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.
March 23, 2023
Attorney News
Jackson Walker Congratulates Its 2023 Texas Rising Stars
Jackson Walker is pleased to announce the selection of 63 attorneys to Thomson Reuters’ 2023 “Super Lawyers – Rising Stars” list, which recognizes only 5% of Texas attorneys who either are 40 years of age or younger or have been in practice for 10 years or less.
March 20, 2023
Attorney News
Jackie Staple Selected to Participate in Ladder Down Program
Jackson Walker partner Jackie C. Staple has been selected to participate in the Ladder Down leadership training program offered by the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC).
March 9, 2023
Attorney News
Dawn Holiday Named Fellow of Houston Bar Foundation
Dawn Holiday has been elected as a fellow of the Houston Bar Foundation, an honor bestowed upon less than 1% of Houston Bar Association members each year.
February 28, 2023
Spotlight
Jamila Brinson Shares Her Family and Career Story With ‘The Texas Lawbook’ in Honor of Black History Month
In honor of Black History Month, Jackson Walker attorney Jamila Brinson shared her family and career story in The Texas Lawbook.
February 27, 2023
Insights
The Supreme Court Holds “Daily Rate” Not a “Salary” Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
On February 22, 2023, the United States Supreme Court decided Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. et al v. Hewitt, a case involving a recurring issue under the Fair Labor Standards Act: what constitutes a “salary.” Specifically, the Court answered whether a “daily rate” pay structure can be a “salary.” The Supreme Court’s decision is one that could have a significant impact, particularly in the oil and gas industry where many workers are paid a “daily rate.”
February 15, 2023
Insights
Imagine There’s No Non-Competes | Texas Lawyer (Subscription Required)
On Jan. 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule that would prohibit non-compete agreements in every workplace in the United States and greatly limit their use in business transactions. The proposed rule has us imagining a Texas without non-competes, asking how we got here, and how the FTC’s proposed rule might affect Texas businesses.
By G. Scott Fiddler and Michael Drab
February 14, 2023
Podcasts
Three Elements of a Successful Diversity & Inclusion Program
JW Fast Takes Podcast | ~5.5 minutes
What factors drive a successful diversity and inclusion program at a company? In this Jackson Walker Fast Takes episode, Houston partner Dawn Holiday shares how well-intentioned D&I programs miss the mark and provides the essential elements for success.
February 13, 2023
Attorney News
Jackson Walker Announces Election of 16 Attorneys to Partnership
Jackson Walker is pleased to announce the election of 16 attorneys to the firm’s partnership, marking our largest number of partnership promotions to date.
February 1, 2023
Attorney News
‘Fort Worth Magazine’ Lists 16 Jackson Walker Attorneys Among the “Top Attorneys” of 2022
Jackson Walker is pleased to announce the selection of 16 Fort Worth-based attorneys to Fort Worth Magazine’s “Top Attorneys” list for 2022.
January 30, 2023
Attorney News
D Magazine Lists Vienna Anaya, David Schlottman, and Ashley Withers Among “Best Lawyers Under 40”
Vienna Flores Anaya, David Schlottman, and Ashley Withers were included in D Magazine’s 2023 “Best Lawyers Under 40” list recognizing outstanding young attorneys in the North Texas area.
The Labor & Employment Dispatch newsletter from Jackson Walker provides news and insights in labor and employment law.
