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Employment Law

Supreme Court sets stricter standard for retaliation

06/27/2013
The Supreme Court on June 24 ruled that employees can only win retaliation lawsuits if they can prove that their employer retaliated solely because of the employee’s protected activity. The 5-4 decision in University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar was another significant victory for employers that should limit liability.

EEOC persuades court that lactation discrimination is gender bias

06/27/2013
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Houston has ruled unanimously that firing a woman because she is lactating is unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII.

Who pays for required work uniforms?

06/26/2013
Q. We are considering instituting a uniform policy at our workplace. We would like to require our employees to pay for their own uniforms. Is this legal? Could we also require employees to maintain their own uniforms?

New Texas law provides more protection for your trade secrets

06/26/2013
Under the newly enacted Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act, you will have more recourse when someone misappropriates your intellectual property. Starting Sept. 1, this new statute provides companies with greater protection for their trade secrets and expands the available legal remedies to address actual and anticipated harm.

Plastic surgery practice can’t put a pretty face on this case

06/26/2013
A Dallas plastic surgery center has agreed to pay $315,000 to settle charges that it unlawfully fired two employees and then sued one of them in state court after she sought help from the NLRB.

Racism, bias allegations roil Texas Parks and Wildlife

06/26/2013
A black game warden-in-training—one of only two black cadets in her class—has filed an EEOC discrimination complaint against the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. At the same time, the EEOC also granted a white game warden permission to file a federal lawsuit alleging that supervisors instructed him to “distance himself” from black colleagues.

Insist that workers follow internal grievance process

06/26/2013
Do you require employees to use an internal grievance policy when they have a complaint about working conditions? That policy may apply to re­­tal­­i­­ation claims too, even if the em­­ployee has been fired. Failing to use the proc­­ess may cancel the right to sue.

Court: True volunteers aren’t covered by Title VII

06/26/2013
Except under very limited circumstances, volunteers aren’t considered employees under Title VII. That means they can’t sue for things like sexual harassment.

Even innocent age-related comments can trigger a bias lawsuit

06/26/2013
Here’s something to add to your regular training sessions for managers and supervisors. Warn them against making age-related comments. These can backfire, even if they aren’t intended to be ageist or demeaning to anyone.

Court rules firing based on lactation is sex discrimination under Title VII, PDA

06/26/2013
The EEOC has won a major case in its ongoing efforts to help lactating women who want to return to work. The 5th Circuit has accepted the commission’s interpretation that firing a woman who needs a place to express milk at work is both sex discrimination under Title VII and violates the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) because lactation is related to pregnancy.