For some 10-15 years, employers have been trying to save some money by transforming traditional employees into independent contractors. Different entities use different tests to determine whether an employee is truly an independent contractor. I previously wrote about the various tests here. One commonly used test is that employed by the Texas Workforce Commission.
We are seeing more and more lawsuits against an employee after s/he leaves an employer. Some of these suits have basis, some do not. In Schlumberger v. Rutherford, we see a lawsuit that lacked basis. Charlotte Rutherford was employed by Schlumberger as an in-house lawyer. She was privy to confidential, proprietary
Non-competition agreements have been around for a long time. They have usually been used for saelsmen who have access to cloesly guarded customer lists and to doctors. But, now, they have been uased for hourly employees at a sandwich chain. Jimmy John’s has been sued because it requires employees to agree they will not work
Employers, if they are doing their job, should counsel an employee in writing for a serious offense. Part of that counseling is the need to verify that the employee has received the written warning and understands it. That is why the employer will ask the employee to sign the disciplinary warning. Signing does *not* mean
A recent study indicates that happy workers are good for profits. The challenge in this study is that successful companies may result in happier employees. Or, is it the other way around, do happy employees lead to successful companies? The study looked at the annual list of best companies to work for. These lists are
A frequent question arises regarding when an employee is an independent contractor and when is he just a regular employee. Many employers have moved to using independent contractors instead of employees. The status of independent contractor can save the employer significant amounts of money in employment taxes, social security payments, etc.
But, the IRS understands that employers
Settling a discrimination lawsuit is never easy. The employee and employer both have to develop some understanding of evidentiary issues, personnel issues and employment caselaw within a very short amount of time. I have discussed settlement before, here, and here. The client must also come to some understanding of the opposing side
Mike Maslanka, who pens a blog oriented toward employers wrote a helpful post on terminating employees. Mike is well read on management and leadership techniques. He suggests the following:
1. Conduct the termination meeting at the employee’s work space or office. He explains that the manager can get up to leave after completing the difficult
I spoke about depositions in general a couple of weeks ago. Now, let’s talk about employee depositions in a San Antonio employment lawsuit. The plaintiff employee deposition is critical to success for any employment lawsuit. The plaintiff employee must be able to show the opposing attorney and the employer that the employee can testify
Personal emails at work are sometimes protected from intrusion and sometimes not. The email system belongs to the employer. One indicator that work generated emails may be protected occurs when the employer allows some personal use of email. See the case discussed at one blog post. But, see another case discussed at a different