In Johnson v PRIDE Industries, Inc., 7 F.4th 392 (5th Cir. 2021), a co-worker referred to Michael Johnson, a black worker as “mijo” (son) and “manos” (hands) several times. The same co-worker, Juan Palomares, also referred to Mr. Johnson as “es mayate” (this n—–) on some occasions. Mr. Palomares also used the term “pinches
In Austgen v. Allied Barton Security Services, LLC, No. 19-20613, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 20085 (5th Cir. 6/26/2020), a security officer, working for the Port of Houston, encountered back pain in inspecting vehicles. The pain was chronic and had been aggravated by climbing around vehicles. His employer told him to stay home on unpaid
Glenn Hamer claims the pending bill known as “Protecting the Right to Organize” will stop gig workers from working in the gig economy. In a recent opinion piece with the San Antonio Express News, Mr. Hamer claims the PRO, which is pending in the U.S. Senate, will make all gig workers traditional employees and
With a nod to the research of Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas School of Law professor, the coming vote on Jan. 6, 2021 is over-stated in one key respect. Under Sec. 1 of the 20th Amendment, the current Presidential term ends on Jan. 20, no matter what. If no President then is qualified to
Pro se cases (i.e., for self) typically result in dismissal. These are lawsuits filed by a layperson on his/her own behalf – without a lawyer. I previously posted about a pro se lawsuit here. In another such case, Wynne v. Jubilee Academy, No. 19-CV-00739 (W.D. Tex.), the plaintiff filed the suit herself. Although
If you work for a company for a few years and maintain your LinkedIn account, you will build up a set of contacts based on your employment. What happens if those contacts are customers? Do they belong to you or to your employer? That was the issue in Cellular Accessories for Less, Inc. v. Trinitas
As expected, Ken Paxton has provided generous lawsuits to his former deputies. Four of his recently fired senior assistants have filed suit based on whistle blowing. They allege they were fired because they reported violations of law by AG Paxton. see my prior post about their whistle blower complaints here. The lawsuit rightly notes
In 2019, Pres. Trump tired of the head of DHS, Kirstjen Nielsen. So, he fired her. He replaced her with an acting head of DHS, Kevin McAleenan. Mr. McAleenan was later replaced by Chad Wolf. Pres. Trump placed a lot of emphasis on DHS, because that agency controlled immigration rules and regulations. On July 28,
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does include discrimination against gay persons. I have discussed this issue a few times, that the decision in Oncale v. SundownerOffshore Services, Inc., 523 US 75, 118 S.Ct. 998, 140 L.Ed.2d 201 (1998), was a very parsed
Pres. Trump brought some unusual experience to the office of the President of the United States. He filed over 3,500 lawsuits during his career in business. That is an astounding number. Periodically, I look for prior lawsuits regarding different organizations. I am sure I have never seen more than ten lawsuits for any one organization,