This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Overview
Laura Alaniz supports businesses as an experienced adviser and proven litigator in all aspects of labor and employment law, allowing executives, managers, and HR professionals to keep the focus on efficient and accommodating operations.
Laura’s practice focuses on assessing and addressing regulatory and compliance issues aimed at the prevention of unnecessary and costly claims. She regularly counsels clients regarding hiring and terminating employees, leaves of absence, layoffs, unemployment compensation, and employment handbooks and policies, in addition to conducting or coordinating beneficial employee and management training programs. Her experience also includes drafting effective and legally binding employment contracts, nondisclosure agreements, and anti-competition / hiring / solicitation agreements aimed at attracting and retaining high-quality employees.
As a litigator, Laura utilizes her broad experience to help clients avoid litigation and minimize risk while strongly positioning them to defend against claims. She is Board Certified in Labor and Employment by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Laura’s representative experience for employers and their leadership includes the full array of employment disputes, including suits for wrongful termination, retaliation, harassment and discrimination, wage and hour disputes, disability accommodation, breach of contract, and alleged violations of state and federal statutes such as the FLSA, FMLA, WARN, and the Texas workers’ compensation retaliation statute. She has successfully and beneficially resolved hundreds of demand letters, EEOC charges of discrimination, and lawsuits alleging various forms of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other claims.
Credentials
Education
- Baylor University School of Law, 1996 (J.D.)
- The University of Texas at Austin, 1993 (B.S.)
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
- Obtained a “take nothing judgment” on behalf of a road construction company in lawsuit involving allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.
- Successfully obtained injunctive relief on behalf of a financial services company against an employee who was in violation of noncompete agreement.
- Obtained summary judgment for an employer in a lawsuit alleging national origin discrimination, age discrimination, and retaliation.
- Obtained summary judgment for a large national retailer in a negligence and gross negligence lawsuit on basis that claims were barred by worker compensation statute.
- Obtained summary judgment for a trucking company in case alleging FMLA interference and FMLA retaliation claims.
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a plumbing company involving allegations of wrongful termination under Sabine Pilot.
- Obtained summary judgment for legal aid organization in case involving racial discrimination.
- Obtained summary judgment for employer in lawsuit involving claims of wrongful termination, slander, and retaliation.
- Obtained summary judgment for CPA firm in lawsuit where former employee alleged breach of contract and promissory estoppel.
- Obtained summary judgment on defamation claim brought by former employee against former employer.
- Represented various employers in various litigation to enforce noncompete agreements.
- Successfully represented and advocated for clients before various federal agencies, including EEOC, OSHA, NLRB, DOL, and many state agencies.
- Defended produce company in wage and hour collective action.
- Negotiated favorable settlements for a number of employers in lawsuits alleging breach of employment contracts, discrimination and harassment, wage and hour, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
- Best Lawyers in America, Employment Law – Management, Litigation – Labor and Employment
- Texas Diversity Council, Top 50 Women Lawyers in Houston, 2017
- Certified Litigation Management Professional: CLM Litigation Management Institute, October 2017
- Board Certified by Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Labor and Employment
- Texas Monthly, Texas Rising Stars, 2008-2009
- Harvard Law School Executive Education, Women’s Leadership, 2020
- Texas Bar Foundation, Fellow
- HR Houston, HR Ambassador Committee
Publications
- “Disability Discrimination and Reasonable Accommodations under the ADA: Training Presentation,” LexisNexis, September 2022
- “When A Reasonable Accommodation Is No Longer Reasonable in the COVID-19 Era?” Texas Lawyer, January 2021
Presentations
- “Hot Topics in Employment Law: Update on Texas Sexual Harassment Law,” Houston Contractors Association, September 2022
- “What Every Business Owner Should Know About Employment Law,” River Oaks Business Women Exchange Club, August 2022
- “Bringing employees back to the workplace with COVID restrictions lifting,” FromTheExperts, May 2021
- “Safeguarding Confidential Data,” Houston Contractors Association, January 2021
- “The ADA: The Law that Works When Employee Can’t,” HR in Your Neighborhood, February 2018
- “Troublesome Contractors: The Impact of Bridging Agreements on Work Place Safety Practices, Conduct Polices and Litigation Exposures,” ACC Houston Chapter, February 2018
- “Trump Effect – How President Trump’s Federal Appointments and Deregulation Will Transform the Workplace,” ACC Houston Chapter, February 2018
- “Would you like an ADA lawsuit with that question?” HR Houston’s LEGALkwik – Delivering Legal News at Lightning Speed!, October 2017
- “Social Media in the Workplace: Employers Beware,” Gulf Coast Symposium, May 2017
- “Survival Guide: What Every Lawyer Needs To Know About Layoffs,” Houston Bar Association, October 2016
- “Managing Leave: Navigating the Complexities of Overlapping Leave Obligations Under ADA, FMLA, Workers Compensation & Executive Order 13703,” Ninth Annual Texas Insurance and Tort Law Update, May 2016
- “Navigating the Complexities of Overlapping Leave Obligations Under the ADA, FMLA, Workers Compensation & the September 7, 2015 Executive Order,” HR in Your Neighborhood, April 2016
- “Navigating the Minefield: Best Practices When Terminating Employees,” ACC Houston Chapter, March 2016
- “The Trifecta – Understanding Overlapping Leave Obligations under ADA, FMLA, and Workers’ Compensation,” Gulf Coast Symposium, May 2015