At the outset of most employment relationships, the employer will have an employee sign a litany of documents ranging from a IRS form W4 to a non-compete agreement. Buried within those documents is usually some form of a confidentiality agreement. Within the agreement the employee agrees not to share any of the employer’s confidential information while an employee and after they depart. Sometimes the agreement is referred to as a non-disclosure agreement or NDA. Here is an example of a clause from such an agreement:
Continue Reading Loose Lips Sink Ships
The Beginning of the Year Employment Checklist
As the New Year begins a couple of things to consider:
- Is the company employee manual up to date – any changes necessary? – The beginning of the year is always a good time to review those policies and procedures and see how they worked in 2018. Often the year will show some deficiencies
The Beauty of An Employment Settlement
I remember when I was a younger lawyer the difficulty I had with clients settling lawsuits that factually and legally had little merit. I remember the partner I worked for telling me that was the cost of doing business. While I knew he was right that comment still bothers me to this day. But the
The End of Year Employment Checklist
As we creep up on the end of the year employers should be considering/doing a number of things:
- Is the company employee manual up to date – any changes necessary? – The end of the year is always a good time to review those policies and procedures and see how they worked in 2017. Often
Circumstantial Evidence – Employment Claims Alive and Well in Texas
Yesterday’s Dallas Morning News homepage had not 1 but 2 employment related cases. Texas icon Whataburger has been sued for alleged discriminatory hiring practices and CBS 11 has been sued for violating the ADEA when it chose to hire a younger female traffic reporter over 44 year old Tammy Dombeck. Both cases were filed by
PIP TIPS (Performance Improvement Plans)
The purpose of the performance improvement plan or “PIP” is to give an employee the opportunity to make certain changes in their work performance so as to merit ongoing employment. Put another way satisfy the PIP and you keep your job. Of course, there are all sorts of statements in the PIP (or there should
Proof that Employment Laws are Still Necessary in Texas
Caught this story here in Dallas where a now defunct medical lab had “gropening day” every other Friday. Here is a link to the story. Basically employees were free to grope one another every other Friday – no joke. It’s hard to believe something like this occurs in 2017. Unfortunately it does. A former
2017 Arbitration Thoughts
Over the years we’ve been building a list to consider when putting together an arbitration provision.
- A requirement that the case be disposed of within a certain time period. (i.e. 6 months from filing);
- A limitation on the number of witnesses that can be called, the amount of time each side has to put on
The Non-Compete Buyout
One option we’ve never spent much time discussing here as it relates to non-competes is the buyout option – on both sides. Buying out a non-compete is neither new nor novel. Physician non-competes in Texas require that the non-compete provision include a buyout option. The statute provides:
the covenant must provide for a buy
How to Handle a Firing
From an employer’s perspective the firing of an employee is hopefully the culmination of a deliberative process and compliance with the company’s policies and procedures. It is the ultimate adverse employment action and everything that is said and done may be put under the microscope by an employee’s lawyer, EEOC, or Texas Commission on