Sarita Garg's Legal Blog

Smith & Garg is proud to welcome at least three new members to our corporate family, and no, that is not including junior Garg on the way.  First, we have a new addition to our Family Law team, Amy Adkins, a talented and thorough Family Law Attorney, who was committed enough to start working the week following Hurricane IKE, even though she did not have power at her residence.  Second, we have a new Litigation Attorney, Audrie Lawton, with extensive litigation experience in numerous areas such as Real Estate Law, Criminal Law, and General Civil Litigation.  Third, we welcome Nicole Munoz, who will be acting as our Firm Manager, and will be managing all firm operations, eventually nation-wide.  We are excited to have these three new additions to our corporate family, and their blogs and bios will be posted soon, so stay tuned to learn more about them.

That’s right, yours truly, is going to be a Mom in 13 weeks or so, and what an experience it has been so far!  We’ve found out that we are having a baby boy, and judging by the amount he moves around inside me, I can already tell he is going to be a handful.  So I am about to enter my third trimester, and aside from frequent back pain and feeling my ligaments stretching, I have been feeling a lot more energetic than the past six months.  For me, the first three months involved insomnia, extreme nausea, horrible hormonal headaches, and I couldn’t touch meat or fish…even the thought of eating it made me feel sick. So I lived on fruits and vegetables during that time, and ironically that is all I craved.  It was like… suddenly, I no longer controlled my eating and drinking preferences…the little baby inside me was, and still is, making all my decisions for me.  I didn’t miss or crave alcohol, or coffee for that matter, which for a person who normally does not start their day without a Starbuck’s in hand, was pretty shocking…especially for those around me.  Fortunately, I didn’t gain any weight during that time.  Then my second trimester came, and so did the weight.  I have gained about 23 pounds so far, and I am hoping not to gain much more.  I have been trying to exercise at least three times a week, and I joined a prenatal yoga class a month ago, which I go to three times a week…and I love the class.  It really is good for muscle strengthening, stretching of the spine, and just good old fashioned relaxation.  I have started eating meat and fish again, and occassionally having a cup of decaf coffee.  This past month has been especially fun, because not only did he start kicking, and having the hiccups, but now he moves all the time, and sometimes he kicks so hard…it actually hurts a bit!  When it first started, I really had to touch my belly and concentrate to feel him.  Now, I actually watch my belly move around, and balance things on top of it just for fun…it really is a trip.  Other things that I have had to get used to….hmmm…drinking milk when I hate it, sleeping on my side when I am used to sleeping on my belly, eating breakfast when I never did before, taking prenatal vitamins in the morning and night, and getting used to being a little bit more clumpsy and absent-minded than usual…but it is all just part of the experience.  Of course, I would gladly do it all over again and again, just to experience the wonderful miracle of life growing inside me.

With the expansion of our firm into Long Beach, California and also into the Southwest Houston area, we  have now formed, what is called a PC.  PC stands for Professional Corporation, which is just a different type of entity.  We were previously an LLC, which stands for Limited Liability Company.  You may be wondering what is the difference between the two, and why does it even matter?  Well, in any kind of business, whether it is a law firm, a medical practice, convenience store, hotel, etc., will be classified as some type of entity.  It could be a sole proprietorship, which essentially means, that there is only one person who solely owns the company.  Or, you could form a partnership, which generally involves two or more individuals.  Third, an entity could be classified as a Limited Liability Company ( also called an LLC), which is essentially a combination of a partnership and a corporation.  Of course, the fourth category includes corporations, which are whole new ball game.  Corporations are usually larger entities, and there are many formalities and state requirements that have to be satisfied before a corporation is legally operating.  Professional Corporations (PCs) are just corporations that are entities in specific professions, such as law firms, medical practices, accounting firms, engineering firms, etc.

The difference between all of these entities is that depending on what type of business you are opening, and what your goals are, every entity has different tax consequences, as well as different outcomes with regards to liability.  If you are interested in forming a company, and are unsure which type of entity you should form, you should contact a Smith & Garg Business Attorney to find out your options.

I am very pleased and very excited to announce the expansion of Smith & Garg into the South Houston area.  We will be open for business in the South Houston office next month (mid-April 2008), and our practice areas will focus on Immigration Law, Family Law, & Wills/Probate/Estates. Our South office address will be :

11000 Richmond, Suite #650, Houston, Texas, 77042

So tell all your friends and relatives that the best legal team in Houston is coming to the South side of Houston!

Whether you are an employer, or an employee, it is important to know what your rights are with respect to either receiving Unemployment Insurance (UI) or paying it out.  There are so many uncertainties surrounding UI in Texas, due to the “at-will” nature of employment in this state, that I thought I would write a bit on the subject.

If you are an employee and are thinking about filing a claim for unemployment insurance, or, taken from a different perspective, if you are an employer and want to know whether you are obligated to pay unemployment insurance, the person filing the claim must meet the following basic criteria:

1) First of all, you need to establish that you have earned enough wages, and that you meet the “base period” requirements laid out by the Texas Workforce Commission.  The TWC “base period” calculation is based on wages earned or time worked during the most recent 12 month period.

2) Secondly, you must show that you are now unemployed due to no fault of your own.  Of course, if you are making such a claim, you should be prepared to show evidence to the Texas Work Commission that you were willing to work, and that you tried to correct whatever the problem was before you quit, or were fired.  For example, if you were laid off, your hours at work were reduced, you were fired for some other reason not related to poor performance, neglect, failing to perform acceptably, or you quit for a valid health-related reason, then you most likely will qualify for UI.

3) Third, you will have to show that you are actively pursuing full-time work, that you are available for such full-time work, that you are applying for acceptable work, and you must keep a record of job interviews/searches for each week that you receive UI benefits.

From the employer perspective, if an ex employee files for UI, and the employer would like to contest the claim filed, he/she does have that option.  Especially, if the employee was genuinely fired due to poor performance, neglect or mismanagement, or lack of performance.  Just as an aside, I think it is absolutely wrong, immoral, etc. to claim UI when you are physically able to work, you are qualified to work, but just don’t want to work because you are lazy…that is not the reason that Unemployment Insurance was created.  You all know who that employee is in your company or office …you know, the one who always comes in late, doesn’t show up to work half the time finding new and interesting excuses each week to avoid coming in, the one who is lippy with their respective supervisors, the one who never shows up for any company parties, events, functions, and the one who doesn’t really seem to care whether he/she gets fired or not.  There are so many hard working people in America, many of whom would give anything to get a job to provide for themselves and their families, but can’t get a job, and are barely making it…that is who UI was created for, and unfortunately, this benefit is being abused by others.

If you are an employer, and you are contesting a claim filed by an ex employee, the employer should be prepared with evidence to establish that the employee was genuinely let go due to poor performance, lack of performance, neglect, etc.  If you work in the state of Texas, or you are an employer in the state of Texas, and are unsure about your rights or obligations with regards to Employment Law, please contact our office, so that a qualified attorney can assist you.