On October 27, 2023, two individuals represented by attorney Melanie Wilson Rughani of the Oklahoma-based law firm Crowe & Dunlevy filed Initiative Petition No. 446, which proposes a dramatic increase in Oklahoma’s...
Employment Law Letter
As you look back on 2023 and ahead to 2024, there are so many compliance-related items to consider relating to your employee benefit plans. The rules you’re supposed to comply with keep growing and growing—they seem like...
Notice of void non competition clauses. As you know, most noncompete agreements in California are unlawful and unenforceable. Nonetheless, some employers have used a tactic of maintaining unenforceable noncompete...
Ordinarily, insurance policies don’t cover willful improper conduct by the insured. At the same time, if an employer retaliates against employees who blow the whistle on unlawful behavior, or who refuse to engage in...
Beginning in 2024, both Washington and California will prohibit employers from basing hiring decisions on an applicant’s legal marijuana use. What is prohibited? Effective January 1, 2024, employers are prohibited from...
Multiple new laws will take effect in Washington state beginning January 2024, bringing changes to the state’s minimum wage laws and adding requirements under the state’s Paid Sick Leave Law. Minimum wage increases at...
It’s become a mantra resounding from more and more employers: Good help is hard to find. For years now, employers have bemoaned their inability to recruit and retain workers for the full range of employment, everything...
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported recently that 12 billion working days are lost every year around the world to depression and anxiety. That results in 1 trillion U.S. dollars per year of lost productivity...
The dynamics of decision making for deciding whether to send a discrimination lawsuit to a jury or to dismiss it beforehand can be a bit baffling. A recent case from Houston gave the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals a...
Some of you use arbitration to resolve workplace disputes with your employees or are considering it. Here are two recent cases from the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and/or...
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) is now in effect, and both the statute and the regulations require you to think differently about how you manage workplace issues surrounding pregnancy and issues related to...
A recent jury award out of Philadelphia got me thinking about reverse discrimination and a case from 2019. Although neither case is from Texas—and the 2019 case involves a university—the lessons are applicable in Texas...
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is riddled with all sorts of employer obligations and therefore with all sorts of potential violations. Recently, TCU gave a seminar on dodging an FMLA interference claim. FMLA...
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (the federal appeals court covering Texas) recently gave a green light to a dress code rule at a Telsa facility manufacturing electric cars. Read on. Dress for success The Telsa...
Even if you're not a sports fan, you've likely heard of this severance payout received by former A&M football coach, Jimbo Fisher. While you will never deal with this type of buy-out, the saga teaches us a great deal...