Labor & Employment Blog

In a worker classification case with significant implications for the oil and gas industry, a jury seated in the U.S District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette Division took a little over an hour to find that a group of rig clerks working on offshore oil rigs were independent contractors rather than employees of New Tech Global, an oilfield services company that processed invoices for the plaintiff rig clerks.

Plaintiffs brought the action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), initially as a class action, which was later decertified by the court and limited to ...

Employers with employees who work in San Antonio or Dallas should be prepared for the earned paid sick leave ordinances that are set to take effect for most employers on August 1, 2019. Barring a court enjoining the ordinances from taking effect, employers soon must begin allowing employees who perform at least eighty hours of work for pay in the cities in a year to accrue paid sick leave. 

Last year, the City of Austin led the way in Texas by requiring private employers to provide employees with paid sick leave. Shortly thereafter, Texas legislators promised to pass a bill that would outlaw ...

In many respects, social media has become the new water cooler; employees utilize it to engage with co-workers, complain about their bosses and discuss their discontents. Many times, conference calls involve employees contemporaneously texting or group-chatting with each other, keeping up a running commentary of those things they would only say to each other and never to the boss.

With work bleeding into life more than ever (and vice versa), one issue commonly facing employers today is how to regulate off-duty social media comments made by employees that negatively ...

In a highly anticipated ruling with national impact for the oil and gas industry, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday concluded that directional drilling engineers can be classified as independent contractors and not employees. This ruling sets binding precedent in the Fifth Circuit for decided, pending and future wage and hour cases, validating the oil and gas industry’s use of contract workers and protecting companies against future litigation. Annette Idalski, a Chamberlain Hrdlicka shareholder and chair of the firm’s national labor and employment ...

The #MeToo movement has rightfully prompted employers to reevaluate their policies on sexual harassment: An appropriate and effective response to sexual harassment allegations can minimize the risk of a future lawsuit, promote a better work environment, and provide the basis for avoidance of liability or limiting damages if a lawsuit does occur. 

It cannot be denied that we are now living in a new era with regard to sexual harassment allegations. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements are motivating employees to speak out about sexual harassment in the workplace at record numbers. According to the EEOC, the number of charges filed by individuals alleging they were victims of workplace sexual harassment increased by 12 percent in fiscal 2018 from the prior year.