Getting Even in the Workplace Is Illegal

When someone speaks up about unfair employment practices where they work, this is considered to be a protected right. Retaliation for saying something is illegal.

Reporting violations of the law in the workplace to the right authorities, exercising a worker’s rights and taking part in a lawsuit as a plaintiff or defendant that focuses on their place of employment are employee’s rights that are protected under US law. “These protections were initially put in place because employers tend to try and get even with a person who has ‘ratted them out.’ CEOs and managers don’t like being reported for questionable conditions in the workplace,” commented Seth Wilburn of the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer.

Generally speaking, there are two Acts that protect workers who do speak up and out; the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). In the case of the NLRA, it shields workers who file a complaint about the conditions of their job. “On the other hand, the Civil Rights Act protects employees who complain about discriminatory practices where they work,” said Wilburn.

Another piece of rather well-known legislation that comes into play in these cases is the US Constitution that has a specific section that permits, defends and protects exercising free speech. There is also something referred to as Whistleblower laws that safeguard those on the job that blow the whistle on a company after other avenues of grievance have been pursued and failed.

“In order to be able to file a retaliation charge, the act or offense must have been ‘materially adverse to a reasonable employee or job applicant’ and that the challenged action might well have ‘dissuaded a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrimination’ in the workplace,” Wilburn outlined.

It goes without saying that most employers won’t admit they are trying to get even against an employee who filed a complaint against the company. What this means is that the person who did file has to show a connection between the protected activity and the bad consequences that happened later. “There are several ways to show that the complaint and retaliation are linked which may include a blatant lack of investigating the initial complaint; unequal and inequitable treatment of the worker in question; a questionable incident that happened shortly after a complaint was filed; and hostility as a common occurrence aimed at employees who don’t agree with working conditions,” explained Wilburn.

“In situations like this, it is vital the person filing the complaint does not wait too long to do so. Time is critical here and courts have been known to throw out cases where plaintiffs waited too long to file retaliation complaints,” added Seth Wilburn of the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. Immediately get ahold of a skilled Dallas business lawyer and find out what options are available in circumstances like this.

Gomez Law Group is a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit http://www.gomezlawyers.com.

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Enhanced Internal Company Controls Aim to Reduce Fraud

There is a great deal of fraudulent activity taking place these days, mostly in response to the tough economic times the nation is facing. Many companies, instead of using Sarbanes-Oxley, have done little to try and prevent fraud.

The whole purpose of creating the Sarbanes-Oxley (SO) regulations was to help restore the faith in executives and companies snared in the middle of fraud scandals. The most famous of those fiascos include Enron and Tyco. “Was SO the effective tool it was originally envisioned to be? Judging by the statistics showcasing how much fraud is going on right now, the answer would be a resounding “No.” Unfortunately, many companies have complacently done just about nothing to actively try and prevent fraud from happening,” outlined Seth Wilburn, of the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer.

While the provisions of SO were well intentioned, it appears their impact has been short rather than long-term. “The idea was to alleviate the kind of panic that was running rampant when it was discovered that public companies were defrauding the public. Put another way, although SO appears to be effective on paper, it seems to be less so in actual practice,” said Wilburn. It doesn’t deter fraud mainly because it only demands a detailed outline of whatever accounting procedures a company has taken.

At this point, hundreds of companies are putting the SO regulations in place, at an enormous expense, which is passed down to the customers. However, it’s not solving the underlying problem of those who choose to commit fraud to line their pockets.

“Make no mistake about it, SO is not a useless exercise. It only takes a small amount of creativity to extend the usefulness of the paper trail to make it into a system capable of flagging suspected fraud or at least highlighting problem areas for investigation,” added Wilburn. Many companies have, in fact, enhanced their paper trail internal controls to take SO several steps further than the legislation actually calls for, implementing formal accounting procedures that virtually guarantee no one will be able to commit fraud.

“There are however those who will always slip through the net; those whose ‘intent’ is to rip a company off no matter what type of controls are in place. To some, it’s a game of challenges to achieve the high of getting money illegally. The bottom line here is that ethics are at the center of this controversy, and if those in power don’t have ethics, fraud will continue to happen,” added Seth Wilburn of the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer.

Gomez Law Group is a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit http://www.gomezlawyers.com.

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Trade Secrets Are Intellectual Property

Can you keep a secret? If you can’t, you may find yourself in legal hot water for spilling the beans.

Just about everyone has heard or read about trade secrets. They’re the stuff spy novels are based on and make terrific cases to report on for the 6 o’clock news. For those that don’t know what a trade secret is, it’s primarily a type of intellectual property. Because it does fall into the arena of intellectual property, it is largely protected by federal laws. There are also some state laws that are applicable as well, but your attorney will be able to tell you which ones apply and which ones don’t.

Typically speaking a trade secret is usually considered to be a pattern, practice, process, design or even a formula (or any similar collection of information) not generally known or even reasonably discoverable. That means if someone has a formula for making a certain drug that does not have any dangerous side effects; they will want to keep it out of the public eye and away from the competition.

If you own the company, in order for you to get protection for your trade secret, you have to offer a competitive economic advantage over your competitors. This is information best discussed with a Dallas business lawyer in order to know precisely what your rights are.

Generally speaking, what actually does qualify as a trade secret usually depends on what jurisdiction you are in. Other than that, there are several guidelines for whether or not a certain piece of intellectual property does qualify as a trade secret.

Overall, there are at least three things that may qualify your intellectual property as a trade secret. The first one would be if your company is the one holding it, that you get some economic benefit from it. The second requirement is that you take reasonable precautions to keep the “secret” a secret, and the third one is that your secret is not generally known to most people.

Just what does “taking reasonable precautions” actually mean? A locked vault in your office? A hush-hush safety deposit box in another city with only one key to access it? Well, it may mean that, but most often it really means that to meet the “standard” of reasonable protection, you have to take precautions in various procedures and activities.

Say for instance you have a new employee joining your company, and that employee signs non-compete and non-disclosure agreements. These clauses guarantee the employer won’t leak the secret outside the confines of the workplace or to any other worker who doesn’t have permission to know it.
Here is one other thing you should know; trade secrets are usually compared to patents. Really, the only difference is the extent of their protections and their timing. This means that trade secrets are protected forever so long as the three criteria we mentioned earlier in this article are met. However, and there are always exceptions to rules like this, if another firm or individual discovers the trade secret (not steals it), they are able to lawfully use it.

Patents on the other hand, have a limit, and they may only be held for 20 years. They have an advantage over trade secrets though and that is no one can use a patented item or information, no matter how they get it.
If you want to know which route to go with your trade secret, speak to a well qualified Dallas business lawyer.

Seth Wilburn writes for the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit Gomezlawyers.com.

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Texas Non-Compete Agreements Just Got Easier to Enforce

Just recently, the Texas Supreme Court handed down a decision that will make non-compete agreements a whole lot easier for employers to enforce.

Anytime there is a change in employment law and you happen to be running a business, make it a point to contact your Dallas business lawyer and ask what the latest changes mean for you. The most recent change, as a result of a Texas Supreme Court ruling, will now make any non-compete agreements you sign with employees a lot easier to enforce.

The ruling in a nutshell means that an employer will now be able to enforce their non-compete restrictions, even if the agreement in question did not offer anything of value to the worker at the time the agreement was signed. Typically, agreements of this nature are signed when the employee is first hired.

When it handed down its ruling, the Supreme Court offered the opinion that it wasn’t too pleased with lower courts and attorneys for going overboard and reading way too much into its 1994 decision; a decision which has, until now, governed non-compete agreements. In essence, the court felt that the requirements that these kinds of agreements arise out of are enforceable agreements between an employer and worker, and were never meant to create the “overly technical disputes” that have dotted the legal landscape relating to non-compete agreements in Texas since 1994.

What does this new ruling mean? Very simply, it means that just about every non-compete agreement will now be considered enforceable, whereas prior to this recent decision, most of these agreements weren’t enforceable. This of course is quite the turn of the tables and to understand what it means legally, it’s best to talk to a seasoned Dallas business lawyer. In particular, employers need to be asking questions about how this decision will affect at-will workers, since they have no guarantees of having a permanent job.

As it stands now, with this decision being handed down, at-will employees will be the largest group of workers affected. At one time, employers had to offer their workers something of value to keep them working; this decision now makes that practice less than clear. Overall, it will mean an employee will have a harder time trying to invalidate a non-compete agreement. This Supreme Court decision will mean the focus in non-compete cases will be on whether or not the restrictions contained in the agreement are indeed reasonable.
In you’re facing a hiring situation where you are being asked to sign a non-compete agreement, take the document to a skilled Dallas business lawyer and discuss its ramifications. KnowingE what you are getting into “before” something happens later is a smart move, because if you sign something without legal advice and the right information, you will be stuck.

If you’re an employer who needs to know how this new ruling will affect your ability to have non-compete agreements signed, contact a seasoned Dallas business lawyer for information.

Seth Wilburn writes for the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit Gomezlawyers.com.

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Discrimination in the Texas Workplace

Getting a job is tough, keeping one even tougher in these economic times. Layoffs are more prevalent, but they need to be for the right reasons.

Just about every business in Texas has been forced to lay off people in order to downsize and keep their company open. In some instances however, the business has been shut down entirely. Being laid off may have already happened to you, or you know someone - perhaps even a family member - who has lost their livelihood.

Generally speaking, in most instances the employers will be making fair and equitable choices about layoffs. We have to believe that or it would mean there are a portion of the employers out there that choose the wrong people for the wrong reasons when it comes to downsizing. Those wrong reasons may ultimately amount to discrimination.

Unfortunately, there are some employers who fall into the category of unfair employers and who do lay off people based on things like retaliation, illegal cost cutting moves and prejudice. No, prejudice is definitely not dead. If you think you may have been a victim of discrimination in the workplace, or think that you have been wrongly fired, it’s vital that you talk to an employment law attorney as soon as possible.

If you do happen to live in the state of Texas, you really need to be aware of the fact that employment laws there do not do workers any favors. What this means is that Texas functions under something called “at will” employment. This means that you work for an employer at “their” pleasure and they can fire you anytime and not have to give you a reason why.

Don’t despair though, as the Texas Labor Code and the Civil Rights Act lay out certain circumstances that are considered to be discrimination against an employee. In other words, you can’t be let go because of your age, sex, national origin, color or race. The age qualification does have some exceptions which you would need to discuss with your attorney. You cannot be fired for a disability that is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If you ask your employer for unpaid leave, as you are allowed to do under the auspices of the FMLA, you can’t be fired for doing so. Neither should you be subjected to being unemployed if you reported fraud, safety violations or environmental concerns in the workplace. There are a couple of other reasons for which you can’t be booted to the curb either, and those include the fact that your employment contract specifically lays out that only certain reasons may get you fired and if you balk at doing something illegal on behalf of your boss.

Interestingly enough, employment discrimination is on the rise in Texas (and nationally), most likely due to the tough economy. It may shock you to know that the Texas EEOC checked out 13,000 more complaints last year than in 2007. These investigations actually resulted in 95,402 charges being laid against employers. So obviously there is hope for those who wish to file a complaint.

Having a skilled employment lawyer on your side representing you is a very smart move and will ensure you get ultimately get a fair shake in terms of a settlement.

Seth Wilburn writes for the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit Gomezlawyers.com.

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