In Texas, if you work for a private employer, it is often perfectly legal for the employer to fire you for reporting illegal activity. However, there are some notable exceptions to this general rule. One is section 260A.014 of the Texas Health and Safety Code. This 2011 statute prohibits discrimination…
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Earlier this month, I spoke to the Travis County Women Lawyers Association on employment law. One of the audience members asked a good question, which is: for an employer to be subject to Title VII, it has to have at least 15 employees. Do part-time employees count? Answer: liability under…
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In late 2012, UT women’s track coach Bev Kearney was forced to resign after admitting to a consensual, year-long relationship with one of her athletes in the early 2000s. Not a month later, the Daily Texan reported that Major Applewhite, a UT assistant football coach, engaged in a one-time sexual…
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Picture this: you have a small business with more than fifteen employees. Tough economic times require you to lay someone off. You lay someone off who happens to be female. She sues for sex discrimination. You now have to hire an attorney to defend the claim. The attorney wants a…
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This week, I was on the national Internet radio program Money for Lunch, talking about hot topics in labor, employment, and business law. The first question I was asked was whether, in Texas, an employer can make an employee or potential hire turn over his/her social media password(s). In a…
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Last week, the Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment granted in favor of the employer in a discrimination case. In this case, the employee complained that the employer’s decision to give her the second highest possible, but not the highest possible, rating on a performance review was age, race, sex, sexual…
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Mark your calendar: on October 10, 2012, at 12:20 p.m. CST, I'll be on the radio blog program Money for Lunch talking about the top five developments in labor and employment law: 1. Social media 2. Arbitration 3. Workplace investigations 4. Retaliation & whistleblowing 5. Transgender discrimination Tune in at…
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This week, the Texas Supreme Court decided that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act does not apply to the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (TCHRA), the state law mirroring Title VII. (Click here for my previous blog covering the oral argument of this case.) The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay…
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This week, my toddler invented a new word: “fleever.” A "fleever" is a make-believe power tool used to clean floors. Any household item may be used as a fleever--a flashlight, a hiking pole, an empty roll of paper towels. At its essence, fleevering involves making sweeping motions across the floor.…
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My mother taught me never to talk about sex, politics, or religion in a social setting. You might ask: where’s the fun in that? But for employers, training employees to avoid these topics in the workplace is not only more fun than getting sued for discrimination or harassment, it is…
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