On May 20, 2016, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion providing guidance on how courts should handle injunction actions involving claims related to theft of trade secrets. The case involves two competitors that provide solid-control equipment and services to the oil and gas industry, M-I L.L.C. d/b/a M-I Swaco (“M-I”) and National Oilwell Varco, L.P. (“NOV”). NOV hired, Jeff Russo (“Russo”), a former M-I employee. M-I claims that Russo entered into a non-compete agreement…
TEXAS SUPREME COURT PROVIDES GUIDANCE ON HOW BEST TO PROTECT TRADE SECRETS DURING AN INJUNCTION PROCEEDING
Potential relief for Employers being sued under federal statutes after U.S. Supreme Court ruling on consumer class actions.
The Supreme Court of the United States’ May 18, 2016 ruling in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins has potentially far-reaching impacts on lawsuits brought under federal statutes—in this case, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”)—that may curtail creative plaintiffs from “no-harm” class actions. This is a potentially significant victory for employers seeking to limit their exposure to massive class action lawsuits brought by employees under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and other federal statutes…
DOL Publishes Final Overtime Rule
After proposing its Final Rule on July 6, 2015 and receiving over 270,000 comments, the Department of Labor has published the Final Rule implementing significant changes to overtime regulations. The changes will go into effect December 1, 2016. Here is a summary of the significant changes: Under the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions, the salary that must be paid to the employee was increased from $23,660/yr. to $47,476/yr. (which the DOL says is the 40th percentile…
The Power of Arbitration Agreements and Class Action Waivers
The most significant exposure an employer faces in employment litigation is a class action lawsuit. Whether it is a class asserting claims for discrimination, harassment, or overtime, the potential damages can quickly escalate when there are multiple employees all asserting the same claim. Matters only get worse when those claims are decided by juries, which will generally be predisposed to side with the employee. One of the best ways an employer can combat this exposure…
Dewan – Game-changing Overtime Case for Energy Industry
AJ Johnson discusses the Dewan decision in her post on the Energy Law Today blog.aj
Can a Blind Person Read Your Website?
If not, you may have a problem. Many retailers, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation are familiar with their obligations to provide disabled patrons equal access to their brick-and-mortar places of business. A lesser known fact is that “places of business” can also include websites as well, and that equal access to those websites must also be provided. This misunderstanding is underscored by the fact that lawsuits filed alleging website violations of Title III of the…
THE EEOC ANNOUNCES NEW PAY DATA PROPOSAL AND CREATES MORE BURDENS FOR EMPLOYERS
On January 29, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) announced proposed, controversial changes to the pay data currently required to be submitted by large employers (defined as employers with more than 100 employees) and federal contractors. Large employers are currently required to complete annual Employer Information Reports (“EEO-1”) identifying employees’ race, ethnicity and gender within various job categories. The proposed new rule would also require employers to disclose pay ranges and hours worked by…
What Texas Employers Need to Know Regarding the Open Carry Law
This blog was co-authored by AJ Johnson and Trent Rexing. The New Year brought new law to Texas making it the 45th state to allow some form of open carry of handguns. On January 1, 2016, new law went into effect allowing Texans who hold a concealed handgun license (“CHL”) to openly carry their handguns in public. The new law effectively allows licensed individuals to openly carry their firearms in many of the same places…
OSHA updates for 2016
Two meaningful developments have transpired in the Occupational Safety & Health realm. First, the fines for violations have been adjusted for inflation and significantly increased. Second, employers may now report fatalities and other serious injuries online. In November, legislation was passed that provided for increased fines for OSHA violations. The increase was intended to account for inflation since the last time the amounts were raised in 1990. The statute says the amount of the increase…
Trade Secrets: Three Ways you May be Unwittingly Sharing Yours.
Trade secrets come in many forms. They commonly include customer lists, programming data, pricing information, cost matrices and secret recipes. Whatever information a company develops or acquires for the purpose of having a competitive edge that it does not share with others can usually be shoe-horned into the definition of “Trade Secret.” The Achilles’ heel of trade secrets” is keeping that information a secret. Locked doors, computer passwords, employment agreements, and other devices are used to…