Labor & Employment
We are labor and employment lawyers who counsel employers on complex workplace laws and regulations, and represent them 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.
With a deep bench of experienced lawyers, Jackson Walker’s 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 “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.
June 5, 2025
Spotlight
Chambers and Partners Releases 2025 USA Guide Featuring 79 Jackson Walker Attorneys and 28 Ranked Departments
Jackson Walker is pleased to announce that Chambers and Partners has selected 79 attorneys and 28 departments for inclusion in the 2025 edition of the Global and USA guides. Attorneys were ranked across 29 departments, with 4 attorneys listed among multiple areas, 9 ranked nationwide in their respective areas, and 12 recognized for the first time.
May 27, 2025
Insights
Fifth Circuit Rejects Manifest Disregard Standard Posed as Exceeding Authority | Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
In this article featured in Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Lionel M. Schooler outlines the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion in United States Trinity Energy Services, LLC v. Southeast Directional Drilling LLC determining whether an arbitration award could be vacated on the grounds that the arbitrators “manifestly disregarded the law.”
May 27, 2025
Speaking Engagements
John Jansonius to Present at UT School of Law’s Labor and Employment Law Conference
Jackson Walker partner John V. Jansonius will be a speaker at The University of Texas School of Law’s 32nd Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference.
April 2, 2025
Attorney News
Diana Pérez Gomez and Leslie Tan Join Jackson Walker’s Labor & Employment Practice in Houston
Jackson Walker is excited to welcome Diana PĂ©rez Gomez as a partner and Leslie T. Tan as senior counsel to Jackson Walker’s Labor & Employment practice group! Their extensive experience and dedication to excellence will further enhance our ability to deliver outstanding legal solutions to our clients.
March 27, 2025
Insights
DEI Under Scrutiny: What Employers Must Know About New EEOC and DOJ Guidance
By Jamila M. Brinson, Dawn S. Holiday, and Ariel Perez
Following multiple executive orders from President Donald Trump concerning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), employers have been eagerly awaiting agency guidance to clarify the scope and implications of what is considered “illegal DEI” in the workplace.
February 7, 2025
Attorney News
Jackson Walker Announces Election of 12 Attorneys to Partnership
Jackson Walker is proud to announce the election of 12 outstanding attorneys to the firm’s partnership.
January 28, 2025
Insights
DEI in the Spotlight: Employer Strategies for a Shifting Landscape
By Dawn S. Holiday
On January 21, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order titled, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Order”). The Order instructed all executive departments and federal agencies to “terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements.”
January 23, 2025
Insights
President Trump’s Executive Order: Ending E.O. 11246 and Its Impact on Federal Contractors
By Sarah Mitchell Montgomery
On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Order”). Among other things, the Order rescinds Executive Order (“E.O.”) 11246, which was issued by President Johnson in 1965.
January 22, 2025
Insights
Supreme Court Lowers Burden of Proof for FLSA Overtime Exemptions
By Michael Drab and David Schlottman
On January 15, 2025, the Supreme Court for the United States issued an opinion interpreting the standard of proof employers must meet to establish the applicability of an exemption to the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).
