EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE AREA
At AI Legal, we offer comprehensive employment legal services. We are here to protect you if you have been discriminated against or retaliated against in violation of state and federal law. If you believe your rights have been violated please don’t hesitate to contact us today!
We represent clients in discrimination claims, including age, disability, pregnancy, race, color, religion, sex, sexual harassment, national origin, as well as wage and hour claims for unpaid overtime and minimum wage.
DISCRIMINATION
Texas is an “at-will” state, meaning that you can be terminated by your employer for any reason, or no reason at all. However, the law does not allow your employer to impermissibly terminate you where the law is violated. There are various types of wrongful terminations.
In Texas, employees may not be terminated for reasons that are considered discriminatory under the law. Both federal and state law prohibits termination on the basis of age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, pregnancy, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, and for engaging in a protected activity. If you are terminated on the basis of any of these, a suit may be brought to recover your damages.
AGE
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older. It is unlawful to discriminate in any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, benefits, and any other term or condition of employment. Age discrimination occurs when an employee or applicant is treated less favorably because of age. Likewise, it is unlawful to harass an employee because of age. If you believe you have been discriminated against because of your age, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
DISABILITY
The law forbids discrimination based on disability in any aspect of employment, such as in hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment. Disability discrimination happens when a covered employer under the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the Rehabilitation Act, treats a qualified individual with a disability who is an employee or applicant differently because of a disability or a history of a disability. An employer is required to provide reasonable accommodations unless the employer doing so would cause undue hardship or significant difficulty or expense. Likewise, it is illegal to harass an employee or an applicant because of a disability. If you believe you have been discriminated against because of your disability, please don’t hesitate to contact us
PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION
Pregnancy discrimination occurs when a woman is treated unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy when it relates to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, such as leave and health insurance, and any other term or condition of employment. If you are unable to perform your job duties temporarily due to a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, your employer must treat you similarly as it treats any other temporarily disabled employee. That means, your employer may have to provide light duty, alternative assignments, disability leave, or unpaid leave to you if it does so for other temporarily disabled employees. If you believe you have been discriminated against because of your pregnancy, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
RETALIATION
The law forbids retaliation against an employee for engaging in a protected activity where the employee is retaliated against for asserting his or her right to be free from employment discrimination including harassment. Retaliation can constitute filing a charge of discrimination or being a witness in a complaint, investigation, or lawsuit; speaking with your superior regarding employment discrimination, including harassment; participating in an employer investigation of an alleged harassment; refusing to comply with instructions that would lead to discrimination; resisting sexual advances, or intervening to protect others; asking for accommodation for religious reasons or for a disability; asking a supervisor or other employees about income or salary to determine if there are discriminatory practices in wages. If you believe you have been retaliated against because of you engaged in a protected activity, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
WORKERS COMPENSATION RETALIATION
Retaliation occurs when an employer penalizes you, for engaging in a protected activity. In workers’ compensation, that means an employer punishes you for filing a workers’ comp claim, or in some cases even attempting to file a claim. The law prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who file workers’ compensation claims. It doesn’t matter that the initial workers’ compensation claim filed was frivolous. A retaliation claim can be brought even on denied, rejected or even a bogus workers’ compensation claimas long as the discipline, discharge or termination decision was related to filing of the workers’ compensation claim. If you have been retaliated against by filing a workers’ comp claim, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.
BREACH OF CONTRACT
When an employment contract exists between you and your employer, the terms of the contract controls. Thus, an employer’s rights to terminate you is limited according to the terms of the contract. If you are fired in a situation where the terms of the contract are breached, a suit may be brought to recover monetary compensation that you lost as a result of the breach. If you believe you have been wrongfully terminated contrary to the terms and conditions of your employment in a contract, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
SEXUAL HARRASMENT
It is unlawful for an employee to be harassed because of his or her sex. The form of the harassment may be “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances. It can also include requests for sexual favors, and other harassment of a sexual nature that is verbal or physical. Harassment however, does not have to be of a sexual nature, and can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. Comments that amount to simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious is not illegal, and it is only considered illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision such as termination or demotion. A harasser can be a supervisor, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer. If you believe you have been sexually harassed, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
WAGE AND HOUR CLAIMS-UNPAID MINIMUM WAGE
Currently, the Texas and the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Employees who regularly receive tips may be paid a cash wage of $2.13 an hour, as long as they earn enough money in tips to make the minimum wage for each hour worked. If you are not making $7.25 an hour, each hour while earning tips, you can collect unpaid wages from your employer. When an employer fails to pay an employee the applicable minimum wage for all hours worked, the employee has a legal claim for damages against his or her employer. To recover the unpaid wages, the employee may file a lawsuit against the employer for the unpaid wages. Please contact us if you believe you are not being paid the full minimum wage.
UNPAID OVERTIME
Employees must receive time-and-a-half for all hours worked more than 40 hours in a work week. Employees who work more than 40 hours in a week are entitled to overtime pay, which is one-and-one-half times the regular rate of pay, if the employees are not exempt from pay for overtime under the law. Overtime laws are provided in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which outlines when an employee is entitled to overtime and how much employees must be paid for working overtime. Employers who violate overtime laws are liable for overtime violations. If you were not paid the overtime rate, you may be able to file suit to recover your unpaid overtime wages.
FLSA COLLECTIVE ACTION LAWSUITS
A collective action allows you and other similarly situated employees to sue your employer together. Because most individual wage and hour claims involve fairly small amounts of money, it can be very difficult for a single employee to pursue their case successfully given the cost of lawsuits. To help employees overcome this challenge, the FLSA gives employees a tool to assert their rights as a group. Employees with similar claims can come together in one single lawsuit, called a “collective action,” to sue their employer. If your employer has failed to pay you the full minimum wage, failed to pay you overtime, forced you to work through your unpaid breaks, or required you to give your tips to your employer, then you may have grounds for a wage and hour lawsuit against your employer.
SEVERANCE AGREEMENTS
NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS
A Noncompete agreement is a contract between you and your employer usually put in place after you leave your employment, where you agree not to compete with your former employer for a period of time. The agreement is often entered into at the end of employment or the end of a business relationship, however it can also be a pre-condition to a business relationship. The purpose is to prevent the possibility that knowledge gained by an employee or business partner will be used in the future to compete against them. In exchange for not competing, the party is paid a fee (or it’s a condition of their engagement). The non-compete agreement would prevent you from competing directly with your former employer, or from working for a competitor. We can assist you in reviewing a non-compete agreement to see if it is legal or compliant with non-compete agreements. Contact us for help today.