texas law

Backpay—Front pay—Mitigation of Damages—Office of the Attorney General of Texas v. Rodriguez, ___ S.W.3d ___, 2017 WL 4586128 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2017)—The employer argued that the plaintiff in this Whistleblower Act case failed to mitigate her damages for purposes of front pay. The court observed that if a plaintiff presents evidence of reasonable efforts to […]

Civil Service Commissions—Election to Appeal to Hearing Examiner—In re City of Beaumont, 2017 WL 5179785 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 2017) (not for publication)—A suspended firefighter or police officer can choose between appealing to the local civil service commission or to an independent third-party hearing examiner. Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code §§ 143.053, 143.057(a). In this case, the firefighter

Whistleblower Act—Report of Violation of Law—County Immunity from Contract Liability— Patterson v. Marcantel, 2017 WL 4844514 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 2017) (not for publication)—The plaintiff’s alleged report of the violation of internal department policy did not constitute protected whistleblowing because an internal policy is not a “law” for purposes of the Whistleblower Act. The plaintiff’s breach of

Whistleblower Act—Grievance Procedure—Public School Teachers—Whitney v. El Paso Independent School District, ___ S.W.3d ___, 2017 WL 3614149 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2017)—The Whistleblower Act provides that an employee whistleblower must file a grievance with an employer agency before filing a lawsuit under the Act. The termination appeal process set out in the Education Code serves as

Whistleblower Act—Evidence of Retaliatory Intent—Office of the Attorney General of Texas v. Rodriguez, ___ S.W.3d ___, 2017 WL 4586128 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2017)—The usual “whistleblower” involves an employee’s report implicating higher managers who then use their superior managerial power to retaliate against the whistleblower. In this case, however, the whistleblower reported her suspicion of a

Late Wage Payment—Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies—Garrett v. Prologistix, 2017 WL 4782508 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2017) (not for publication)—The Texas Labor Code requires an employer to pay “in full” all wages due to an employee within six days of the termination of employment. Tex. Lab. Code § 61.014. If the employer pays in full a

Time Limit for Filing Administrative Complaint—Effect of Pending Grievance or Appeal—Alamo Community College District v. Ryan, 2017 WL 4942858 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2017) (not for publication)—The 180 day time period for filing an administrative complaint under Chapter 21 begins to run when a plaintiff learns of an adverse action or of the decision to take

Restraints Against Commerce—Contractual Penalty for Resignation—Rieves v. Buc-ee’s Ltd., ___ S.W.3d ___, 2017 WL 4557796 (Tex. App—Houston [14th Dist.] 2017)—The employer hired the plaintiff as an hourly-rated, “at will” employee but subject to a contract requiring her to repay all her “fixed monthly bonus,” which was a substantial part of her total compensation, if her

Administrative Hearing Officers—“Employee” Status—Texas Workforce Commission v. Harris County Appraisal District, 519 S.W.3d 113 (Tex. 2017)—Members of the Harris County Appraisal Review Board are “employees” under Tex. Lab. Code 207.004, and board members terminated by the Appraisal District are entitled to unemployment compensation. The court rejected the District’s argument that board members are so free

Fair Labor Standards Act—Pre-Shift Wait Time. Bridges v. Empire Scaffold, L.L.C., 875 F.3d 222 (5th Cir. 2017). The Portal-to-Portal Act provides rules for determining whether time engaged in certain workrelated activity counts for purposes of minimum wage and overtime compensation under the FLSA. Among other things, the Act provides that time engaged in activities incidental