LRM Alerts & Guides
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Employer Handbook - Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
January 31, 2012 - Atten-Hut: This month we focus on the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ("USERRA"). The name may be a mouthful but most employers seem to have no clue about this law or its requirements. Did you know that you have an obligation to reh... read more
Year End Brings Fiduciary Liability Risk for 401(k) Plans
December 14, 2011 - As a result of new U.S. Department of Labor requirements, employers sponsoring 401(k) plans will be receiving communications from their "service providers" (mutual funds, investment advisors, claims and third party administrators, COBRA advisers, etc.). The deadli... read more
Employer Handbook - Covenants Not to Compete
December 12, 2011 - Last month we covered trade secrets and confidentiality. Now, it is time to give you the most commonly used weapon to combat employees taking your secrets across the street to a competitor. Behold, the covenant not to compete!... read more
Employer Handbook - Trade Secrets and Confidentiality
November 3, 2011 - What is the recipe for Coke? Can you tell me Colonel Sanders 11 herbs and spices? I couldn't tell you, but there are probably some employees of those companies who can. If you thought about it long enough, I am sure there are things you don't want your competitors or th... read more
Employer Handbook - Polygraph Protection
September 29, 2011 - Before 1988, businesses could essentially break out a polygraph machine to test employees anytime they liked and rely on the results in all business decisions. After Congress passed the EPPA, use of polygraph examination almost disappeared, but they can still be u... read more
Employer Handbook - Privacy in the Workplace
August 11, 2011 - Can you rifle through an employee's purse at work? Can you listen to their phone calls or read their e-mail? Some of you are reacting to these questions as individuals who want their privacy protected. Others are reacting as managers or business owners... read more
Not All Pension Plans Are Created Equal
July 25, 2011 - As a series of high-profile states, cities, and large corporations across the country are being forced to shut down their traditional pension plans, the opposite trend is occurring in retirement plans for professionals and business owners. Thanks to a series of favorabl... read more
Employer Handbook: Exempt vs Non-Exempt Employees
July 18, 2011 - Last we covered the basics of overtime. This month, you get the other half - exempt vs non-exempt employees. As if there were not enough potential for trouble with just calculating overtime, there are a myriad of different ways people can be exempt from overtime. I... read more
Is it really “Loser Pays” in Texas? The latest tort reform law explained in plain English
June 16, 2011 - There was a lot of press and hand-wringing over the passage of the Texas Legislature's latest version of tort reform. Like many contentious issues, a lot of misinformation accompanied the coverage of the law. In an effort to cut through the rhetoric, we seek... read more
Employer Handbook - Employee Overtime
May 19, 2011 - Of all the employment issues out there, overtime is relatively simple, right? Just hand it off to the payroll company and violà, it's done. But, the payroll company does not decide whether employees have to clock out for breaks or travel from site to site during ... read more
Employer Handbook - Sexual Harassment: How to Avoid an EEOC Claim and Lawsuit
April 29, 2011 - Television and movies have done a lot to form our opinions about what is and is not permissible in the workplace. Everyone has seen the boss\secretary affair, and most people realize it is not appropriate. Setting aside that extreme example though, how many ... read more
Take Action Now to Prevent Your Website Being Associated with a Porn Site
April 4, 2011 - After much debate, the international body in charge of governing domain names, ICANN, has authorized pornography-based websites to register with a top-level domain of .xxx as opposed to the more common .com or .net in the next couple of months.... read more
Employer Handbook - Employee Drug Testing
February 25, 2011 - The need to test an employee for drugs doesn't come up very often, but when it does, employers tend not to act. They have the desire, but employers just don't know if it is legal. Erring on the side of caution employers often do nothing until the problem metastasizes in... read more
Employer Handbook - Does the Family Medical Leave Act Apply to My Business?
January 19, 2011 - The Family Medical Leave Act or "FMLA" provides sweeping benefits to employees allowing them to take up to twelve weeks a year in unpaid time off and keep their job. Most business owners are aware of the law, but don't really know their rights: Does this ... read more
Employer Handbook - The Differences Between Independent Contractors and Employees
January 4, 2011 - Uncle Sam needs tax dollars in a down economy and he knows independent contractors often forget to report all or a portion of their income. That is why the Department of Labor and IRS have recently teamed up in a joint effort to catch businesses who improperly cha... read more
Employer Handbook - How Can an Employer Successfully Handle Social Networking?
December 10, 2010 - "Social Networking" wasn't even a recognized concept ten years ago when I went into private practice. Now it is vying for a place in Webster's and so pervasive that business owners have to consider how their employees' comments on Facebook may impact the bottom li... read more
Business For Sale: Bridging the Valuation Gap
September 1, 2010 - This year's deal environment is characterized by many business owners who want to sell their businesses, by an abundance of strategic buyers who are looking to accelerate their future growth rate by adding to their asset base and acquiring new customers, and by private ... read more
Recent Amendments to the FCA
August 25, 2010 - Health Care Reform Places Affirmative Duty on Providers to Refund Overpayments From Federal Health Care Programs By Darrell Armer, Ashley Johnston and Tom Rhodus, Looper Reed & McGraw Health care reform raises many difficult issues for health care providers. Risks... read more
Restructuring Debts In and Out of Court
June 30, 2010 - There are many reasons why a company may become financially distressed. Once it reaches a point of insolvency, however, management may consider a restructuring of the company's financial obligations in order to restore the company back to financial health.... read more
What Does Health Care Reform Mean For Physicians?
April 19, 2010 - Last month we saw historic changes made to our nation's health care system when President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. The Act will require the purch... read more
Offshore Anti-Abuse and Foreign Provisions in the HIRE Act
March 31, 2010 - The President recently signed into law the "Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010" (the HIRE Act, P.L. 111-47). The HIRE Act includes a comprehensive set of measures to reduce offshore noncompliance by giving IRS new administrative tools to detect, deter a... read more
SEC Adopts Enhanced Proxy Disclosure Rules for the 2010 Proxy Season
March 9, 2010 - As companies begin preparing their 2010 proxy statements and other periodic reports, they should be aware that the SEC has recently adopted amendments that significantly enhance the disclosure reporting companies are required to include in these filings. These rul... read more
Who Pays for the Well After the Lease Terminates? Wagner & Brown v. Sheppard - The Rest of the Story
December 11, 2009 - Wagner & Brown, Ltd. v. Sheppard is well-known for its holding that termination of an oil and gas lease for land that was part of pooled unit doesn't always cause the unit to terminate. An overlooked aspect of the case asks the question: When, if at all, shoul... read more
Do You Own Your Company Name (and Can You Even Use It)?
August 29, 2009 - There is often confusion when it comes to registering names. Texas filings relating to company names, though accepted and approved by the Secretary of State, do not confer unfettered ownership or right to use the name. That is, a company name that is reserved, registere... read more
IRS Announces “Quiet Disclosures” No Longer Accepted
August 28, 2009 - Claude Wilson cautions tax professionals that making a "quiet disclosure" can lead to a malpractice case or an ethics violation.... read more
A Guide to Buying Distressed Assets
August 18, 2009 - Many people are looking for companies, real estate, and assets that, for any number of reasons, are "distressed," which normally means priced at less than market value. However, how do you determine whether an asset is really a bargain versus a disguised headache? Furth... read more
Document Retention: The 800 lb. Gorilla
June 10, 2009 - Document retention is a matter of growing importance for both lawyers and clients, but could be characterized as an 800 lb gorilla in the corner of the room that no one wants to talk about. The Document Retention Guide provides offers guidance for creating document rete... read more
Covenants Not To Compete: Still Enforceable!
May 1, 2009 - This April the Texas Supreme Court again affirmed that noncompetition agreements are alive and enforceable in this great State of Texas.... read more
Oil and Gas Operator Liability Addressed in Recent Texas Supreme Court Rulings
April 27, 2009 - The Texas Supreme Court has issued two important and related opinions affecting mineral owners and their lessees. ... read more
Watch Out for the Pitfalls of Business Entertainment Deductions
April 13, 2009 - The news media have recently been full of stories of political appointees with “tax problems”, including having taken improper deductions for business entertainment expenses. This article will reduce some of the confusion associated with business entertainme... read more
2009 Changes to COBRA: What Employers Need to Know
March 19, 2009 - Whether you think the federal stimulus package is a great idea or a bad one, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 became law on February 17, 2009. Of the many changes made by the Recovery Act, employers need to be aware of new obligations the law pla... read more
Alert regarding “Compliance Services” Solicitation
March 9, 2009 - Recently, an entity calling itself “Compliance Services” with an address in Austin, Texas, mailed solicitations entitled “Annual Minutes Requirement Statement” to numerous Texas business entities. This solicitation suggests that a Texas business ... read more
About Face: Significant Changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act that Affect Your Business Right Now
March 4, 2009 - In the fall of 2008, President Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act (the “Amendments”) which became effective January 1, 2009, and make changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the Amendments, Congress literally ca... read more
A-Rod v. Employee Drug Testing?
March 2, 2009 - With pro and high school sports instituting drug testing policies, it is worth considering whether you should have a drug testing policy at your office. It is legal, but an employer cannot simply decide to start testing employees one day without warning. Thi... read more
A Guide to Employee Terminations
February 26, 2009 - Most employers know that Texas is an “employment at-will” state, meaning that—unless there is an employment agreement guaranteeing employment for a specific amount of time—employees can be terminated for any lawful reason. Being legally entitled ... read more
Dallas County Ordinance Targets Apartment Complexes
February 9, 2009 - On January 14, 2009, the Dallas City Council passed Ordinance Number 27548 to amend certain provisions of the Dallas City Code pertaining to apartment complexes. The ordinance links crime rates to the deterioration of property and arises in the wake of the recent shooti... read more
Justice Dept Challenges Offshore Private Banking
December 3, 2008 - Federal prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service are getting serious about pursuing Americans who have parked money in offshore bank accounts. Last month, the government disclosed the indictment of a high-ranking executive of the Swiss bank UBS. The indi... read more
Enforcing Real Estate Contracts In Texas Using Specific Performance
October 29, 2008 - Most real estate contracts include a provision for “specific performance”, which is a remedy sometimes available to force a party to complete a transaction. However, the Texas Supreme Court recently handed down a decision in the case of DiGiuseppe v. Lawler ... read more
What To Do When You Are In A Maze of Financial Troubles
October 3, 2008 - Whether it results from a general economic downturn, loss of a large customer, or increased competition, every business hits a rough patch at some time. Vendors understand this, banks understand this, and investors understand this; what they do not understand are ... read more
Supreme Court Issues Major Opinion On Hydraulic Fracing
September 17, 2008 - The Supreme Court of Texas has issued a long-awaited opinion in Coastal Oil & Gas Corp., et al. v. Garza Energy Trust, et al. The primary issue was whether subsurface hydraulic fracturing of a gas well that extends into another’s property is a trespass for which the val... read more
The Legality Of Recording Conversations
July 1, 2008 - Technology has come a long way since the Watergate era. As recording devices have become smaller in size, their sound recording capabilities and storage capacities have increased. Sophisticated recording devices are inexpensive and conveniently available to any consumer... read more
The Texas Margin Tax: What is it?
January 1, 2008 - The Comptroller’s office is giving businesses and tax practitioners an additional 30 days to submit their franchise tax reports and payments, file an extension and preserve the right to take the temporary credit without penalty. The due dates are still May 15 for annual... read more
