Most folks who file lawsuits are not afforded the opportunity to submit comments to the media. Most times, the media is not interested in yet another employment lawsuit. But, most lawsuits are not filed against Ken Paxton. AG Paxton never hesitates to discuss and deflect his legal troubles. In a recent interview, AG Paxton claimed
Ken Paxton fired five of his senior assistants in 2020. Four of those five then filed suit alleging whistle blowing. I wrote then that it appeared to be a classic case of whistle blowing. Whistle blowing occurs when a worker reports a violation of criminal law by the employer and then suffers reprisal from that
Another whistle blower has been forced out of his job in the Trump Administration. Dr. Rick Bright, a scientist at the National Institute of Health and a vaccine expert, has resigned. He submitted a whistle blower complaint several months ago. See my prior post here. His complaint was very detailed, extending over some 300
A jury in Taylor County (Abilene), awarded $2.5 in a whistle blower lawsuit. Chad Carter, the former City Engineer for the City of Abilene, complained to the Texas Board of Engineers about the City of Abilene’s failure to follow the Texas Engineering Practice Act when it built several roads. The jury awarded some $100,000 in
We are seeing in real time what happens when an employee blows the whistle on his/her employer or when s/he complains about discrimination. Pres. Donald Trump has reportedly discussed firing the White House employees who have testified against him. He has discussed returning LTC Vindman to the Pentagon and firing Ambassador Bill Taylor after they
Many potential clients, friends and some folks I barely know share their knowledge with me about employment law. Unfortunately, many of them are flat wrong. Here are a few of the more common employment law myths I encounter.
“At will” employment means an employee can be fired for anything.” Texas is an at-will
In 2002, in reaction to the Enron scandal, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Act protects whistleblowers who report violations of securities regulations regarding accurate reporting. See National Whistleblower Center post regarding the act here. There was a whistleblower at Enron who did try to report the violations of securities regulations. And, here in
In Office of the Attorney General v. Rodriguez, a supervisor reported possible insurance fraud to her supervisor at the Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Laura Rodriguez believed she had a duty to report fraud, waste or abuse. She reported possible fraud concerning her her long-time friend and administrative assistant, Debbie Galindo. Ms.
The Texas Whistleblower Law has many limitations. One of those limits includes the requirement that the whistleblower must report the alleged violation of law to a law enforcement authority. For most laws, the local police force would be the appropriate authority. But, what about those many obscure white collar type crimes? We see one such
Texas has a whistleblower statute. It applies only to government workers. In a recent whistleblower decision, the Fourth Court of Appeals here in San Antonio reversed a grant of summary judgment. In the case of Torres v. City of San Antonio, No. 04-15-00664 (Tex.App. San Antonio 12/7/2016), Lt. Torres worked for the City Fire