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 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.

Jackie Staple

February 22, 2024
Speaking Engagements

Jackie Staple Presents “Big Brother Watching: Workplace Privacy” at LEGALKwik

Jackson Walker employment law partner Jackie C. Staple is scheduled to present at HR Houston’s program, LEGALKwik, on Thursday, February 29, at the Houston Racquet Club.

Lionel Schooler

February 21, 2024
Speaking Engagements

Lionel Schooler to Discuss the Status of FLSA Collective Action Certification

Jackson Walker partner Lionel M. Schooler is set to participate in a panel discussion that will delve into the current state of FLSA collective action certification in light of the recent Swales and Clark appellate decisions.

February 12, 2024
Attorney News

Jackson Walker Announces Election of 5 Attorneys to Partnership

Jackson Walker is pleased to announce the election of 5 attorneys to the firm’s partnership.

January 25, 2024
Attorney News

David Schlottman Appointed Chair of the Dallas Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section

Jackson Walker congratulates Dallas partner David Schlottman on his appointment as Chair of the Dallas Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section.

U.S. Department of Labor building

January 12, 2024
Insights

U.S. Department of Labor’s Final Rule on Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

By Dawn S. Holiday 

On January 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced the issuance of the final rule, Employee or Independent Contractor Classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). According to the DOL, the 339-page final rule and guidance will reduce the risk that employees are misclassified as independent contractors, applies to workers in any industry, and provides greater consistency for businesses to engage with individuals who are in business for themselves.

2024 Top Texas Women Super Lawyers

January 11, 2024
Attorney News

Super Lawyers Names 31 Jackson Walker Attorneys in Texas Top Women 2024 Magazine

Jackson Walker congratulates the 31 attorneys who were included in the Texas Top Women 2024 Magazine published by Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers. The annual Texas Top Texas Women edition includes the highest-rated women attorneys across the “Texas Rising Stars” and “Texas Super Lawyers” lists in a given practice area.

Vienna Anaya and David Schlottman

January 8, 2024
Attorney News

D Magazine Lists Vienna Anaya and David Schlottman Among “Best Lawyers Under 40” for 2024

Attorneys on the “Best Lawyers Under 40” list are nominated by peers who have witnessed their work firsthand and are selected for recognition by a panel of attorneys of varying ages and levels of experience.

Jackson Walker Fort Worth

December 12, 2023
Attorney News

‘Fort Worth Magazine’ Lists 16 Jackson Walker Attorneys Among the “Top Attorneys” of 2023

Jackson Walker is pleased to announce the selection of 16 Fort Worth-based attorneys to Fort Worth Magazine’s “Top Attorneys” list for 2023. To be selected for inclusion, attorneys with an active license and who practice within the Tarrant County area must be nominated by their peers within the region. The list of nominees then goes through a “rigorous panel review to assure the highest of quality is met.”

Businesspeople using artificial intelligence (AI)

December 8, 2023
Insights

Artificial Intelligence Comes to Work

By David Schlottman and Shelisa E. Brock

It’s fun to watch old movies and see their predictions for the future. According to the classic 1985 film Back to the Future, the year 2015 would bring us flying cars, self-tying shoes, and—best of all—floating hover boards! While those predictions were mostly wrong (to my great personal regret), others hit closer to home.

November 10, 2023
Insights

Benefits Planning for Year End and 2024

By Greta E. Cowart

Although there is no amendment required to single employer retirement plan documents by December 31, 2023, there are operational requirements that you will need to implement and keep records of the choices you make to stay in operational compliance.

More Labor & Employment News