Audrey E. Mross

Audrey E. Mross is a partner and co-chairs the employment and labor law group. Audrey is highly regarded as a legal adviser to companies and HR departments locally and nationally. She worked for 11 years as a human resource professional prior to her legal practice.  Audrey represents clients in matters involving discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and she guides human resource professionals in proactive measures to avoid litigation.

Among the many services Audrey provides to clients, she assists with drafting employment agreements, handbooks, and other employment-related documents to comply with federal, state, and local law, for single and multi-state employers.

Audrey is an avid presenter. She receives frequent requests to give speeches, present, and serve on employment law discussion panels at employment law and HR professional conferences and seminars. Audrey has given more than 700 speeches, radio broadcasts, and webcasts since 1995. She is sourced and published in USA Today, CNN/Money, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Law Journal, Texas Lawyer, Dallas Business Journal, HR Magazine, SHRM Legal Report, HR Matters magazine and Dallas Bar Association’s Headnotes.

Representative Matters

• Company-wide audits and edit of job descriptions, with analysis of FLSA exempt vs. nonexempt and employee vs. contractor status.
• Preparation of affirmative action plans under E.O. 11246, Rehabilitation Act and Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment and Assistance Act, as well as state and local law.
• Developed and presents managers’ training programs approved by EEOC and U.S. Department of Justice as part of consent decree and serves as part of employers’ affirmative defense against harassment claims.

Education

Associations & Memberships

American Bar Association
Labor and Employment section

State Bar of Texas
Labor and Employment section

Dallas Bar Association
Labor and Employment section
Transition to Law Practice Program Mentor

Dallas Human Resource Management Association
Life Member and Former President, 2002

SHRM Texas State Council
Director of Legislative Action, 1999-2003
Co-Director of Legislative Action, 2004-2005

Society for Human Resource Management, 1995 – present
Member

Kansas State University Foundation, 2018 – present
Board of Trustees, Member

Kansas State University Alumni Association, 2010 – 2011
Board of Directors, Chair

Kansas State University Alumni Association, 2005 – 2012
Board of Directors, Member

Kansas State Texans Alumni Club
President, 1991 – present

Kansas State University College of Business Administration Dean’s Advisory Council, 2011 – present
Inaugural Member

Kansas State University College of Business Administration, 2019
Fellow

Kansas State University College of Business Administration, 2013 – present
Executive Mentor

Kansas State University Pre-Law Advisory Board, 2015 – present
Inaugural Member

Kansas State University Athletics, 2017 – present
Member of National Leadership Circle

Kansas State University Cat Counselors, 2003 – present
Founding Member

American Heart Association, 2009 – 2014
Benefits and Compensation Committee

Dallas Chi Omega Alumnae, 1994 – present
Member

Texas Association of Business (Dallas Chapter)
Executive Committee, 2010 – 2015
President, 2014

Texas Association of Business (Dallas Chapter)
Chair of Employment Relations Committee, 2010 – 2015

Texas Association of Business (State)
Board of Directors, 2008 – 2010, 2012 – 2014

Texas Bar Foundation
Fellow

Dallas Bar Foundation
Fellow

SMU Dedman School of Law
E-Mentor

Honors & Awards

2019 Kansas State University Fellow for the College of Business Administration

Best Lawyers in America, Woodward White, Inc.
2021 – 2022

Texas Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters
2010 – 2021

The Best Lawyers in Dallas, D Magazine
2014, 2015, 2019-2022

Women In Law Award, Labour and Employment, Lawyer Monthly
2016

KSU Alumni Association, Volunteer of the Year 1999

College of the State Bar of Texas, member since 2006

Phi Delta Phi

Bar Admissions

Texas, 1994

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas

• Employer COVID Vaccination Mandates: Yes or No?, Texas Lawyer, December 21, 2020
• Analysis: Employers Face a Major Shift in Employment Law After Bostock, Texas Lawbook, August 14, 2020
• Pay it Forward.  That, My Friend, is Pure Gold (article on Kansas State alumni involvement and giving back to the community), Philanthropy Misunderstood:  One Hundred-Plus Stories From People Who Helped Change the World by Bob Hopkins, November 2019.
• Strike a Balance. Or Don’t. The Path to Lawyering Isn’t Always Straight, Texas Lawyer, June 2019
• Introspection Can Bring Tangible Workplace Changes, Daily Texan Forum, January 2018
• Two-part article – Employee or Contractor: Self Examination is Good for the Soul/ Employee or Contractor: Changing Legal Climate May Complicate the Oil Patch, RigZone, December 12-13, 2016
• Texas Employment Law Handbook, Chapter 2-Employment Agreements, Editions: 2014-2015, 2016-2018, and 2019-2021
• Handcuffed: Laws Limit Employers Use of Background Reports, Dallas Bar Association’s Headnotes, January 2014
• Rewriting Employee Handbook Policies on Social Media, Today’s General Counsel, April/May 2013
• Social Networking: An Employer’s Guide to the Risks and Rewards, HR Matters, Summer 2010
• Effects of U.S. Supreme Court’s Don-Doff Ruling, Texas Lawyer, April 2006
• Destroying Employee Documents? Not So Fast., Dallas Bar Association’s Headnote, October 2005
• Updating Your Family Leave Policy, SHRM Legal Report, July/August 2002