promise not to solicit customers or clients, a promise not to recruit former coworkers, a covenant not to compete, a notice period before resignation, and a forfeiture or clawback provision affecting bonuses, commissions, or equity. Each of these operates differently, and each carries a different level of enforceability under Texas law.

The post What Happens to Your Confidentiality and Trade Secret Agreement After You Leave a Job? appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Rachel Bethel Dallas
Trial Attorney

If you’ve started a new job recently, chances are that you signed some documents that you didn’t fully read. Somewhere in that stack of onboarding papers, there may have been a mandatory arbitration agreement.

And let me guess. No one at HR sat you down and explained what this clause actually means, right? That’s not by accident. It’s by design.

The post Should I Sign an Employee Agreement with an Arbitration Clause in It? appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Cassidy Monska

Scroll through social media long enough and you will find someone telling a stranger to “sue” over almost anything. A canceled flight. A rude cashier. A manager who raised their voice. Everyone in the comment section is suddenly a lawyer.

Here is the problem with that: the “sue them” culture makes it harder to spot the situations that actually do matter. People who have been through real discrimination or retaliation start to wonder if their situation is “serious enough,” and they wait, and they lose time they cannot get back. Employment claims often move on short deadlines, so the cost of waiting can be the whole case.

The post Claim vs. Lawsuit: What You Actually Need to Know Before You Wait Too Long appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Riley Carter

One of the most frustrating defenses in employment litigation is the corporate shrug. Ask why an employee was fired, and no one seems to know. The supervisor points to human resources. HR points to a manager who has since left. The manager points to a policy nobody can locate. The company insists that the decision was legitimate while making sure that no single witness will own it.

Rule 30(b)(6) exists to end that game. It is, in my view, the single most powerful discovery tool available to an employee suing an employer, and defense counsel know it. Understanding how it works, and how to use it aggressively, often determines whether a case settles on favorable terms or drifts toward trial with a muddy record.

The post Making the Company Speak: Why the 30(b)(6) Deposition Is a Plaintiff’s Best Friend appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Do Stress and Anxiety Qualify as Disabilities?

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended (ADAAA), a condition qualifies as a disability if it “substantially limits one or more major life activities.” Anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and PTSD, often meet this standard when they are diagnosed and documented by a healthcare provider. General workplace stress on its own usually does not qualify, but chronic stress tied to a diagnosed mental health condition can.

The post Reasonable Accommodations for Stress and Anxiety: What Texas Workers Need to Know appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Rachel Bethel Dallas
Trial Attorney

If you’ve experienced discrimination, harassment, or retaliation at work in Texas, you’ve probably been advised to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) or the Texas Workforce Commission (“TWC”).

What you may not realize is that the timing of when you hire counsel may be just as important as filing the Charge itself.

The post Don’t Wait for Your Right-to-Sue Letter to Find a Lawyer! appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Cassidy Monska

When a company fails to follow its own policies, the first reaction for many people is to assume they have a legal claim. It makes sense on the surface. The employer wrote down the rules. The employer broke those rules. Someone got hurt. But in the legal world, a policy violation on its own is rarely enough to win a lawsuit. To have a viable claim, the policy violation typically has to connect to an actual law that was broken.

Understanding this distinction is one of the most important things you can do before deciding whether to pursue legal action.

The post Company Policy Violations Do Not Automatically Give You a Lawsuit — But the Law Might appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Dallas Senior Trial Attorney Deontae Wherry

Every Fourth of July, we celebrate the words that launched a nation: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Fireworks light the sky, families gather, and we honor the idea that no person is born above another. But behind the barbecues and parades lies a promise that Americans are still working to keep. The declaration that all people are created equal was not a description of the world as it was in 1776. It was a goal, a challenge handed down to every generation that followed. Nowhere is that challenge more alive than in the American workplace.

This year marks a milestone: 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. As we celebrate this 250th anniversary, we are reminded that the fight the Founders began is not finished. The words on that parchment set a standard we are still reaching for, and every generation, including ours, is called to carry it forward.

The post Independence Day: The Unfinished Fight for Equality appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.