Arbitration is becoming more and more a significant feature of the legal landscape. Arbitration is a creature of contract. Whatever the parties agree to becomes the arbitration. What if the parties agree to arbitration, but then allow some form of appeal? In a recent decision, the Fourth Court of Appeals wrestled with that question. In
Every employee owes his employer a duty of loyalty. An employee generally may not carry on a business that competes with his employer’s business. To do so is grounds for termination. But, what about an employee who is contemplating leaving his employer? Can he discuss his possible departure with co-workers? The court in In Re
You have to love capitalism. I still believe the capitalistic system is the best around. But, the crazy things it can lead to. Everyone has heard about the Wells Fargo scandal. Bank tellers at Wells Fargo were required to open a certain amount of new accounts every month. The pressure was on to meet a
Yes, some employers will take advantage of employees. My friend, Chris McKinney, discusses one such case of a worker for Buc-ees. You know the place with the friendly, smiling beaver? Kelly Rieves was hired by Buc-ees as an assistant store manger in Cypress, Texas. They had her sign a contract which included a clause for
The sandwich chain, Jimmy John’s, has agreed to stop including non-compete agreements in its hiring documents. I wrote about the chain’s requirement for non-compete agreements here. As I mentioned then, they were requiring the low wage earners to sign these agreements. As part of a settlement, Jimmy John’s is now dropping that non-compete agreement.
Arbitration in employment cases is still new. It is also private. So, researchers have not had access to arbitration decisions or awards. But, a statute passed in California requires the arbitrators to make public their decisions. One Cornell researcher obtained those public awards and found some remarkable trends. The largest provider of arbitration services is
Large employers and corporations have been pushing arbitration as the panacea for a host of consumer issues, from purchasing phone plans and automobiles to applying for jobs. But, there are some things arbitration just cannot do. In 2012, Lance Armstrong admitted he had used drugs as part of his training regimen. But, for years before
Non-compete agreements have been used in the market place for decades within certain sectors, such as physicians and some sales representatives. In the past year or so, I have heard from several workers who signed non-compete agreements. One poor young woman, in her 20’s, was sued after she changed jobs. She simply moved to a
Mike Leach was fired by Texas Tech over five years ago. He filed suit over that termination, saying it violated his contract. I previously wrote about his lawsuit here and here. He sued to force the state to honor its contract hiring him. But, his initial appeal was denied. And, now the Texas Supreme
Arbitration is more and more with us, all of us. Every consumer signs some arbitration agreement sometime, somewhere. Arbitration is increasingly found in the work place. Many employers require their employers to sign agreements to submit any dispute to arbitration. SCA Promotions paid a $10 million dollar bonus to Lance Armstrong years ago for winning