Dallas Employment Trail Lawyer Ellie Johnston Unemployment benefits provide crucial financial support to individuals who have lost their jobs. Understanding how to navigate the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), the appeal process, and the distinction between being fired for work-related misconduct versus other reasons can significantly impact Texas employees’ eligibility and…
Articles Posted in Unemployment
Are Americans working later and later in life, and what does this mean for them?
Summary: This article briefly looks at the trend of the aging workforce—sensationalized or real? It also touches on some of the positive and negative impacts of that potential trend. In the last decade or so, the media has begun talking about the so-called “graying” of the American workforce—the idea that…
Strategize your Resignation
For employers and employees alike it is becoming apparent that there is a trend of employees leaving their workplaces. In Texas, the at-will doctrine allows an employee to leave for any reason or no reason, but sometimes resignations can be a bit more complicated. For employees it is complicated because…
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Programs Ending: What does that mean for Texans?
In an unsurprising turn of events, the State of Texas is ending its participation in the federal pandemic unemployment benefit programs early. Jobless Texans will lose access to federal unemployment aid, including a $300 per week supplemental benefit effective June 26, 2021, three months prior to the federal expiration of…
Always Read the Fine Print: American Rescue Plan Act Gives Unemployed Texans Free COBRA
Section 9501 of the recently passed American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) fully funds COBRA health insurance plan payments for qualifying individuals between the dates of April 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021. This benefit is funded by the employers who will then receive a tax credit to offset the cost…
The American Rescue Plan is Signed: Are you Feeling Rescued?
On March 11, 2021, President Biden Signed the American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) into law. The ARPA extends the unemployment benefits that were available under the March 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) and the December 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act, (both of which were set…
“In this economy!?”—What mitigation is, and why you need to do it!
Most of the time, if an employee decides to talk to an employment attorney it is because they have been fired. And even if reinstatement to the employee’s old job is a possibility, often when they were fired for an illegal reason they are understandably afraid of returning to the…
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Employment References and Texas Law
Employees leaving a company can often wonder whether their former employer will insert itself into their future career. In particular, people can be worried about what former employers are allowed to say to jobs where they are applying. “Can my old job sabotage my career?” Texas has a patchwork of…