Senior Trial Attorney Deontae Wherry

Halloween is the season for ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night. But for a lot of Texas workers, the scariest stories are not the ones on the screen, they are the ones happening at the office. Some workplace horrors are just bad luck. Others are against the law. The trick is knowing the difference, so this Halloween, let’s shine a flashlight on a few of the monsters that may be lurking in your working life, and which ones you can actually do something about.

The Vanishing Paycheck

The post Tricks, Not Treats: The Workplace Nightmares Haunting Texas Employees appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Federal employment discrimination laws contain anti-retaliation protections designed to protect employees who assert certain workplace rights. But not every workplace complaint is legally protected, and not every unpleasant action that follows a complaint is unlawful retaliation. Understanding the distinction can be important for employees deciding how to address discrimination at work.

What Is Protected Activity?

The post Can My Employer Retaliate Against Me for Complaining About Discrimination? appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Griffin Gumm

Summary: If an employee signs an offer letter, employee handbook acknowledgment, or onboarding packet in Texas, there’s a good chance they also agreed to resolve future disputes through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) rather than in court. This blog breaks down what ADR actually is, how mediation differs from arbitration, what Texas law says about both, and what it means for an employee if their employer requires them to give up their right to sue.

What Is Alternative Dispute Resolution?

The post Alternative Dispute Resolution in Texas: Employee Rights in Play appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Anita Basavaraju

Balancing work with a serious illness, a new baby, or a family member’s health crisis is one of the hardest things employees face — and knowing your legal rights can make all the difference. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law designed to give eligible employees time away from work for these situations without risking their job. Here’s what you need to know.

Who Can Get FMLA Leave

The post Understanding Family and Medical Leave (FMLA): What Employees Need to Know appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Dallas Senior Trial Attorney Deontae Wherry

You did everything right. You asked for the leave you were entitled to, whether it was to recover from surgery, care for a sick parent, or welcome a new baby. Then something felt off. Maybe your employer made the leave difficult, dragged their feet, or acted like you were causing a problem. Or maybe you came back to find your hours cut, a bad review out of nowhere, or a pink slip waiting for you. If any of that sounds familiar, you may have a claim under the Family and Medical Leave Act, and it helps to understand exactly what kind.

The most important thing to know is this: under the FMLA, there are two separate ways an employer can break the law. One is interference. The other is retaliation. They sound similar, but they are two different claims, and knowing the difference can make all the difference in protecting your rights.

The post FMLA Interference v. Retaliation: Two Different Ways to Sue Your Employer appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Riley Carter

If you reported suspected securities fraud, accounting misconduct, or shareholder fraud at a publicly traded company and your employer retaliated against you for it, you may have a claim under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Congress passed SOX in 2002, in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals, specifically to protect employees who blow the whistle on corporate fraud. Its whistleblower protection provision, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1514A, is one of the strongest anti-retaliation laws on the books, and it is often misunderstood by the very employees it was designed to protect.

At Rob Wiley, P.C., we represent employees across Texas and nationwide who have faced demotion, termination, harassment, or other retaliation after raising concerns about corporate wrongdoing. Here is what you need to know.

The post Sarbanes-Oxley Retaliation: What Corporate Whistleblowers Need to Know appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

Rachel Bethel Dallas
Trial Attorney

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is a federal civil rights law. It prohibits employers from using your genetic information to make employment decisions. It also restricts them from even asking for it in the first place.

You might be wondering how your employer would ever even find out about your genetic information. After all, genetic information sounds like it might just pertain to DNA.

The post Can My Employer Discriminate Against Me Based on My Genetic Information? appeared first on Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog.

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.