Edelberto Gustavo Cuadra

Edel Cuadra practices in the area of labor and employment law. He represents and counsels clients with respect to federal and state labor and employment laws, including local and municipal ordinances and regulations affecting Texas employers.

Mr. Cuadra also represents clients in federal and state litigation and arbitrations. He appears on behalf of clients in courts from the Texas Panhandle to the Gulf of Mexico. His experience includes collective actions, class actions, and other complex multi-party litigation involving wage and hour, overtime, discrimination, non-compete agreements, trade secrets, non-subscriber/workplace-injury and employment taxes. Mr. Cuadra has defended clients and prosecuted claims in more than 10 bench and jury trials in state and federal courts.

Additionally, Mr. Cuadra regularly works with federal and state agencies tasked with enforcing labor and employment laws. He represents clients in administrative hearing and proceedings before federal and state agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, United States Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Homeland Security, Texas Workforce Commission, Fort Worth Human Relations Commission, City of Austin Equal Employment and Fair Housing Office, and Dallas Office of Housing Compliance Fair Housing. Under the TWC, Mr. Cuadra has pursued clients’ interests with state representatives from the Civil Rights Division, Commission on Human Rights, Labor Law Section, Tax and Labor Section, Unemployment Insurance Benefits Division, and Texas Department of Insurance.

Mr. Cuadra’s experience with federal labor and employment laws includes:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act; Fair Labor Standards Act; Family & Medical Leave Act; Americans with Disabilities Act; Equal Pay Act; Pregnancy Discrimination Act; National Labor Relations Act; Internal Revenue Code; Employee Retirement Income Security Act; Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act; Fair Credit Reporting Act; 42 U.S.C. §1981; Occupational Safety & Health Administration; Electronic Communications Privacy Act; Age Discrimination in Employment Act; Stored Communications Act; Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Act; Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

Mr. Cuadra also works with clients on Texas labor and employment laws, including the Texas Labor Code, Payday Act, Equal Pay Act, Uniform Trade Secret Act, Workers Compensation Act, Occupation Code, Health and Safety Act, Electronic Transactions Act, Unemployment Compensation Act, Theft Liability Act, Civil and Criminal Wiretapping Acts, Business and Commerce Code, Public Information Act, Administrative Code, Minimum Wage Act and Government Code.

In addition to his litigation practice, Mr. Cuadra works with human resources professionals, in-house counsel and clients on best practices and compliance for employment terminations, leaves and absences, executive compensation and agreements, unfair competition, labor, classification for tax purposes, internal investigations, garnishments, policies and procedures, human resources guidelines, handbooks, pay and benefits, investigations, employee disputes, employee claims, litigation prevention, workplace injuries, employment actions (e.g., hiring, firing) and more. He has drafted, updated and amended employer health and welfare plans in compliance with federal benefits and tax laws. His work with pension plans and executive agreements includes profit sharing plans, employee stock option plans, 401(k) plans, equity compensation plans, and qualified and non-qualified plans.

Clients also ask Mr. Cuadra to train their management, supervisory and human resources personnel on labor and employment issues that affect their workplace. He has also spoken at labor and employment law conferences on unfair competition, breach of contracts, wage-and-hour issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act, collective actions, employee privacy versus employer rights, the prevention of discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on discrimination, among others. Mr. Cuadra has also been asked to write on labor and employment law issues in nationally-circulated newsletters and publications, and nationally-recognized legal resources. Media outlets have also asked Mr. Cuadra to opine on up-to-the-minute labor and employment law issues.

Mr. Cuadra works with clients in healthcare, insurance, retail, automobile, energy, real estate, tax-exempt charitable organizations, restaurant and hospitality, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, technology, gaming and casinos, education, financial and banking industries. In so doing, he has become experienced with the Texas Transportation Code, the Federal Motor Carrier Regulations, the Texas Medical Liability and Insurance Improvement Act, the Texas Health and Safety Act, the Texas Insurance Code, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, the Texas Business Organizations Code, the Texas Education Code, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.