On August 18, 2023, in Hamilton v. Dallas County, the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upended a longstanding precedent, significantly broadening the types of adverse employment actions that could give rise to an...more
8/23/2023
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Commission on Human Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
En Banc Review ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Precedential Opinion ,
Public Employees ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
In the first ruling from a federal appellate court examining COVID-19–related layoffs and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held in Easom v. US Well Services,...more
On May 13, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of an employer, finding that a fired employee had failed to create a genuine dispute of material fact as to pretext. In Owens...more
6/15/2022
/ Appeals ,
Employee Evaluations ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Investigations ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Performance Improvement Plans ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Termination ,
Title VII
Arbitration agreements are intended to expedite the legal process while minimizing fees and costs. In reality, former employees and their counsel often resist submitting their employment claims to arbitration, resulting in...more
7/2/2021
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Discovery ,
Discrimination ,
E-Signatures ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Employment Litigation ,
Enforceability ,
Mandamus Petitions ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Retaliation ,
TX Supreme Court
In Tarrant County College District v. Sims, No. 05-20-00351 (March 10, 2021), the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas held that “claim[s] of discrimination based on sexual orientation may be brought under the...more
On March 10, 2021, the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court of Bexar County’s entry of a temporary injunction preventing the City of San Antonio’s sick and safe leave ordinance from taking effect. The...more
As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes more readily available, employers are considering mandatory vaccination for their employees and in particular, how to respond to employee requests for accommodation, whether on the basis of...more
1/28/2021
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Commission on Human Rights ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Insubordination Policy ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Termination ,
Vaccinations
The City of San Antonio’s Sick and Safe Leave ordinance has been enjoined. The ordinance was originally scheduled to go into effect on August 1, 2019, but on July 24, 2019, a Texas state court delayed implementation until...more
On August 6, 2019, in State of Texas v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) overstepped its limited rulemaking...more
8/9/2019
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Adverse Impact ,
Appeals ,
Business Necessity ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Lack of Authority ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Notice and Comment ,
Race Discrimination ,
Title VII
Maintaining a company anti-harassment policy on a bulletin board and website is not enough to avoid liability for sexual discrimination according to a recent decision. On July 20, 2016, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals...more
7/29/2016
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Appeals ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Employee Training ,
Faragher/Ellerth defense ,
Posting Requirements ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII
In Bodle v. TXL Mortgage Corp., No. 14-20224 (June 1, 2015), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a generic, broad-form settlement release between an employer and two of its former employees did not bar those...more
An opinion out of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals demonstrates why employers need to be weary of developing a practice of oral agreements in regards to compensation upon which at-will employees may detrimentally rely. The...more