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Revenge in the Workplace, a.k.a. Retaliation
Workplaces can get mighty ugly if someone is retaliating against a company or person for a perceived injustice.
Things don’t get much worse than a toxic workplace where someone is deliberately withholding necessary information on a project, spreading vile rumors about a co-worker, destroying or stealing company equipment or handing classified information over to the competition. “Why would they be doing these things in the first place? Usually as retaliation against a real or perceived injustice,” explained Ty Gomez, an experienced Dallas employment and business lawyer with the Gomez Law Group.
Most often when retaliation is the flavor of the month, it is because someone is responding to a violation of trust or violations of interpersonal justice. “Let me explain. When it comes to breach of trust, that happens when expectations about another’s behavior aren’t met or when that person doesn’t act consistently with their values. In dealing with violations of interpersonal justice, the retaliation comes because someone was not treated in a manner that they expected to be treated – this may provoke real outrage,” observed Gomez.
Interestingly enough, when someone gets fired, it isn’t the fact that they got fired that usually is the flash point. It’s the fact that they may have been humiliated if the firing was done in a thoughtless and insensitive manner. Anger plays a very large part in retaliation if the firing or other disciplinary action was not done with respect or fairness. “In fact, over 80% of homicides that take place at work are the result of people who want to get even for treatment they consider unfair or unjust,” added Gomez, a seasoned Dallas employment and business lawyer.
A wise manager will also realize they need to treat their workers with respect, provide recognition, opportunities to grow, freedom from harassment, and other intangible feedback; the silent and unspoken things that workers and their employer follow without really thinking about it. Those are often the expectations in a workplace. If the reality is different and the manager is abusive, unrealistic, sarcastic and unresponsive to concerns, retaliation becomes a distinct possibility.
“If you’re faced with this nasty situation brewing in your workplace, it’s time to figure out what to do. It may also be time to talk to an experienced Dallas employment and business lawyer about what can alleviate the situation, etc.,” suggested Gomez.
Gomez Law Group is a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit http://www.gomezlawyers.com.
Catastrophic Injury Damages Are Hard to Calculate
Some feel putting a dollar figure on injuries is demeaning to the victim. Compensation is the only method the law provides to a victim of negligence.
“Some people feel that trying to figure out a dollar amount for someone’s injuries, their pain and suffering and other economic losses is insulting; insulting because it reduces something so very personal and painful to cash. Others feel the victims likely played a part in their own accident and they should just take responsibility and get on with their lives. Granted that translating pain into an economic value may be controversial, but is the only way a victim can be compensated,” remarked Ty Gomez, who writes for the Dallas based Gomez Law Group.
Frankly, without the recourse of going to the courts for financial compensation for the negligent acts of others, where would society be today? The legal system that translates pain into money is the only system we have that works, and it’s going to be with us for many more years to come. Having said that, the next question we need to ask is how much is an injury case worth? “That is the million dollar question and one that a client would have no way of answering, but an attorney with experience handling catastrophic personal injury cases would. They would have information about how juries in the area in which they live have looked at these questions in the past,” suggested Gomez.
Most lawyers are able to evaluate injuries in a variety of ways. Let’s take an example of a simple case that may involve back and neck strain – otherwise referred to as soft tissue injuries – that will take time to heal. “So in cases like that, they factor in the length of treatment and the amount of medical bills. How they arrive at a final figure is dependent on other factors such as age of the person, lost wages, time off work and other considerations,” outlined Gomez.
Other injuries that are far more serious, such as bone fractures and ruptured discs or injuries that produce scars usually merit more compensation because the insurance company knows these can’t be faked. Soft tissue injuries are often regarded with a jaundiced eye for that reason.
Generally speaking, the severity of the injury affects or influences the settlement offer, as does the characteristics of the plaintiff – meaning a serious scar on the face of a younger, attractive woman may be worth more in the eyes of a jury than a scar on the hand of an elderly male, etc. “Each case is different and all the factors that make up each case are different as well. However, in order to get an idea of what your case is worth, you would ideally need to speak to an experienced personal injury lawyer,” Gomez advised.
Gomez Law Group is a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit http://www.gomezlawyers.com.
When a Life Is Devastated Forever
Life altering injuries are referred to as catastrophic. It means a person’s whole life has been turned upside down.
Most injuries happen out of the blue; the result of a car accident, a slip and fall, a sports injury or being involved in an 18-wheeler accident. “The injuries sustained in instances like those may, in some cases, be classified as catastrophic or life altering when they totally disrupt an individual’s ability to earn a living or shake up their life in a horrendously painful and injurious manner. Injuries like these are the kind that need exquisitely balanced management in order for the victim and/or patient to be able to get home,” detailed Seth Wilburn, who writes for the Gomez Law Group in Dallas.
These types of injuries are often highly complex and involve one or more of a person’s body systems. It takes many people and many hundreds of hours to assist a person this badly hurt. Most often their goal is to go home and be as independent as possible; sometimes that just isn’t possible.
The other catastrophic consequence of an accident so bad that it debilitates the victim is the loss of earning power, and quite often, the loss of a job. The victim is suddenly left in the awkward position of having nothing to live on, nothing to pay bills with and no hope of being able to secure financial resources to allow them to live and get treatment.
In instances like this, you will need the services of a highly skilled Dallas personal injury attorney; an attorney with a track record in handling cases like this – one who is ready and willing to work with vocational and economic specialists, life care planning specialists and experts in rehabilitative medicine.
“Claims like this are complex and complicated and require special knowledge on how to economically evaluate the injuries. The economics of catastrophic injuries are such that the client or plaintiff needs to secure enough money to live and pay medical bills for the rest of their life,” Wilburn explained. The goal? The goal is to get the client the best possible future out of the ashes of what was once a normal, happy and active life.
There are so many types of catastrophic injuries that a book could be written about them, but suffice it to say that the most common ones tend to be paralysis, amputation and burns. “If you have been in an accident and your whole life just went down the tubes, you need to seek legal help to secure your future. There are no ifs, ands or buts about that,” suggested Wilburn.
Gomez Law Group is a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit http://www.gomezlawyers.com.
Blowing the Whistle Loudly for Unsafe Working Conditions
Those who speak out about unsafe conditions in a workplace or other things are called whistleblowers.
Most often people associate the term whistleblower with someone who “rats” out someone else for not doing the right thing. While in general that is about what it amounts to, it is far more important than that and whistleblowers serve a very important function in today’s society. They are bellwethers of a company’s actions, an indicator that all is not well in corporate land.
Thanks to whistleblowers and whistleblower legislation, workers may report inappropriate or unsafe work conditions to authorities – and may “not” be punished for doing so. This takes a whole lot of guts to pull off, and at one time there wasn’t much protection for people who were brave enough to stand up for what is right. Over the years, the federal government realized they needed legislation to protect the rights of those who spoke up and out about wrongdoing.
What are some of the more common reasons an employee would take their employer to the authorities? There are a fairly wide variety of reasons, but most commonly, attorneys who do this type of work tend to see employees blowing the whistle on unhealthy or unsafe work conditions, illegally using federal funding or illegal activity, and negligent behavior.
When someone takes the chance to stand up and speak out against wrongdoing, the federal government would be remiss if they didn’t offer those individuals some protection. Those who do speak up are going to ultimately benefit the federal government by usually recovering a significant amount of money for them – or rather on their behalf.
If you happen to be in a sticky situation at work and want to do something about it, but aren’t sure what kinds of protections may apply to you, check out the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Federal False Claims Act, the Whistleblowers Act applicable to your state, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. If you do proceed to report and get fired or are the target of retaliation, you have the right to sue your employer. To do that you will need to contact a Dallas employment lawyer.
If you are in a situation like this, you will want to talk to an experienced Dallas employment lawyer to find out precisely what your options are and what your rights are under the various acts. You will need someone in your corner to fight this action for you, as it is the law that any actions taken under the Whistleblowers Act must be handled by an attorney.
Seth Wilburn writes for the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit Gomezlawyers.com.
Shhhhh It’s a (Trade) Secret
Just about every business or industry has its secrets. They also want to keep those secrets from getting out.
When you stop to think about it, it makes sense that most businesses and enterprises have secrets; secrets that protect how they do business, how they make their product, what methods are used and not used, and what inventions they may have. These are the things that they want to hold close to their chest, because if the information got out, they’d be competing against themselves with another company who acquired their information.
Rather than lose their competitive edge, companies with trade secrets make every effort to keep them and have been known to sue people who knowingly sell or accidentally give away critical information about how they do business. This deliberate subterfuge or accidental gaff is a form of unfair competition and those that are doing business in the marketplace are expected to do so fairly – meaning not resort to stealing another’s secrets. If you don’t understand how this works, talk to a seasoned Dallas business lawyer and find out. Better safe than sorry later.
Thankfully there is an Act in place that provides protection against those who get product formulas, techniques, devices, methods and secrets by less than honest means; means which include theft, spying via some form of electronic wizardry, spying by other means (perhaps the old-fashioned way), breach of duty, convincing someone else to breach their duty, misrepresentation, and forking over pots of money to bribe someone for the secret(s). This is where the Uniform Trade Secrets Act comes into play.
The basic kernel of the Act is that if someone profits from ill-gotten information, then unfair competition may exist. Keep in mind that this Act will also mete out punishment if the economic benefit is potential or real; and furthermore, this applies even if the person who stole the secret(s) doesn’t attempt to take advantage of that knowledge.
This is another area of the law that will allow punitive damages, much like some cases in the area of personal injury. For personal injury, punitive damages are awarded for really gross negligence; when dealing with stolen trade secrets, punitive damages may include financial damages, royalties and shared profits. In other words, stealing someone’s secrets is a serious matter and the law doesn’t mess around to make its point when it comes time to own up.
Courts may even grant injunctions to force a company to stop selling an item or service that came about as the result of a stolen secret. These are the things you need to know before you breach an agreement, either on purpose or unwittingly, and any Dallas business lawyer will tell you that right up front on consultation.
Another way that companies work to keep their secrets secret is to ask that workers and contractors sign a confidentiality agreement and spell out in that contract what will happen (including punitive measures) if those secrets are stolen. If a worker breaches the agreement, the company may be able to launch a lawsuit against the person to stop their information from getting out.
When in doubt about what is and what is not a trade secret, or what your agreement says and means, take the time to talk to highly qualified Dallas business lawyer and get the real scoop on what you need to know.
Seth Wilburn writes for the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit Gomezlawyers.com.
Protecting Company Secrets
Protecting company secrets is a big business these days. Those who sell secrets may be in hot water legally.
“There likely isn’t one business or industry that doesn’t have secrets about how they do business and about their products that they don’t want spread all over the place. After all if you are in business and want to stay a leader, you want to protect your products, methods, techniques and inventions from your competition and the public at large,” outlined Seth Wilburn, of the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer.
The fact is that many companies go through unbelievable contortions to protect their trade secrets and have been known to take legal action against people who have sold those secrets (on purpose) or accidently gave away critical information about how business is conducted. Stealing trade secrets is definitely classified as unfair competition; a slap in the face of the ‘usual’ way business is to be done in the marketplace.
“It’s generally accepted in the marketplace that businesses competing for the same customers are expected to use fair assessment of the market, their product, and assess the buying trends of customers; not lie, cheat, steal, manipulate and resort to spying to get what they want,” added Wilburn. “In fact, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act was created to offer protection against getting ahold of formulas, devices, methods, product secrets and techniques, and other business assets by improper methods – meaning stealing,” he explained.
The Act outlines several things that are considered to be “improper” and they include, electronic spying, or spying by any other means, breach of duty, misrepresentation, bribery, theft and inducement of a breach of duty. Those definitions are intentionally broad, as stealing company secrets can take place in many, sometimes bizarre ways.
It goes without saying that if the person who sells the “secrets” they stole and makes money from that transaction, then it is definitely unfair competition. Under the Act there is a section on punishment if the benefit the thief derived was actual cash or the potential to make money.
Here is another thing that not too many people realize: infringing on a secret may also have punitive damages assigned, including financial damages, royalties and shared profits. The court may also grant an injunction forcing a firm to stop selling anything they got or created as the result of stolen trade secrets,” Wilburn explained. Additionally, recoverable damages may also include loss of revenue as a result of the theft of secrets and come with penalties for the person being unjustly enriched because they stole something.
“This is an interesting area of the law, and if you have had trade secrets purloined from your company, you may want to find out what your rights are and what can be done to protect your company from the resulting loss,” 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.
Broad Non-Competition Agreements a Problem
The broader a non-competition agreement is, the more problems there are enforcing it.
“Typically speaking, if you have a really broad non-competition clause in your employment contract with a worker, the less enforceable it is. If however an employee has access to trade secrets, highly confidential company information and gets paid extra money for the non-compete clause, you have a better chance enforcing it in court,” said Seth Wilburn, of the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer.
In order to be able to actually enforce a non-compete agreement, the employer/company must have a legitimate business interest that needs protecting. This interest needs to be more than just the threat of competition. “It should include proprietary information about the company and/or products, the protection of company trade secrets and insider information on competitive positioning. This insider information may give an employee an unfair advantage,” commented Wilburn.
Having an unfair advantage is about more than just competition and the non-competition agreement. The agreement may come under attack if the worker does not use the actual trade secrets he knows, but just admits to having general knowledge of things he has learned.
The other issue in many non-competition contracts is soliciting customers. Some companies write in a clause in the contract that bans a worker from offering services or contacting customers that are currently with the company. “It’s interesting to note that the courts are more likely to enforce a non-solicitation clause than they are to uphold a no contact or no service clause. The reason for this is that the court regards those two clauses are being anti-trust violations and therefore anti-competitive because it doesn’t give the customer a choice,” Seth Wilburn of the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer added.
When it comes right down to it, distinguishing between non-solicitation and solicitation is somewhat difficult largely because it is subjective. In some cases it would be obvious if there was solicitation particularly if a phone call or letter were involved. However, advertising in the paper isn’t considered to be solicitation – because it gives consumers a choice.
“If you have questions about a non-competition agreement you signed, specifically if it’s enforceable, talk to a skilled business lawyer to get honest answers,” said Wilburn.
Gomez Law Group is a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit http://www.gomezlawyers.com.
Real Estate Mortgage Fraud
In tough economic times, real estate mortgage fraud generally increases. It’s a good time to buy, but buyer beware.
Generally speaking, most people are honest and play it straight when it comes to dealing with mortgages. However, having said that, there are crooked mortgage brokers, cheating home buyers, dishonest real estate agents and brokers, and less than honest real estate investors. If you have the misfortune to run across one or more of these individuals, you may be in trouble; something you want to avoid.
Right now financing is fairly easy to secure in order to take advantage of some good deals on homes, but buyers need to beware of getting into hot water. If a buyer gets a loan, they can get some super deals right now. However, can they get that loan? It seems some buyers make up the numbers or take other risks to get the money, and while that doesn’t sound like such a big sin, it is mortgage fraud. Other ways you can commit mortgage fraud are to take money out of the bank and pay off a debt, but not tell the lender; buy a vehicle just before the loan closes and say nothing about it and/or get more credit for something/anything and don’t tell anyone.
Other ways that fraud happens is when a buyer makes any kind of an agreement the bank doesn’t know about (called a side agreement); when an adjustment is made at closing and isn’t shown on the HUD-1 settlement statement; or when part of a down payment/closing costs comes from sweat equity.
There are so many things that constitute mortgage fraud, it may surprise you, simply because you didn’t stop to think about things like the fact that you borrowed part of the down payment, you quit or started a new job and said nothing to the bank, or if you don’t actually move into the house after you have certified to the bank you are intending to be an owner/occupant.
Mortgage fraud is really easy to do but not so easy to reverse and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act is painfully clear on how a closing is to proceed, even more so with one that is subject to financing. The bottom line is that “any” statement you make to the bank which isn’t the whole truth and nothing but the truth has the potential to be considered fraudulent. This includes changes in your health, racking up high medical bills, or buying that dream car and not mentioning it.
Just as an increase in salary needs to be reported, so does a decrease. This applies on those loans aimed at low income buyers. It’s clear that if the borrower makes more than the limit allowed, he doesn’t get the loan. Even if you get a major hike in salary just before you close, you need to tell the bank that as well.
At each stage of the process of getting a loan and buying a house, there are many opportunities to be dishonest and just as many to get ripped off by someone else. If you have questions about the process, have been ripped off or have been accused of mortgage fraud, you will want to speak to a competent lawyer and find out what your rights are and what you can do.
Seth Wilburn writes for the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit Gomezlawyers.com.
Qui Tam Fraud
Not many people know what Qui Tam is or what it means. It’s a branch of law that protects the government.
Qui Tam refers to a set of rules that lets people blow the whistle (a.k.a. Whistleblower legislation) on those who try to defraud the government. The fraud committed would violate the False Claims Act and those who do step forward and speak up about the illegal doings of others are often called relators. The plaintiff/relator may then bring a lawsuit on behalf of the US government. It’s important to note that none of this takes place unless the defendant has “knowingly” committed fraudulent acts against the government.
You’d be right if you guessed that cases like this are tough to prove, tough to pursue in the courts and tough on which to collect. However, having said that, for those that choose to stay the course, the rewards are often fairly lucrative, since in the event of a case win, the plaintiff gets to collect a relatively large amount of cash based on the total judgment.
The main benefits of Qui Tam law are that it protects the government when someone has been ripping them off, allows recovery of the ill gotten funds on behalf of the government, and pays quite well in the long run. If people didn’t come forward to report on other individuals who were cheating the government out of millions of dollars, there would be a whole lot of tax money washing away down the drain.
While you might think that the whistleblower would be in a tough spot for ratting someone out, the Qui Tam law protects the relator and makes it illegal to harass, fire, demote or otherwise create problems for the individual. They are also accorded some level of privacy relating to their identity. This law is applicable in all states and in various different forms, and if you are in a situation where you have evidence of fraud against the government, speak to an experienced attorney to find out what the whistleblower legislation says in your state.
Generally speaking, there is a fairly broad range of areas in which Qui Tam actions are filed, and they include Medicare fraud (billing for services not rendered); postal service fraud (faking the weight of parcels to not pay the full amount to the post office for services rendered); student loan fraud (lying to get more federal funds); and customs fraud (lying about the value of items being shipped).
If you have questions about Qui Tam law and how it may affect you if you do file a lawsuit, speak to a skilled attorney who will be able to answer your questions and outline what happens at every stage of the process.
Seth Wilburn writes for the Gomez Law Group, a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit Gomezlawyers.com.
Severe Life-Altering Injuries Pursue Young Children of Parents Working with Chemicals
Ethylene Glycol Ether may be causing severe birth defects. This may result in lifelong care being needed for the children.
“This is an interesting case that we heard about just recently, and it involves employees at a chip manufacturer working with a toxic chemical called ethylene glycol ether. This case actually represents a fairly wide cross section of employees who worked at the same plant in an area called the ‘clean room,’ where chips were processed,” explained Seth Wilburn of the Gomez Law Group in Dallas.
The employees who worked in these rooms did so for about 20 years, until the late 1990s. The chemical they were working with was used regularly in the chip making process until it was revealed that several other lawsuits indicated that the chip maker was well aware there was a likely connection between ethylene glycol either and birth defects.
One company employee had two daughters born with severe birth defects that included cerebral palsy. Another worker’s son was born with debilitating vision and speech problems as well as epilepsy. “It was really too much of a “coincidence” that the workers in this clean room were experiencing such severe birth defects, in such large numbers,” added Wilburn.
It turned out that the company that made ethylene glycol ether had put out a warning in 1981 about the possibility of birth defects and miscarriages happening when working with this chemical. A subsequent hazard alert also went out a year later indicating that tests had indeed shown the chemical caused birth defects.
Despite the other numerous warning posted, this chemical was used well into the 1990s. Many workers at the company where they held jobs said they had never seen a warning about the toxicity of the chemical they worked with every day.
The facts are that raising a child with severe birth defects into adulthood is an enormous financial burden than may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. “Those workers who did give birth to children with severe defects have a good case to sue their employer for negligence – negligence in not informing them of the risks of working with this chemical,” Wilburn commented.
Anyone in a similar situation and who has suffered life-altering personal injuries should immediately speak to a qualified and experienced personal injury attorney. Those who caused harm to happen to others need to be held accountable. A seasoned attorney will be able to make that happen and work to get a settlement that will cover the expenses of raising a child with birth defects,” stated Seth Wilburn of the Gomez Law Group in Dallas.
Gomez Law Group is a Dallas employment lawyer and Dallas business lawyer. To learn more, visit http://www.gomezlawyers.com.