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A business may rely on intellectual property assets that it needs to protect from misappropriation or misuse by others, which would result in financial and reputational damage to the owner.

As a business owner, you know what it takes to work hard, see your vision through to the end, and manage a never-ending stream of difficult situations.

According to the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act (TUTSA), a "trade secret" is any information that provides independent economic value from not being generally known and for which the owner makes reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy. Trade secrets consist of all methods, patterns, and techniques used in the day-to-day operations of a business that must be kept confidential.

When we hear the term ‘trade secret,” visions of a vault in Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, might come to mind. The formula for Coca-Cola is said to be locked away with access limited to only two people.

Your severance agreement actually tells you exactly what you should do. You should consult with a lawyer regarding your severance. I will be honest with you. In many cases, companies are not willing to negotiate a severance, but I am also aware of when companies may be more negotiable.

In the age of COVID-19, I’m sadly seeing more and more high-level employees coming to me with severance agreements that need to be reviewed. There are so many dimensions and angles to severance agreements that most employees don’t realize exist.

In the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to review employment contracts of various medical professionals including dentists and an optometrist. The questions that have been asked have been very contract specific and of course what applies to one medical professional may not apply to others, because each contract is unique in nature.

The most likely statutes that apply to you are the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), because they apply to employers with 15 or more employees. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act says that pregnant employees can not be treated differently than non-pregnant employees.

Q: Do I have to use special language in order to request accommodation? A: No. All you’ve got to do is use “plain English” and link the need to a medical condition—for instance: “I need six weeks off to get treatment for a back problem;” or “I’m having trouble getting to work at my scheduled starting time because of medical treatments I’m undergoing.” Of course, this does not necessarily mean that your employer is required to provide the change, but it’s a first step in the process to obtain a change.

A second county employee has filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and plans to file suit against Montgomery County claiming Montgomery County Commissioner James Noack discriminated against her due to her age.