The people you hire for your business can help it grow, or they can cause a lot of problems. Employees are as much of a liability as they are a benefit for your company. The things that they do on the clock can adversely affect your company's daily operations,...
Practice Questions & Answers Learned From Franchise Trial: Pizza Inn v. Adeniregun
What is the danger of email or text communications?Answer: Many people approach email and texting informally, and do not review their content critically, or run it by counsel, before hitting the send button. This can lead to statements that can be viewed as damaging...
What You Need to Know About the FLSA
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted in 1938 to provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employment in and affecting interstate commerce. Important things to know about the FLSA is that it generally requires employees be paid a minimum wage...
Cybercrime Under The CFAA: It Depends on the Jurisdiction
In a decision filed on April 10, 2012, the Ninth Circuit in United States of America v. Nosal, No. 10-10038 (9th Cir. 2012), put itself squarely in conflict with the Fifth, Eleventh and Seventh Circuits by holding that the district court properly dismissed a portion...
Just When You Thought Covenants Were Enforceable
The decision in Drennen v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 14-10-01099-CV (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] Feb. 14, 2012) serves as a reminder that forfeiture agreements, treated as a covenant not to compete, must meet reasonable standards to be enforceable under Texas...
Case Dismissed!
Our client recently hired a sales manager who used to work for a competitor. The competitor immediately sued, claiming that our client had misappropriated a number of trade secrets when it hired the new employee. Here's how we got the case dismissed.Employees often...
Avoid this mistake when communicating with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division.
Your company just received a Notice of Charge of Discrimination from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") or Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division ("TWC"). The agency will ask for a position statement from the employer, which it will...
Retaliation – Does timing matter?
No employment relationship lasts forever, and sometimes even productive employees are let go for legitimate business reasons. If the employee has complained of discrimination in the past, however, the company runs the risk of a claim that it retaliated against the...
Reformation of Covenants not to Compete
Can the trial court reform a covenant not to compete before it sends the case to arbitration? Section 15.51 of the Texas Business & Commerce Code allows a trial court on request to reform a covenant not to compete to make it reasonable as to scope, time or area...
Four tips to evaluating (and hopefully dismissing) sexual harassment claims.
Sexual harassment cases can be difficult. In addition to the stress and emotional costs to everyone involved, the financial risk to the company can be incredibly high. Here are some things we look at to determine the chance of getting the case dismissed before trial....
