Navigating Legal Protections: A Guide for Texas State Employees

For many, their job is more than just their day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. It’s the place where they find their purpose, earn a living and provide for their families. That’s why it is important for employers, regardless of who or where they are in the world, to not only provide jobs, but also favorable legal rights for their employees. The interests of a company and its employees should be aligned, or else there is likely to be an at odds relationships that will hurt productivity.

What is a legal protection plan?

You might be familiar with legal protection plans from other countries, particularly those in Europe. The plans are basically insurance policies offered by employers. They provide an extra layer of protection for employees, tackling any professional disputes or legal issues that arise. They include legal representation or help finding representation with trusted specialists.

What a legal protection plan covers

Specifically for government employees, the state of Texas offers a legal protection plan under the Texas Legal Services Authorized Plan (TLSAP) program. The plan is administered by Texas Legal, which describes it as “legal insurance provided through your employer.” The TLSAP is only available to certain state employees, including:

The plan covers a variety of legal matters employees may face in their personal lives, outside of work. It’s essential for employees to have the freedom to protect themselves and their interests, especially when it comes to seeking outside representation. The program offers:

All employees need to do to enroll in the program is attend a new hire orientation session, listen to an overview of the Texas Legal plan, and complete a TLSAP enrollment form. That’s it! Once an employee is enrolled, they should expect to receive periodic enrollment eligibility notifications via email.

Why do these plans matter?

You might think that having the government as a primary employer would mean more protection for state employees. After all, when corporations or private businesses fail to look after their people, they can be sued in civil court. But government entities are afforded sovereign immunity, meaning legal action cannot be taken against them under most circumstances. Rather, the plan helps employees defend against those they might otherwise have no recourse against.

For every employee, having a safety net where they can explore their options without reprisal from their employer is crucial. A government job is unlike any other and past injustices from employees can affect recruitment and retention. The TLSAP offers employees peace of mind knowing that they have support during what could be a difficult time.

Other states and countries stymie workers’ rights

While not all places offer TLSAP, there are still plenty of countries, states and businesses that recognize the importance of protecting their employees’ legal rights. On the flip side are companies and regions that have lower standards for what a workplace should look like in order to keep its employees. For example, in many European countries, employees have the legal right to not be expected to work more than 48 hours a week or asked to work while sick. How a company treats its workers has a direct impact on the morale in the workplace and should not be overlooked.

Nearly all private companies offer some sort of employee assistance program. That is, a service that helps employees cope with life’s challenges that might affect their productivity or work quality. Sometimes these are free or low-cost, but often times still place a burden on the employee. The cost of participation can add a financial stress on them. Conversely, the Texas Legal Services Authorized Plan program pays for itself in savings for the employee by taking care of any legal fees that might arise.

The costs of the plan

The Texas Legal program is funded by the State Comptroller’s Office and managed by Texas Legal via an annual premium. The cost of the program is deducted from each participating employee’s monthly payroll check. Each plan costs $24 annually, or just $2 a month, often less than a cup of coffee.

Over the last several years, the global economic landscape has changed, and so too have employee legal rights. Recent shifts in the equities markets have led to various changes in employee compensation packages to maintain employee loyalty, such as special bonuses. Other changes have been to broaden benefits for employees (think of the recent family leave expansions). Employees have also rallied for a fairer living wage, worker’s rights and better working conditions. It seems employees have only gotten more vocal over time, demanding more support from their employers on both personal and professional matters. In response, employers have been forced to adapt to meet employee expectations, especially in the United States.