In a landmark decision issued on August 23 in the case of Restaurant Law Center; Texas Restaurant Association v. the United States Department of Labor, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upended decades...more
On June 6, 2022, the Supreme Court addressed two cases involving employment law issues. The Court’s significant opinion in Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon regarding the scope of the residual clause contained in Section 1 of...more
6/9/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Pre-Employment Agreements ,
Southwest Airlines ,
State Law Claims
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and other anti-discrimination statutes require employers to avoid discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and other improper classifications. The United States Supreme Court has...more
Employers confronted with Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims as to their operations in Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi should take note of a new decision by the United States District Court for the Northern District of...more
In its recent decision in Van Buren v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and its potential use by employers to ensure computer security and protection for...more
In addition to requiring employers to accommodate employees requesting covered family or medical leaves, the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) prohibits retaliating against an employee for exercising FMLA rights.
The...more
As we approach the one-year mark of COVID-19 lockdowns, state and federal courts continue to struggle with the scheduling of civil cases – with some cases backed up to the end of 2022 and even the beginning of 2023. For...more
Clients who opt for the privacy of alternate dispute resolution to resolve business differences are sometimes chagrined to learn that designating an ADR does not by itself guarantee confidentiality of trade secrets. The usual...more
COVID-19 has augmented many challenges for employers. The most observable of these has been the necessity of avoiding congregating employees at the workplace. Unfortunately for employers, eliminating the requirement to work...more
The questions and answers below highlight labor and employment topics as they relate to nonprofit organizations.
Classifying Your Staff -
What is the difference between a paid employee and an unpaid volunteer? Under...more
8/27/2020
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health Insurance ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Internships ,
Job Duties ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Nonprofits ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Primary Duty Test ,
Sick Leave ,
Unpaid Interns ,
Vacation Pay ,
Volunteers ,
Wage and Hour
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recently updated its website by including frequently asked questions pertaining to workplace safety and the many challenges confronting employers with the COVID-19...more
7/10/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
Social Distancing ,
Workplace Safety
Following the lead of Bexar County and others around the state, County Judge Lina Hidalgo issued a new order on Friday, June 19, 2020, aimed at helping contain the spread of COVID-19. This order directs any businesses...more
Austin Mayor Steve Adler issued an order on Wednesday, June 17, 2020, that mandates all Austin businesses must develop and implement a safety policy related to COVID-19. This order comes following a clarification from...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered unprecedented challenges for companies striving to ensure a safe work environment. Scrutinizing the manner in which companies have addressed these challenges has so far been conducted...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has prepared and is periodically updating its website entitled “Technical Assistance Questions and Answers” related to the many novel challenges confronting employers with...more
6/18/2020
/ ADEA ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Guidance Update ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
Title VII ,
Workplace Safety
On June 17, 2020, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff issued Executive Order NW-10 to extend the local disaster declaration and public health emergency for Bexar County. The order went into effect at noon on June 17, 2020, and...more
6/18/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Abbott ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Masks ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Social Distancing ,
Workplace Safety
The Texas Supreme Court recently clarified that the Workers’ Compensation Act’s intentional-injury exception applies only to situations where the employer purposefully causes injury or when the employer believes “that its...more
For the first time in six years, the U.S. Supreme Court focused its attention upon the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1958, commonly referred to as the “New York Convention,” to...more
6/5/2020
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards ,
Enforcement of Foreign Judgments ,
Equitable Estoppel ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Foreign Arbitral Awards ,
GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA LLC ,
Motion to Compel ,
Non-Signatories ,
SCOTUS ,
State Law Claims ,
Subcontractors
In Lucky Brand Dungarees, Inc. v. Marcel Fashions Group, Inc., the United States Supreme Court recently considered for the first time whether and the extent to which it should recognize “defense preclusion” as a valid...more
5/19/2020
/ Claim Preclusion ,
Collateral Estoppel ,
Counterclaims ,
Defense Preclusion ,
Fashion Branding ,
Issue Preclusion ,
Lucky Brand Dungarees v Marcel Fashion Group ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Release Agreements ,
Res Judicata ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Subsequent Litigation ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has issued an en banc decision in Williams v. Taylor Seidenbach Incorporated that is designed to re-connect the law of federal appellate jurisdiction with common sense....more
Employers have had to confront many novel challenges with the COVID-19 outbreak, particularly having to cease or significantly reduce business activities. Now, they must confront the equally difficult challenge of reopening....more
For the second time this year, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has issued a decision interpreting and applying the New York Convention in an international arbitration case. In the most recent...more
In Smith v. Ochsner Health System, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently addressed comprehensively for the first time the appropriate analysis of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “highly compensated...more
In Texas Brine Co., L.L.C. v. American Arbitration Association, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently addressed a question of first impression involving an interesting twist on removal...more
Overtime Pay in the Oil Patch -
The boom for domestic energy producers, particularly in the Permian Basin, has been accompanied by the companion challenge of how to compensate transient oilfield service providers within...more