Mock Trial: Employee Sues Former Company for Discrimination & Retaliation

The September MCHRA meeting will present a mock trial over an employee suing his former company for discrimination and retaliation.  It will teach HR professionals why employee handbook policies are so important to the bottom line of their companies.  It will teach HR professionals the importance of following those policies and not deviate from.  It will teach them both lessons by demonstrating how a plaintiff’s attorney can take advantage of a company’s poorly written employee handbook that for the most part is ignored by the company’s supervisors.

This is a 90-minute presentation and will be conducted by actual employment law attorneys and a sitting Texas judge.  Their biographies are below:

Melody Wilkinson is the judge of the 17th District Court of Texas. She has served in this position since January 1, 2009. She was re-elected on November 6, 2012 to a term that expires on December 31, 2016.  Judge Wilkinson received her undergraduate degree from Angelo State University and her J.D. from Texas Tech University (1988).  Judge Wilkinson is a former attorney for Cooley Manion Jones LLP, where she practiced civil litigation, business litigation, toxic torts and employment law.

Rod Tanner is the founding shareholder of Tanner and Associates, PC, a Fort Worth, Texas firm. Mr. Tanner received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin in 1973 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from The University of Texas School of Law in 1976.  He is admitted to practice in the State of Texas, United States Supreme Court, Fifth and Tenth U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, and U.S. District Court for the Northern, Western, Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas.

Mr. Tanner has a diverse labor and employment law practice focusing on litigation, administrative proceedings, arbitrations and collective bargaining.  He has extensive experience in complex litigation including employment discrimination class actions.  Board Certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1990, he has appeared in THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA (Woodward White 2015) for 20 consecutive years.  Both Texas Lawyer and Thompson Reuters (2003-2015) have recognized him as one of the state’s preeminent labor and employment attorneys.

Dustin Pascal is one of the founding members of Simon | Paschal PLLC, an employment and business law boutique law firm in Dallas, Texas.  Prior to starting and managing his own firm, Dustin exclusively practiced employment law at another law firm.  Dustin has a degree in Human Resource Management from Baylor University and a law degree from Baylor Law School.

Dustin maintains an active advice and counsel practice in addition to his litigation work.  Dustin’s practice includes matters related to Title VII, state discrimination laws, the ADA, the ADEA, the FLSA, the FMLA, employment contracts, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, and numerous other employment laws and regulations.  He also has experience with general contractual and commercial matters.

In his role as a litigator, Dustin appears before state and federal courts and arbitration panels to advocate on behalf of his clients in hearings, injunction proceedings, and trials.   Outside litigation, Dustin serves as an outside General Counsel for many of his clients, a role in which he regularly represents employers before the TWC, EEOC and various other government agencies, creates and implements employee and management training, reviews and drafts employment handbooks and policies and procedures, reviews and drafts various employment-related contracts, and provides regular advice and counseling on a myriad of Human Resources issues.

All online reservations are due Monday by 5pm. Online registration will be closed at that time. Attendees not registered online will be considered walk-in registrations and will be charged the guest rate of $35.