Agency Investigations

Alphabet Soup
Can Leave a Bitter Taste.

More and more enforcement of federal and state laws is occurring at the administrative level from a wide variety of “alphabet soup” entities, outside of the courts.  The most common types of investigating agencies that we assist with are:

• DOL: Department of Labor, Wage & Hour Division
  (overtime, minimum wage and other violations).
• TWC: Texas Workforce Commission
  (unemployment benefits, wage claims).
• OSHA: Occupational Safety & Health Administration
  (safety standards, Sarbanes-Oxley and OSHA whistleblower claims).
• EEOC: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  (discrimination and retaliation).
• TDI: Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation.
• DOJ: Department of Justice
  (disability accessibility).
• ICE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
  (e.g., I-9 and work permit regulation).
• NLRB: National Labor Relations Board
  (unfair labor practice charges, representation petition).

Claims Often Require Early Lawyer Involvement.

It can be very risky to underestimate the impact of agency investigations and administrative claims.  They may seem pesky or unimportant at the outset, since these sorts of things do not seem to demand the same formality and attention that lawsuits do.  However, the penalties and consequences from failing to carefully respond to agency actions in an informed way can be expensive and potentially devastating should litigation ensue later.  Often preliminary position statements and “informal” responses to questionnaires and telephone interviews and hearings by investigators are used as binding, sworn testimony in later lawsuits.  

Unemployment appeals and wage claims. For example, while an unemployment telephone appeal is focused only on whether the employee committed misconduct as defined by the unemployment insurance act, the testimony from both sides is sworn and may include admissions that will impact a later discrimination lawsuit brought later.  Therefore, it is important to involve counsel early to prevent important defenses or rights from being waived due to an unawareness of other potential liabilities or issues when the claim first arises.  

Reduction and withdrawal of OSHA penalties.

We have extensive experience with OSHA investigations and in negotiating penalties down from the initially levied amount in OSHA citations, even where there have been significant injuries and even deaths.  In some cases we have been successful in having the citation entirely withdrawn, which protects the client from having a history of a prior violation.  

EEOC charge responses.

We work with clients to either handle the preparation of the response to an EEOC charge from beginning to end, or to review, edit and revise client-prepared responses.  This is particularly important where witness statements are requested, because they can be used in subsequent litigation against the witnesses.  

FLSA Overtime Investigations.

DOL Wage and Hour Division investigations can be extremely expensive without early intervention by competent counsel on your behalf.  DOL investigators often use broad assumptions and generalizations to attempt to secure an employer’s early agreement to violations, under the threat of broadening the investigation or bringing suit for liquidated penalties.  However, often the assumptions do not hold up if the facts and records are carefully reviewed with all defenses in mind.  Attorney intervention can often pay for itself with this type of investigation to reduce or eliminate demands for back wages based on FLSA violations, and to ensure that if anything is paid, that there is a binding release to close the door on further disputes.