Jackie Staple, a labor and employment attorney based in Jackson Walker’s Houston office, focuses on advising and counseling companies on employment law compliance and handling labor and employment transactional matters. Jackie has depth of experience drafting various employment, separation and release, and restrictive covenant agreements, as well as conducting due diligence of employment considerations in equity and asset transactions as a member of mergers and acquisitions deal teams.

As a trusted counselor, Jackie helps her clients navigate a variety of personnel matters, including:

• applicant and employee testing,
• background checks,
• discipline decisions,
• discrimination and harassment claims,
• disability accommodation and the interactive process,
• employee and independent contractor classification,
• employees with mental health concerns,
• joint employment issues,
• layoffs, furloughs, and the WARN Act,
• leaves of absence,
• protected, concerted activity,
• social media use by employees,
• unemployment compensation,
• wage and hour issues,
• workers’ compensation and retaliation,
• workplace misconduct, and
• workplace safety.

She conducts trainings in union and non-union workplaces, helping to empower managers in navigating these and other personnel matters on a day-to-day basis.

Jackie helps employers create and update sound policies and procedures, including multi-state employee handbooks, to comply with ever-changing employment laws. If an employee files an internal complaint, Jackie has experience serving as an independent investigator to interview witnesses and provide factual findings and recommendations.

When litigation is unavoidable, Jackie calls upon her background in education and the arts, as well as her litigation experience, to guide clients through administrative processes and prepare for trial. She has handled numerous administrative charges across the country filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Labor Relations Board, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and similar state agencies. Jackie has defended employers in lawsuits involving allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, whistleblowing, breach of employee covenants, and breach of employment contracts. Specifically, she has handled matters related to Title VII, FLSA, ADA/ADAAA, ADEA, FMLA, NLRA, and various other state laws.

In addition to labor and employment matters, Jackie has handled a number of civil rights cases for counties and municipalities brought under Section 1983, often by pro se plaintiffs. Jackie regularly works with human resources professionals and in-house counsel across multiple industries but has focused knowledge of the manufacturing, transportation, and higher education industries, in part due to her work experiences at a university and at a chemical and transportation company.