Celebrating 20 years of representing Dallas employees, including Rasha Zeyadeh, Deontae Wherry, Fadi Yousef, Clara Mann*, Kalandra Wheeler, Jeannie Buckingham*, Austin Campbell, Julie St. John, Colin Walsh, and Jairo Castellanos. *Indicates non-lawyer staff.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is one of the most modern and powerful tools for Texas employees with injuries and disabilities.  Since its inception, workers have had the right to take blocks of leave for a serious medical condition.  Workers have also had the ability to take intermittent leave, which allows workers to take medical leave on an as-needed basis.  But what about using FMLA leave to reduce an employee’s work schedule?  Is this qualifying FMLA leave?  In an opinion letter dated February 9, 2023, the Department of Labor ruled that an employee with a disability may use FMLA leave for a reduced work schedule if the reduction is a reasonable accommodation for the employee’s disability.

The FMLA is a federal law that provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for qualifying family and medical reasons, such as a serious health condition.

When an employee has a disability that affects their ability to perform the essential functions of their job, the employer has a legal obligation to provide a reasonable accommodation. A reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to the job or work environment that enables the employee to perform the essential functions of their job without undue hardship to the employer.

There are certain skills that as we go through life we must obtain. One of those of those skills is knowing when enough is enough and it’s time to walk away. And it is a skill to be able to recognize that and act on the recognition. This skill is especially relevant in any type of legal process. The reason why is that sometimes moving forward is not the best action you can take and that’s a big decision, but hopefully some of the considerations below will help to illustrate good ways to analyze the choices made as a client. 

We’ll start with an example of a situation where a big decision must be made: do you file a lawsuit?

That decision should be informed by a multitude of factors and most of them have nothing to do with the law. I know, the law not being one of the main contenders seems like an odd stance, but there are so many relevant human considerations that should be taken into account instead. To take care of this, let’s suppose that the question of filing a lawsuit has already been decided – there are grounds to file, the Firm agreed, and the only decision to be made is whether to go for it. 

Happy New Year! During this time of the year, many people set new goals for themselves hoping to improve the status quo. I am a firm believer that your environment affects your goals. For instance, a toxic supervisor or a hostile work environment can affect your professional goals. If you find yourself in a hostile work environment, you do not have to suffer in silence. This year, make it your priority to speak up, if you feel you are being subjected to discrimination and/or retaliation.

What does discrimination look like?

Workplace discrimination can appear in many forms. Sometimes, it is open and obvious; other times, it is subtle. But not all discrimination is illegal. Discrimination is only illegal when your employer discriminates against you because of a protected characteristic such as you race, national origin, disability, age, religion, or sex. Discrimination also includes harassment because of a protected activity. If you believe your boss is discriminating against because you like red socks, then that is not unlawful discrimination.

Summary: This article gives a brief overview of the NRLB’s new Thryv, Inc., decision, and its implications for the landscape of labor and employment law.

The National Labor Relations Act is an often-overlooked part of employment law.  The National Labor Relations Board (the agency in charge of administering the NLRA) does far more than govern company-union relations (i.e., labor law).  It also protects employees, regardless of union membership, against retaliation for engaging in protected concerted activity regarding the terms and conditions of their employment.  This means, for instance, that two or more employees who talk to each other or management about some important workplace issue like wages, safety, or company policies may have legal protection if the company seeks to punish them for “rocking the boat.” 

Retaliation like that is a type of “unfair labor practice,” and the NLRB is empowered to make workers “whole” in such situations.  That is, to put them in the position they would have been in but for the retaliation, restoring the “status quo.”  In the past, for employees that was often limited to backpay (that is, lost wages if they are fired or demoted) and/or job reinstatement.  While those are certainly major parts of making someone whole, they may not account for every way in which retaliation can harm someone.  For instance, if you were fired in retaliation for concerted activity and had to relocate across the country for a new job, those moving expenses might not have been covered even if you proved retaliation happened. 

One the greatest rights we have is the right to a jury trial. While many employment cases never make it to a jury, employees still have this fundamental right to attempt to get his/her case to a jury.

Over the last year, we have witnessed more employment cases being tried before a jury. One of the reasons we are seeing more jury trials is courts are trying to clear their backlogs from the pandemic, and the way to do that is by having jury trials and getting cases off their dockets. Another reason is people want their day in court. As a result, we have witnessed significant jury verdicts in employment cases.

I also realize that some people do not like juries. Why is this? Maybe it’s because your fate is in the hands of people that you do not know. Perhaps you may not feel confident that you will be given a jury of people who are truly your peers. That is okay if you are uncomfortable having a jury decide your case. You can always have a bench trial before the judge. I must admit getting a case to a jury is not easy, which is discussed by my colleague, Jairo Castellanos, in a recent blog.  But, for now, let’s discuss who jurors are, their purpose, and recent jury verdicts.

Whether you are last minute shopping or merely intend to do some shopping during the busiest shopping time of the season, we all know that stores become packed. This includes lines of people longer than normal, harried store associates racing to re-stock shelves and answer questions, and customers becoming less patient. It’s the last symptom that brings forward my trite recommendation for this holiday season: Be Kind. This mantra is used year-round for various purposes – believe me, I too roll my eyes – but in the context of an at-will employee diligently working during the winter, it makes sense to be reminded and here’s why. In my last blog I looked at how holiday hours are only beneficial if you can and do work overtime hours. This blog is about how workers are treated during those busy holiday hours by customers and store management. 

If you have ever had to work in any kind of customer service position or retail job, then you are aware that the holiday season brings a type of dread with it. Most customer service based positions and almost all retail positions are hourly employment jobs and deemed to be at-will. At-will employment in Texas means that there is no job protection for these workers, and they can be fired for any reason or no reason at all.  For example, take Rhonda – a cashier – putting in her very best efforts, battling the long lines of patrons and getting them through the checkout line as quickly as she possibly can. Drake, her manager, who is upset at how many customers are complaining during the holiday season, may not care about Rhonda’s best efforts. All he hears and cares about are the customers complaints over the predictably long lines. After being on her feet all day, and even working overtime hours with the store staying open late, Rhonda could be fired. Rhonda would have no recourse if her unreasonable manager terminated her employment for a legitimate non-discriminatory reason like customer complaints about long lines in front of her cash register. 

Aside from her manager’s obtuse lack of understanding about the holiday shopping season, Rhonda may feel some modicum of relief at being relieved of her job duties. It may be shocking to think that someone losing their job during the middle of the holiday season would have any benefits, but the silver lining for Rhonda may be the fact that she no longer has to put on a happy face as customers continually berate her. 

In October, the Biden Administration issued a highly anticipated proposal on how it will approach independent contractor status under federal wage law. The proposal, released by the US Labor Department, clarifies when workers should be classified as independent contractors or be classified as employees who are afforded many more rights, such as full minimum wage, overtime, and other protections provided under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

This is a potential game changer for millions of gig workers, who are often classified as independent contractors. This includes the quintessential Uber drivers and food delivery app drivers, but construction and agriculture have some of the largest representation of independent contractors in the country.

When this was announced, gig companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. worried about what this will do for their company, as stock prices took a tumble after the announcement. These businesses say their operating costs would skyrocket if they were broadly required to reclassify their independent contractors as employees, due to the tax liabilities and minimum wage, labor, safety, and other legal requirements that apply to employees.

During the holiday season around my college campus, there was “common knowledge” that one of the biggest benefits of working retail on holidays like Black Friday was that you’d be entitled to time and a half solely because you worked on that day. Cut to becoming an employment lawyer and it’s time to debunk that myth. There are a few things that factor into working during the holiday season, which traditionally kicks off with Thanksgiving and more importantly, Black Friday. The first is whether a non-exempt employee can be forced to work on a holiday, then whether there are any additional benefits to working on a holiday that may make it worth it, and finally whether an exempt employee has access to these same considerations.

For starters, when I use the phrase “non-exempt” and “exempt” I am referring to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) denotation for employees who are entitled to overtime (and therefore “non-exempt”) and employees who are not entitled to overtime (and therefore “exempt.”) We are going to focus on non-exempt employees because that’s where the myth of extra pay originates. Turning to whether non-exempt employees can be required to work on a holiday like Thanksgiving or a federally recognized holiday, the short answer is: unfortunately, yes. The FLSA does not require employers to give employees days off even on a federally recognized holiday. Individual employers, of course, can decide to have truncated days or allow employees to request those days off, but there is no law requiring them to do so. There are a few exceptions to that rule, and they mostly involve employees that are allowed to have days off because of a different allowance like observing a religious holiday or where there is a collective bargaining agreement (union contract with employer) that allows those days off. Without an exception, the non-exempt employees are at the mercy of their employers. (There’s also that meme that says requests for days off are simply polite notices of non-attendance, but I would not recommend that strategy.)

Next, we turn to the myth that started it all: employees get paid extra to work on holidays. This myth is both true and false like all good myths. The true part is that if working on Black Friday pushes non-exempt employees over the 40-hour threshold, employers are then required to pay time and a half like any regular overtime. The false part is that there is no requirement under the FLSA that says employers must pay workers time and a half simply for working on a holiday if those hours do not count for over 40 hours. Therefore, it can be beneficial for employees to work on holidays because the hours are longer and more likely to net overtime pay, but there is no benefit just by working on a holiday. 

Twitter’s new CEO, Elon Musk, cannot stay out of the courtroom. Just a few months ago, Twitter sued Mr. Musk after he attempted to walk away from purchasing the company despite the parties reaching an agreement. The court set Twitter’s lawsuit for trial in October 2022. Weeks prior to the trial, Mr. Musk unexpectedly agreed to proceed with his original offer to purchase Twitter.

When Mr. Musk officially acquired Twitter, he immediately terminated the company’s top executives. Mr. Musk did not stop there; subsequently, he randomly laid off several employees without notice. As a result, these employees are suing Twitter for not giving proper notice regarding their layoff. Less than a month into Mr. Musk’s leadership of Twitter, Mr. Musk and his company are back in the courtroom. One would think that an experienced executive would consult an attorney prior to unreasonably exposing his company to potential liability, but not Mr. Musk who seems to make impulsive decisions.

The employees’ lawsuit alleges that Twitter violated the WARN Act when Mr. Musk announced that he would be reducing Twitter’s global workforce. It was speculated that the layoff could affect 50% of Twitter’s workforce. Since this lawsuit, Twitter has taken measures to reduce its potential liability under the WARN Act.

Summary: This article briefly looks at the trend of the aging workforce—sensationalized or real? It also touches on some of the positive and negative impacts of that potential trend. 

In the last decade or so, the media has begun talking about the so-calledgraying” of the American workforce—the idea that people are working later in life and retiring later, if at all.  Sometimes this is talked about in almost apocalyptic terms when it comes to productivity and benefits.  First, this article touches on the actual extent to which that is true.  Second, because a lot of coverage of this phenomenon seems to be from a “macro” (i.e., employer’s) perspective, this article briefly explores some of the implications of that trend for the workers’ themselves.

First of all, this is a real trend: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the share of the workforce age 75 or over will almost double by 2030.  This is in large part driven by the Baby Boomer generation.  However, in absolute terms this “problem” may be bit overblown by the media: those same projections say the share of the workforce in the 55-74 age bracket will actually decrease by 2030, and even the 75+ age bracket will be less than 12 percent of the workforce by 2030.  In addition, while the average age of retirement is going up, it is doing so slowly, creeping up by approximately 3 years since the early 1990s.  Life expectancy overall has been increasing, though not during the pandemic years; it remains to be seen if the upward trend in that resumes.  Though not some immediate existential threat, this aging of the population likely will put increasing pressure on our social safety nets.          

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