Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.Houston Employment Law Attorney | Harris County Wage Disputes | Executive Compensation2026-06-04T18:48:17Zhttps://www.warrensiurek.com/feed/atom/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/sites/1405046/2023/03/site-icon-1-75x75.jpgOn Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[How does D&O insurance protect individual directors?]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=516612026-06-04T18:43:23Z2026-06-04T18:43:23ZWhy filing for bankruptcy may trigger a trap
Unfortunately, when a business entity files for bankruptcy, the court freezes corporate assets. The court also treats the directors' and officers' policy as property of the estate, which can temporarily delay your access to its funds. This leaves you with zero access to company money, precisely when you need to retain personal defense lawyers against aggressive creditors.
What you can do to preserve your assets
Structuring your coverage correctly before a crisis hits can help keep your personal assets safe. You may implement independent Side-A Difference-in-Conditions (DIC) policies. As an executive, this can protect your personal assets when the company cannot or refuses to indemnify you. Even if the corporation completely collapses under pressure, this fund remains untouched, providing a dedicated war chest to pay for your legal defense.
Learning your options for shielding your personal funds
Texas common law expects corporate directors to act with the care that an ordinarily prudent person would use under similar circumstances, but the Business Judgment Rule generally covers you from personal liability for honest business decisions made in good faith.
Protecting your personal fund requires a proactive strategy that blocks your liability from the company’s fate. Because every corporate structure has unique vulnerabilities, seeking legal guidance from a corporate attorney is wise.]]>On Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[How do clawback provisions work for Texas businesses?]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=516562026-06-04T18:43:46Z2026-05-10T18:42:31ZWhat does a clawback mean?
A clawback provision is a contractual clause that gives your company the legal right to take back incentive-based compensation under certain conditions. Usually, these include:
Financial restatements due to material inaccuracies
Employee misconduct, such as sexual harassment and embezzlement
Non-compete clause violation
A sign-on bonus clause with a timed window
Clawback provisions are not meant to be punitive. Although they aim to promote integrity in the company, these clauses may tend to veer away from legal compliance.
Courts heavily favor the freedom of contract, meaning your signed executive agreement carries immense weight. However, you are not without leverage. If your company is private, Texas workforce laws strictly regulate retroactive wage deductions and non-compete clauses. For public corporations, federal SEC mandates trigger automatic clawbacks for financial restatements, regardless of your personal blame.
What you can do to protect your compensation
Clawback provisions do not have to be non-negotiable, one-sided instruments. Because a clawback dispute can jeopardize both your hard-earned financial security and your professional reputation, it is wise to seek guidance from an experienced employment attorney.]]>On Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[How ERISA protects employee interests and benefits]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=505282023-06-19T15:46:07Z2023-06-19T15:46:07ZEqual access to benefits
ERISA mandates that benefit plans must be offered to all eligible employees who meet specific criteria. For instance, employees over 21 years and with a minimum of 12 months of service should have access to the benefit plan. This requirement prevents discriminatory practices and helps to ensure that employees are not unfairly excluded from valuable benefits.
Responsibility and accountability in the management of funds
Employers offering benefit programs have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the plan participants. This includes managing funds with care and prudence. ERISA empowers the law to hold employers accountable and potentially subject them to prosecution if they fail to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities. By enforcing responsible fund management, ERISA promotes transparency and accountability.
Protection against wrongful termination
ERISA prohibits employers from terminating employees solely to avoid providing them with benefits. This provision ensures that employees cannot be unfairly dismissed or discriminated against based on their participation in benefit plans. By safeguarding against wrongful termination, ERISA protects employees' rights and prevents employers from exploiting their power to evade their obligations.
Guaranteeing payment and ensuring compliance
ERISA provides an additional layer of security for employees participating in benefit programs by guaranteeing that funds will be paid, even in unforeseen circumstances such as employer bankruptcy. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ensures participants receive their entitled benefits, offering financial stability and peace of mind.
Additionally, ERISA imposes reporting requirements on employers to better ensure compliance with the law. Regularly reporting and disclosing plan information enhance transparency and keep employees informed about their benefits. Non-compliance can result in civil and criminal penalties for fiduciaries, promoting adherence to the law and fostering accountability.
Protect your retirement future and legal rights
If you experience an ERISA violation or are concerned about your benefits, it is prudent to take proper steps to safeguard your interests. Seeking legal guidance can help you understand your rights and the options available to make things right.]]>On Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[Working off the clock could lead to a viable overtime wage claim]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=505262023-04-23T19:09:45Z2023-04-23T19:09:45ZHourly workers should not need to do their jobs off the clock
Companies can expect that salaried workers will go above and beyond because their employment arrangement provides them with more stability and often with better wages and benefits. However, they cannot put the same demands on their hourly workers unless they appropriately compensate them. Wage laws entitle hourly workers to full pay for time worked and overtime wages when appropriate.
The longer someone has worked at a company, the more money those 10 or 15 minutes of unpaid work per shift can represent. Workers can potentially request not just payment for the hours worked but also overtime wages when that extra time would have put them over the 40-hour limit for a specific work week.
Wage claims can improve work conditions
People often worry about rocking the boat where they work. They think that if they demand their rights that the company will punish them. However, it is illegal for businesses to retaliate against workers who assert their right to fair wages. Beyond that, employees deserve the pay guaranteed to them under federal law. Those who pursue wage claims related to work performed off the clock can connect with the money they should have earned in the first place. They can also potentially force a change of practices at the company so that it doesn't continue taking advantage of its hourly workers.
Recognizing off-the-clock work as a potential reason to pursue an overtime wage claim can benefit hourly and non-exempt salaried workers who have completed uncompensated work for their employers.]]>On Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[Female workers must know their rights to close the wage gap]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=504172023-02-26T14:31:22Z2023-02-26T14:30:02Zpersistent wage gap between the sexes is one of the most concerning forms of sexism in the modern workplace. For working women to challenge this issue and receive the wages they deserve, they need to know their rights.
Women have a lawful right to equal pay
Federal law has long protected the right of women in the workplace to expect the same wage as their male coworkers. Unfortunately, the practices employed by many companies often lead to workers receiving unequal and unfair compensation.
For example, male employees could be more likely to get raises when they seek them and might also receive larger raises than their female coworkers. They may even start out at the same position with a higher starting wage despite no major discrepancy in education or experience when compared with the female worker in question.
For a woman who suspects she does not earn what her male coworkers do to prove her case, she needs to know what other people earn for the same work. Unfortunately, many businesses try to trick female workers into giving up their rights by misleading them. Companies frequently include employment rules and training that specifically state that workers cannot discuss their wages with one another.
However, communicating about wages is it crucial right protected as part of the right to unionize with other employees. Companies cannot penalize workers for inquiring about what other employees make or sharing their wages. Female workers should not let company policy about wage confidentiality deter them from exploring their belief that the company has compensated them unfairly.
Punishment for asserting one's rights is retaliation
If a company actually punishes a female employee, possibly by demoting or terminating her, for either sharing wage information with coworkers or raising questions about why she earns less than male teammates, the actions on the part of the business may constitute illegal retaliation.
Female workers denied fair wages or punished for speaking up about unequal pay may have the right to bring a claim against the company that employs them. Learning more about wage rights and employment laws can benefit those who are thinking about fighting back against potentially unfair company practices.]]>On Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[White, Black, Asian or Latino – Who earns more?]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=504142023-02-24T19:50:30Z2023-02-24T19:45:05ZThe Wage Gap
While the median weekly earnings at a national level was $1,085 in the fourth quarter of 2022, there were significant differences depending on race and ethnicity groups.
Ranked, the study showed these results for median weekly earnings:
Asians $1,496
Whites $1,111
Blacks $896
Hispanics $837
The differences show not only in terms of salary but also in terms of employment, with more black people unemployed compared to white.
Equal Opportunity
Even, as companies seem to make efforts to provide equal opportunities to employees regardless of race or ethnicity, the gap is clear.
The unequal distribution of capital pays a big part. People without access to certain social networks and connections with individuals who are higher earning will naturally experience difficulties achieving upward economic mobility. Clearly, having higher earning contacts will facilitate individual's chances of becoming higher earning persons themselves.
Also, certain groups are often recruited by specific companies and fields. For example, many professions and companies require post-secondary education.
This issue exacerbates the gap, since job positions that require a higher education receive usually higher pay. However, the earnings for workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher reflected a similar pattern in salary disparities by race as described above. The gaps remained for people with the same education level. Workers of Asian descent had the highest pay, followed by White, then Black and lastly Latino.
What about gender?
Studies show the following results:
Black women earned 90% as much as Black men
Hispanic women earned 86.5% as much as Hispanic men
White women earned 83% as much as White men
Asian women earned 81.5% as much as Asian men
In summary, in all ethnicity groups, no exceptions, women earn less than men.
Discrimination can be hard to prove. Someone’s salary is determined by a variety of factors such as education, experience or titles. But what happens when a coworker seems to have exactly the same background and qualifications and yet he or she makes more than you?
When age, ethnicity or gender are the only factors that differentiate you from another worker, yet there are salary differences between you two, it may be feasible to bring a wage claim. Companies should not hide wage discrepancies under invalid reasons such as better negotiating skills or higher salary from a former position.
Income inequality has been a historic problem and there have been numerous efforts to narrow the gap, the most notorious one perhaps being the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Nevertheless, these differences persist, so workers should benefit from the rights the law confers to them and seek justice when these issues come to light.]]>On Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[What protections does ERISA offer?]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=504112022-12-21T22:11:53Z2022-12-21T22:11:53Zaround 141 million workers.
Transparency, accountability and a fiduciary duty
Essentially, ERISA protects the benefits under its umbrella from financial abuses. The Act sets minimum standards for both retirement and health plans in private sectors, and those standards are endorsed through the Employee Benefits Security Administration division of the Department of Labor.
ERISA provides protections in the following ways:
It applies a fiduciary duty to anyone who is in charge of managing a plan’s funds or other assets. That creates a legal responsibility for that person to act in the best interest of the participants. If they don’t, they can be held legally and financially responsible.
It governs the requirements your company can impose on participation in any employer-sponsored benefit plans, including retirement and disability programs.
It requires employers to provide employees with clear information about the benefits the plan offers, and their right to withdraw funds from their retirement plans.
Through the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), it limits the ways that employers can restrict coverage under employee benefit programs due to pre-existing conditions.
Through the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA), it permits people to extend their insurance coverage after they lose their employment for a period of time through self-pay.
That’s not where ERISA stops, however. Of particular importance to those with short-term or long-term disability coverage through their employer is the fact that ERISA provides you the right to appeal claim denials. If the appeal is unsuccessful, you can even sue to compel coverage.
When your security is on the line, don’t hesitate to seek out experienced legal guidance.]]>On Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[Is a wage discrepancy a violation of your equal pay rights?]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=504092022-11-23T20:31:55Z2022-11-23T20:31:55ZProtected characteristics should not factor into employment decisions
There are numerous personal characteristics that have protection under federal law for employment purposes. Your sex is one of them. Whether you are a man or a woman should not matter when it comes to whether or not you can do a job and how much your employer pays you for that work.
Unfortunately, there has historically been a significant discrepancy between what companies pay men for work and what they pay women for the exact same job responsibilities. Other factors, including age and race, may exacerbate the wage discrepancy and make it even worse for some employees.
Women who have the same job title, the same degree and the same experience as their male counterparts should receive the same wages. Although companies may try to blame an employee's higher wages from a past job or better negotiating skills, the company should adjust its employment practices to prevent systemic discrimination against people with certain characteristics.
Why bringing a wage claim matters
Younger workers, in particular, seem more willing than ever to move on to a new place of employment if their current job doesn't offer competitive pay and a healthy work environment. Many women who suddenly learn about a pay gap at their job might simply start looking for a better-paying job elsewhere using what they know of their coworkers' wages to guide their negotiations. However, if you don't push back against your current employer's policies, then nothing will change.
Bringing an equal pay claim against an employer that compensates you less than your male coworkers could not only award you some of those wages you might have earned but could also prompt changes at the company that will benefit other women in the future.]]>On Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[Costly overtime violations in Texas]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=504072022-10-19T19:07:25Z2022-10-19T19:07:25Zbeen studies claiming that it is the largest form of theft in the United States. It happens in many different ways, and it always results in employees being deprived of the wages that they have earned and that they were owed by their employers.
Just one of the ways in which employers do this is by committing overtime violations. Workers are supposed to be paid time-and-a-half for overtime, so these hours can be extra expensive for the company. Some employers only want to cut costs. Let’s look at a few potential ways that employers try to get around paying and why they can be a problem.
Only paying standard rates
First and foremost, some employers refuse to pay overtime and just continue to pay out at the standard rate instead of time-and-a-half. In some cases, they may not even inform employees that they are doing this in an effort to hide it, but the employees may notice the discrepancy on their paycheck. It’s very important to carefully document hours and compare them to paystubs.
Poorly defining weeks
Under Texas law, an employer can define what counts as a work week. It does not have to begin and end on Sunday. However, that week can only include seven days that are in a continuous stretch. So trying to define a week as seven days that have been broken up, for example, would be a violation.
Not offering enough comp time
In some cases, employers will offer comp time so that they don’t have to pay overtime wages. If you worked extra hours, they’ll just give you extra time off to make up for it. Some employees like this because they get to come in late the next day after working overtime.
Even if you’re fine with this arrangement, make sure that you still get 1.5 hours of comp time for every one hour of overtime that you worked. If you get the exact same amount of hours off that you worked, you’re actually being paid less than you are owed.
Workers who run into complications regarding their pay or believe violations have occurred need to know what legal options they have.]]>On Behalf of Warren & Siurek, L.L.P.<![CDATA[What ERISA means for workers who need disability pay]]>https://www.warrensiurek.com/?p=504052022-08-25T19:02:41Z2022-08-25T19:02:41ZWhat is ERISA?
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 is crucial federal protection for workers that rely on benefits provided by their employer. Obviously, it governs retirement benefits and pensions, but this law also applies to other financial benefits provided by a business to workers, including disability insurance coverage.
The company managing the benefits has a duty to the employees, and the workers who need those benefits have certain rights. Those rights include the option to appeal the denial of your benefits that you believe was unfair. You can also take action when someone managing such benefits breaches their fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries.
Long-term disability claims can be expensive
ERISA does impose stricter regulations on employer benefits and the companies that manage them, but issues can still arise when you make a claim. Although insurance companies have a legal obligation to operate their businesses in good faith, they make the most money when they don't have to pay out major claims.
If the person managing your claim refuses to give you benefits or offers you far too little based on your needs and the coverage you have, you may need to appeal. Sometimes, these situations can lead to litigation.
ERISA helps provide a second layer of protection from financial misconduct by both employers and businesses that manage benefit programs, like long-term disability insurance. Learning more about ERISA long-term disability benefits can help you ensure an acceptable standard of living for yourself and your family when you suddenly find yourself unable to work due to medical reasons.]]>