Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Riley Carter
When an employer crosses the line from negligent to malicious, punitive damages are one of the most powerful tools an employee has. But the statute you sue under can mean the difference between a $50,000 ceiling and an unlimited verdict. Here’s a quick guide to how punitive damages work in Texas employment cases under federal and state law.
Federal Law: Title VII vs. § 1981
Rachel Bethel Dallas
Trial Attorney
Imagine that you’re at work. You learn that you’re being denied an accommodation. The sexual harassment won’t stop after your report. A paycheck isn’t adding up. It might be tempting to type the whole story into an AI site and ask, “Do I have a case?” It’s fast, it’s free, and the answer sounds right. After all, it’s written in legalese! What could go wrong?
Quite a bit actually. AI tools can be useful for plenty of things, but advice on your employment is not one of them.
Dallas Senior Trial Attorney Deontae Wherry
When Jane walked out of her office in Plano for the last time, she felt both relieved and uneasy. For nearly a year, she had documented what she believed was discrimination at work. She filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), saved emails, kept notes, and waited.
Weeks passed. Then months.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Riley Carter
Members of the military and uniformed services make extraordinary sacrifices in service to our country. Federal law recognizes that those sacrifices should not come at the cost of a civilian career. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) is designed to protect service members and veterans from discrimination, retaliation, and unlawful job loss related to their military service.
At Rob Wiley, P.C., we regularly represent employees whose rights have been violated after they served—or continued to serve—in the military. Understanding the basics of USERRA is the first step in protecting those rights.
Rachel Bethel Dallas
Trial Attorney
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) generally governs the standards required for American workers. The FLSA addresses minimum wage, child labor restrictions, record keeping, and overtime.
The FLSA does not mandate that employers give breaks during the workday. However, should an employer choose to provide breaks, the FLSA strictly regulates whether those breaks must be paid. This is where many FLSA violations occur.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Riley Carter
Employees in the food industry are often the first people to see when something is wrong. Unsafe sanitation practices, contaminated ingredients, improper storage, falsified safety records, or pressure to ignore food safety rules can put the public at serious risk. Congress recognized this reality when it passed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)—and included strong protections for employees who speak up.
If you reported food safety concerns and were punished for it, you may have legal protections and remedies under federal law.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Harjeen Zibari
There is a general concept in civil procedure is called standing. Standing is the question of whether or not the Plaintiff bringing the claim can actually legally do so. In employment law, it seems like a pretty straightforward inquiry, but sometimes it can get pretty complicated.
Generally speaking, an employee who has been discriminated or retaliated against in a way that is defined by a statute has the most easily established standing in court. For example, a woman who is constantly subjected to sexist comments in the workplace and then fired and replaced by a male employee has standing under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to bring a case against her former employer. Whether she’ll win is another battle in and of itself, dependent on the facts, but the threshold question of whether she’ll get in the door is pretty easily answered. Or, an employee who was fired two days after requesting a reasonable accommodation similarly has standing under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as he was retaliated against for engaging in a legally protected activity: requesting an accommodation. Again, whether he’ll win is another question, but he’s able to get in the door, as he’s the appropriate person to bring the suit against the employer, as opposed to someone who just witnessed these things happen.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Cassidy Monska
Summary: This blog explains the “cat’s paw” theory of liability in employment law, which allows an employee to hold an employer accountable when a biased supervisor influences an otherwise neutral decision‑maker to take adverse action.
One of the most frustrating things employees hear after being fired or disciplined is that the person who made the final decision “wasn’t biased.” Employers often rely on that fact to argue they cannot be held responsible for discrimination or retaliation. Employment law, however, recognizes that bias does not always sit at the top of the organizational chart. This is where the “cat’s paw” theory of liability comes into play.
Rachel Bethel Dallas
Trial Attorney
Although Texas is an “at-will employment” state, this doctrine has important limits, especially when it comes to your employee benefits.
Federal law protects workers from being targeted for their use of health insurance, retirement plans, and other benefits. That protection comes from ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
Rachel Bethel Dallas
Trial Attorney
No one wants to discover that their employer is knowingly defrauding the government. That sounds frightening, both to discover it and to figure out what to do about it. You might feel torn between doing the right thing and protecting your livelihood. Fortunately, federal law provides a powerful tool for workers who take action and report fraud against taxpayer-funded programs.
The False Claims Act (FCA) is aimed at addressing fraud on the U.S. government, which is surprisingly rampant. It protects workers who blow the whistle as well.
Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog