Understanding the Whistleblower Lawsuit Against Attorney General Paxton
Who is an employer in Texas and who counts as an employee according to the Texas Whistleblower Act? Those are questions that surround the lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is facing claims from four former aides under Texas whistleblower law. According to a recent report in the Texas Tribune, those four former […]
Simon | Paschal Says: Be Careful with Kindness
It’s that time again for another Simon | Paschal Says opinion column. This opinion deals with kindness and the pitfalls employers face when they are too kind. Before you fire off that angry email to us about how important kindness is, let us clarify what me mean by being careful with kindness. First and foremost, […]
The “Post” COVID Workplace
Anyone that has followed the news understands that COVID is not going away any time soon. So while we think it’s important to talk about the “post” COVID workplace, it’s not really all that “post.” That said, there are some new normals and some considerations of which all employers should be mindful. Vaccinations With the […]
The NLRB in a Non-Union Setting
Many non-union employers fail to realize that the National Labor Relations Act still applies to them. While the NLRA is most often applied in the union setting, at its most basic level, the NLRA protects the right of employees to engage in protected concerted activity. Such protected concerted activity can occur in a union or […]
Do Texas Employers Have to Pay Employees for Work Missed Due to Inclement Weather?
The recent 2021 winter storm in Texas shut down a large portion of the state for the week. Lack of electricity forced the closing of many businesses. Those businesses that were able to stay open had numerous absences from employees who could not travel to work because of the snow and ice or could not […]
Transacting Business in Multiple States
Are you registered to do business in every state in which you provide services? What about those states in which your client is based but you provide all your services remote? Or that state in which you have a remote employee who moved away from your corporate office when most businesses transitioned to remote workers […]
Simon | Paschal Says: A Time for HeaRt
This may seem like a funny thing to hear employment lawyers say, but now more than ever it is time for Human Resources to truly exhibit HeaRt. Our capitalization and bolding of the word heart are intentional because as the great Michael Scott would say, “HR is in the word.” 2020 has been a tough […]
Personnel Actions: Layoffs & PTO
As businesses and employers are getting a better handle on their staffing needs after several roller coaster months of COVID-19, the fortunate businesses are facing decisions about bringing people back to work who had previously been laid off and also addressing paid time off of employees that may not have utilized much of it. With […]
Election Season Considerations
2020 is the year that everything that could possibly happen…happened. It seems only normal, then, that 2020 is also the year of a U.S. Presidential election. No matter where you stand as an HR professional on the political spectrum, you must navigate the election season in the workplace. With that in mind, let’s discuss just […]
Supreme Court Update
While many of us were focused on COVID-19 over the summer, the United States Supreme Court issued three major decisions affecting the workplace. Here is what you need to know. LGBTQ Protections The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 opinion in which the Court extended Title VII’s anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ workers. The majority decided the […]
