Labor & Employment
We are labor and employment lawyers who try labor and employment lawsuits, counsel our clients on increasingly complex workplace laws and regulations, and represent our clients before federal, state, and local labor and employment agencies, such as the NLRB, the EEOC, and OSHA.
Our litigation practice includes complex executive compensation matters, class/collective actions, trade secret/unfair competition cases, breach of fiduciary duty and executive malfeasance cases. Our vast labor and employment litigation experience is the platform from which we provide advice and counsel to help our clients solve workplace challenges covering the entire range of employment issues. We focus both on traditional labor issues–including elections, contract negotiations, arbitration, strikes and lockouts–to employment law areas, such as discrimination, disability, Family and Medical Leave Act, workplace safety, and wage and hour issues.
We practice employment law backed by the resources of a full service firm in corporate, tax, bankruptcy, intellectual property, securities, employee benefits, oil and gas, media, complex litigation, cybersecurity, and all the areas offered by Jackson Walker’s over 300 attorneys. By blending our labor/employment subject matter experience with practitioners from these areas, we offer a unique blend of labor/employment subject matter know-how to handle complex litigation cases that cross disciplines, counsel clients on high level executive compensation matters, and offer practical solutions for business issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective. We empower our clients with this multi-disciplinary knowledge and experience, in the courtroom and the boardroom.
Our clients include international Fortune 100 companies, privately held companies of all shapes and sizes in media, retail, oil and gas, alternative energy, technology, entertainment and hospitality, trucking and delivery, financial and insurance, and manufacturers. Our cases range the full spectrum from “bet the company” cases to single plaintiff labor/employment lawsuits.
We are Texas lawyers, with all of our lawyers and offices in Texas. This gives us unparalleled knowledge of the Texas legal landscape, from county to county. It also drives our national practice because our clients regularly hire us to handle matters in other states. Our unique position also results in opportunities to represent international companies that find themselves faced with significant employment matters that require the resources of a full-service firm.
Within only the last two years, we have enjoyed the following successes for our clients:
- We tried a complex executive fraud/breach of fiduciary duty case,with significant counter claims against our client, to a jury for nearly four weeks. After we tried the rest of the case to the court, we ultimately prevailed with a $1.7 M judgment against the former executive, settling the case after that on extremely favorable terms.
- We decertified a 100-plus plaintiff collective action FLSA overtime case, and then tried the first group of those plaintiffs to a jury, resulting in a settlement during jury deliberations with which our client was very pleased.
- We tried a case against a labor union that was seeking millions of dollars in allegedly unpaid benefits and won so emphatically that the union did not appeal.
- We filed a computer fraud and abuse act against a former executive of a large, publicly traded company, and brought such force to bear in the case, using a team led by our labor/employment lawyers but including bankruptcy and e-discovery lawyers, that it settled very favorably 6 weeks after we filed it, with the executive losing millions of dollars in benefits as a result of a “cause” termination.
- We decertified an FLSA collective action that would have had nearly 100 plaintiffs, leaving it with only 7 named plaintiffs, against whom we ultimately won summary judgment.
September 22, 2021
Attorney News
Jackson Walker Congratulates Its 57 “Texas Super Lawyers” of 2021
Each year, less than 5% of attorneys in Texas are named to the list. Selection is based off of peer nominations that are then reviewed by a research team. Each nominee is evaluated on his or her professional accomplishments, peer recognition, and community involvement.
September 17, 2021
Insights
CMS to Require Vaccinations for Workers at Medicare and Medicaid-Certified Facilities
By Jed Morrison
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that it will issue emergency regulations expanding its requirement for nursing home staff to be vaccinated to include workers at Medicare and Medicaid-certified hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies, among others.
September 17, 2021
Insights
COVID-19 Employment Update: President Biden’s Vaccine Mandates
By Sarah Mitchell Montgomery
On September 9, 2021, President Biden introduced his administration’s “Plan to Stop the Delta Variant and Boost COVID-19 Vaccinations,” which will be instituted through two executive orders that will mandate vaccines for employees of the Executive Branch of the federal government and for employees of federal contractors and subcontractors.
September 17, 2021
Insights
Why Are Diversity & Inclusion Programs Missing the Mark on Meaningful Change? | Texas Lawyer
By Dawn Holiday
With the proper planning, training, assessment tools and periodic evaluation, effective D&I programs can inspire meaningful change toward diverse and inclusive workplaces for all.
September 15, 2021
Mentions
Six-Figure Income Plus Overtime Ruling Hits Energy Sector Pay | Bloomberg Law
Following a recent ruling that an offshore oil rig manager can get overtime despite making $200,000 a year, Jackie Staple told Bloomberg Law that the Fifth Circuit ruling leaves room for highly paid workers who receive day rates to be exempt. “There could be a different fact pattern presented and the worker could meet the requirements for overtime exemption,” she noted.
September 6, 2021
Attorney News
Texas Diversity Council Recognizes Jamila Brinson and Julia Mann With Top Women Lawyers Awards
On September 28, 2021, Jamila Brinson and Julia Mann will be honored among the top women lawyers of 2021 by the Texas Diversity Council (TXDC), the local state affiliate of the National Diversity Council.
September 3, 2021
Newsletters
Labor & Employment Dispatch: September 2021
View the September 2021 edition of the Labor & Employment Dispatch.
September 3, 2021
Insights
Supreme Court Restricts Use of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
In its recent decision in Van Buren v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and its potential use by employers to ensure computer security and protection for their trade secrets and confidential information.
August 31, 2021
Mentions
Jamila Brinson Discusses What Employers Should Know About Texas’ New Sexual Harassment Laws
With three new laws in effect concerning sexual harassment claims in Texas, Jamila Brinson spoke with Law360 about what these changes to the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act mean for employers.
August 30, 2021
Insights
Vaccination Incentives as Wellness Programs – Getting Back to Business Incentives
By Greta Cowart | Employers wanting to encourage employees to get vaccinated can phrase vaccination incentives as a wellness incentive program so that it is part of an outcome-based wellness program, which may include other wellness programs such as a smoking cessation incentive.
The Labor & Employment Dispatch newsletter from Jackson Walker provides news and insights in labor and employment law.
