Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Riley Carter
Employees are often asked to provide personal information as part of the hiring process or during their employment. While employers do have the right to collect certain information, that right is not unlimited. Federal and state laws strictly regulate what employers may request, when they may request it, and how that information may be used.
Understanding these boundaries is critical for employees who want to protect their rights.
Dallas Senior Trial Attorney Deontae Wherry
Every year, we gather to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But to truly honor him, we cannot settle for speeches and ceremonies. Dr. King never asked us to be comfortable, he asked us to be courageous. He asked us to look honestly at the world around us and refuse to accept injustice as normal. Here, in Texas, that call still echoes loudly.
Dr. King understood something profound: the struggle for civil rights and the struggle for workplace justice are the same fight. He knew that a person cannot live free if they cannot work free from discrimination, free from retaliation, free from exploitation, free from the systems that suffocate opportunities. Dr. King often reminded us that laws limiting the rights of Black Americans also limited their ability to participate fully in the economy. Economic inequality and racial inequality, he insisted, were two sides of the same broken coin.
Rachel Bethel Dallas
Trial Attorney
Domestic violence (“DV”) does not confine itself to a victim’s home. DV hunts survivors down to factory floors, hospital units, classrooms, and office desks.
Several states have recognized the intimate link between a survivor’s physical safety and a survivor’s financial security.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Harjeen Zibari
Despite the FTC ruling that non-competes are unenforceable, this ruling has been blocked by a judge in the Northern District of Texas and is tied up in continued litigation. Therefore, in Texas, noncompete agreements are enforceable. Read my other blog here to learn more about what makes a non-compete enforceable in Texas. Texas employers often move quickly when accusing a former worker of violating a noncompete, sometimes seeking emergency court orders that threaten your new job, your clients, and your livelihood. Understanding the process can help you protect your rights and respond strategically. Here’s what typically happens when you, the employee, are on the receiving end of a noncompete dispute in Texas.
1. The Accusation or Cease-and-Desist Letter
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Harjeen Zibari
Sprinkles Cupcakes, the once-ubiquitous gourmet bakery chain famous for its colorful storefronts and viral cupcake ATMs abruptly closed all of its retail locations and vending machines nationwide as of December 31, 2025, ending a 20-year run that began in Beverly Hills in 2005. The company’s founder, Candace Nelson, confirmed the shutdown in a TikTok post, describing the moment as “surreal” and not how she envisioned the brand’s legacy after selling it to private equity in 2012. With more than 20 storefronts across several states and numerous airport and mall ATMs, the sudden disappearance of Sprinkles shocked both longtime customers and employees alike.
I was a loyal Sprinkles customer myself. I went to college in Richardson, Texas, which is not known for its nightlife. But all-nighters were way more exciting when my friends and I would barrel up 75 to grab a cupcake at 4 AM from the Sprinkles ATM, which sang a ridiculous song at an even more ridiculous volume that had us sleep-deprived college kids in tears at its absurdity. I had a birthday just weeks after the onset of the covid-19 pandemic that sent us all into our homes and locked away from each other, and a vending machine cupcake seemed like the safest option to blow a candle out onto. When I graduated law school a few weeks later, again, I commemorated the occasion with a pastel-pink strawberry cupcake that my cat Rosie ate a quarter of when my back was turned. Those were huge cupcakes too. She’s a fluffy cat.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Ellie Johnston
For many Dallas employees, December feels like the worst time to deal with a work problem. Everyone is juggling holiday travel, office potlucks, and year-end deadlines, and it’s extremely tempting to tell yourself, “I’ll deal with that in January.” We hear this all the time. Employees want to rock around the Christmas tree, not rock the boat, and employers often count on that hesitation. Unfortunately, your workplace rights don’t take a holiday break, no matter how much we wish the law would let us hit “pause” until after New Year’s.
The truth is that waiting can have real consequences. Employment laws run on strict timelines, evidence can disappear quickly, and employers make major decisions in December that can shape your case long before the new year ever arrives. As cozy as it sounds to postpone everything until January, that delay can close doors you didn’t even know were closing.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Austin Campbell
Summary: This blog briefly discusses what it means to be an independent contractor or employee. In particular, it goes over some special rights afforded to sales representatives who are contractors in Texas.
In employment law, a lot can turn on whether you are considered an employee or an independent contractor. Legally, whether someone is an employee and not an independent contractor largely depends on the level of “control” the employer has over the person’s day-to-day work. The more freedom someone has to set their own schedule, control their own work quality, use their own supplies, and choose where or with whom they want to work, the more likely they are to be an independent contractor and not an employee. On the other hand, whether your employer labels you a contractor or issues a Form 1099 to you at the end of the year are relatively unimportant. Although on paper being a contractor can sound great, unfortunately some employers may deliberately misclassify employees as contractors.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Cassidy Monska
Fired Right Before the Holidays? Severance, Unemployment, and Your Next Moves
Getting terminated right before the holidays can feel devastating. Beyond the emotional impact, you need to act quickly to protect your rights and financial stability. Here’s a practical checklist to guide your next steps.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Riley Carter
When it comes to tipped employees, few issues create more confusion—and more lawsuits—than who legally owns the tips. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets strict rules about how tips must be handled, when employers can take a “tip credit,” and whether managers or non-tipped staff may participate in tip pools. Recent amendments and Department of Labor (DOL) guidance have also tightened restrictions on tip retention, increasing the stakes for compliance.
Below is a clear breakdown of the current legal landscape governing tips under the FLSA.
Dallas Employment Trial Lawyer Riley Carter
1. Confirm your eligibility
Before you file a claim, determine whether you meet the basic eligibility requirements. Typically you must be unemployed (or partially unemployed), through no fault of your own, able and available for work, actively seeking work, and have sufficient work history and wages. Review the TWC’s Unemployment Benefits Handbook for details.
Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog