• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Texas

Employment Lawyer Network:
Texas

Michael W. Fox (Editor)

Texas Employment Law

Michael.Fox@OgletreeDeakins.com
(512) 344-4711

Click for Full Bio

Michael W. Fox, Esq., of Ogletree Deakins in Austin, has more than 30 years of experience representing employers. He has been Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1980 and is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. He has been regularly listed in the Best Lawyers in America in Labor and Employment Law, as a Texas Monthly ’Super Lawyer’ in employment litigation.

What rights do employers have under Texas’s Open Carry Law? Can we ban guns at work?

09/29/2016
Q. We are a private business that would like to prohibit our employees and customers from carrying firearms inside our corporate premises. May we do so?

Must we grant time off for drug rehab in Texas?

09/29/2016
Q. An employee recently tested positive for drugs during a random drug screening that we periodically administer to ensure that our employees are able to safely operate our systems. The employee admitted that he regularly used drugs, and would like to take several weeks off to participate in a rehabilitation program. Does Texas law require us to grant him time off?

Lessons from LochteGate: Regulating alcohol in the workplace

09/29/2016
Here are some strategies for minimizing the potential for alcohol-related misconduct.

SEC limits severance language

09/29/2016
The Securities and Exchange Com­mission recently issued two decisions rejecting severance agreement language that would require employees to waive their rights to additional monetary recovery.

DOL issues revised, more reader-friendly FMLA poster

09/29/2016
The U.S. Department of Labor has updated its FMLA poster to be more easily read by employees.

2nd union initiation fee OK

09/29/2016
Even if union members quit their union, they still have the right to be represented in workplace disputes.

Contractor not liable for city worker’s injury

09/29/2016
A contractor hired to perform work for a city isn’t responsible for an injured government employee whose work it did not control.

Use documentation of past violations to justify harsh discipline

09/29/2016
Smart employers catalog every instance of discipline. Those records come in handy if you must fire one employee for breaking the same rule as another employee who wasn’t terminated.

Rejecting candidates, then leaving positions unfilled can trigger discrimination claims

09/29/2016
If you reject a qualified candidate but leave the position open while still seeking someone with similar qualifications, that’s an open invitation to be sued for discrimination.

There are pay suits and discrimination suits, but they’re not necessarily the same

09/29/2016
Employees who file EEOC suits can’t go back years with pay claims unless they can show some sort of continuing violation.  Merely having complained for years—even decades—about unfair pay isn’t enough.