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 issuesâincluding elections, contract negotiations, arbitration, strikes and lockoutsâto 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 âbet the companyâ cases to single plaintiff labor/employment lawsuits.
With a deep bench of experienced lawyers, Jackson Walkerâs employment practice has unparalleled knowledge of the Texas and national labor and employment landscape.
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 âcauseâ 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.
October 9, 2024
Speaking Engagements
Jamila Brinson Joins Panel Discussion at Houston DiverseCity Summit
Jackson Walker partner Jamila M. Brinson will serve as a panelist at the 4th Annual Houston DiverseCity Summit on Friday, October 18, 2024, at the Marriott Marquis in Houston, Texas.
September 30, 2024
Attorney News
Jackson Walker Welcomes 2024 New Fall Associates
This year, the firm proudly welcomes 23 new associates to expand our Corporate & Securities, Labor & Employment, Real Estate, Tax, Trial & Appellate Litigation, and Trusts & Estates practices.
September 23, 2024
Attorney News
Jackson Walker Congratulates 12 Attorneys Named to âLawdragon 500 Corporate Employment Lawyersâ List
Jackson Walker announces the selection of 12 attorneys to Lawdragon‘s lists of the 500 leading practitioners in corporate employment law.
September 17, 2024
Attorney News
Jackson Walker Congratulates Its âTexas Super Lawyersâ of 2024
Jackson Walker proudly announces the selection of 71 attorneys to Thomson Reutersâ 2024 âTexas Super Lawyersâ list.
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, 2024
Attorney News
Super Lawyers Names Scott Fiddler and Alfie Meyerson to Texas Top Lists
G. Scott Fiddler and Alfred Meyerson have been selection by Thomson Reutersâ Super Lawyers to the “Top 50: Central/West Texas Super Lawyers” and âTop 100: Houston Super Lawyersâ lists, respectively.
September 13, 2024
Insights
Employment Law for Dummies (and Other Types of Attorneys) | Texas Lawyer
In this Texas Lawyer article, G. Scott Fiddler addresses the challenges faced by attorneys who occasionally âdabbleâ in employment law rather than specialize in it. Scott clarifies key concepts, providing guidance on how to handle employment law.
September 12, 2024
Mentions
Jackie Staple Discusses Employer Testing for Marijuana
In a Business.com article, Jackson Walker partner Jackie C. Staple discussed the implications of marijuana legalization in some US states for employment drug screening procedures.
August 28, 2024
Insights
FTC Rule Banning Non-Competes Found Unenforceable
By G. Scott Fiddler and Michael A. Drab
On Tuesday, August 20, 2024, employers throughout the country breathed a sigh of relief when a federal trial judge in Dallas struck down the FTCâs rule banning non-competes. It brought to a conclusion a tumultuous and chaotic summer that had turned employers and workers into court-watchers.
August 26, 2024
Insights
Another One Bites the Dust: Fifth Circuit Vacates 80/20 and 30-Minute Rules Concerning the Legality of Minimum Wage Compensation for Tipped Employees Performing Related Side Work
By Lionel M. Schooler and Jamila M. Brinson
In a landmark decision issued on August 23 in the case of Restaurant Law Center; Texas Restaurant Association v. the United States Department of Labor, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upended decades of Department of Labor (âDOLâ) pronouncements concerning compensation for servers performing side work related to the occupation of a tipped employee.
August 15, 2024
Attorney News
‘The Best Lawyers in America’ Features 306 Jackson Walker Attorneys in 2025 Edition, Including 9 “Lawyers of the Year” and 75 “Ones to Watch”
The Best Lawyers in America has recognized 306 Jackson Walker attorneys across 81 specialty practice areas in its 2025 edition, including 9 Lawyers of the Year and 75 Ones to Watch. In this yearâs guide, Jackson Walker saw the largest number of attorneys in the areas of Commercial Litigation (75 attorneys) and Real Estate Law (55 attorneys) and the addition of 27 attorneys as Best Lawyers.
