Law Office of Thomas J. Crane

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Thomas J. Crane

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Great Hall
One of the more difficult problems for employers is harassment by unknown co-workers. The law was designed for harassment by supervisors. It functions not so well when the harassment is caused by co-workers. In Tolliver v. YRC, Inc., No. 17-10294, 2018 US LEXIS 17806 (5th Cir. 6/28/2018), African-American workers were harassed in various ways for over 15 years. The black workers encountered racist graffiti, nooses, and other incidents. The district court refused to allow evidence…
Well, the Tarrant County (Ft. Worth) Republican party voted to keep Dr. Shafi in his position as Vice-Chairman of the party. By a vote of 139-49, the precinct chairpersons voted to keep the doctor in his position. I previously wrote about this vote here. A lady named Dorrie O’Brien and others had pushed the idea that because he was Moslem, he had some connection to jihadists. That notion would be humorous if it was…
Dr. Shahid Shafi is finding much support among the Republican party in his quest to remain vice-chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party. Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz have both issue statements supporting the doctor. The vote to remove Dr. Shafi is set for next week. I previously rote about this discriminatory attempt to remove the doctor here. See CNN report about this attempted removal here. That really is the silliest…
The battle over whether individual arbitration agreements can prevent class actions was settled with the decision in Epic Systems v. Lewis, 138 S.Ct. 1612 (2018). That decision found that workers who signed individual arbitration agreements with his/her employer could not later file suit as a class or collective action. Employers viewed this decision favorably. But, now, maybe not so much. See what has happened with what was intended to be a collective action against Chipotle.…
I used to get referrals from the San Antonio Bar Association. These referrals included many clients who had never spoken to a lawyer anywhere. Many of them would call complaining basically about unfair treatment. I still get calls like that, sometimes. They might say, “my employer fired me because they say I did not call in, but I did call in sick.” I have to explain to such potential clients that in Texas, an employer…
Clients and potential clients often ask me at some point what is the value of his/her case? What little they know of its value is colored by the ubiquitous Personal Injury lawyer ads. Or, sometimes, their knowledge is influenced by what some brother-in-law knows, or thinks he knows. So, some clients, a small percentage, expect wealth and riches. Employment cases are not car wreck cases. The employment discrimination statutes provide for specific types of damages.…
Pen
The ADA Amendments Act was passed in 2008 and became effective in 2009. Only now are we seeing cases interpreting those important changes. One significant change concerns the “regarded as” claim. The old ADA protected persons who were fired because they were “regarded as” disabled. But, the old ADA also required that to merit that protection, the person had to suffer from an actual impairment. That ruling meant many persons in the early stages of…
If it was not so serious, the story in Tarrant County, Texas would be humorous. A small community near Ft. Worth has a City Councilman who is Muslim. Shahid Shafi has served as a Republican Councilman in Southlake since 2014. He is a doctor. He has served as delegate to state Republican conventions. In July, 2018, he was appointed vice chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party. Within days of that appointment, a couple of…
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In a Harris Poll survey a few years ago, researchers found that 20% of hiring managers have asked unlawful questions in interviews. They asked these unlawful questions not realizing at the time that such questions could lead to legal liability. CareerBuilder commissioned the survey. A CareerBuilder representative said an interviewee who is asked these sorts of questions could decline to answer. If the hiring manager insisted on an answer, then that insistence suggests this might…
white-house
Lawyers are not supposed to make things worse for their clients and we definitely are not supposed to wager our law licenses on a particular outcome.  Yet, in the Paul Manafort legal melodrama, that seems to be exactly what has occurred. Paul Manafort entered into a plea bargain agreement with the Special Prosecutor, Robert Mueller. Yet, at the same time, his lawyers also talked with the Trump legal team. Rudy Giuliani said the Manafort lawyers…