Douglas B. Welmaker

I am Doug Welmaker. I represent workers in unpaid overtime cases under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. I have practiced for more than thirty years, the last fifteen of them on FLSA cases exclusively, with trial wins in five federal districts and twenty-two arbitrations in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I take a small number of cases at a time and handle each one myself.

The work is wage and hour litigation under the Fair Labor Standards Act. When an employer doesn't pay a worker what they're owed, that's not a misunderstanding. It's money taken from someone who worked for it. I fight to get it back.

I'm the founder and sole practitioner of Welmaker Law, PLLC, based in Texas. I handle cases across Texas in all four federal districts, and I'm admitted to practice in federal courts in New Mexico, Indiana, Arkansas, North Dakota, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The FLSA is a federal statute, and the law is the same in every state. I go where the cases are.

Education

The University of Texas at Austin, B.A. (1989). English major, Journalism minor.

South Texas College of Law Houston, J.D. (1993). Top 15% of class. Assistant Editor, South Texas Law Review. American Jurisprudence Award in Torts. Dean's List (four semesters). Finalist, William J. Williamson Writing Contest. Order of the Lytae.

Experience

I've practiced law for more than thirty years. I spent my first decade on the defense side, representing Fortune 500 companies in labor and employment disputes at firms including Wickliff & Hall and Brown McCarroll in Houston. That decade was an education in how employers think, how they litigate, and where their arguments break down. Almost every advantage I bring to a plaintiff's case traces back to time spent on the other side of the table.

Fifteen years ago, I switched. I've focused on plaintiff-side FLSA litigation exclusively ever since. Before founding Welmaker Law in 2022, I supervised the FLSA litigation section at Dunham & Jones, P.C., where I managed over sixty active cases, supervised five attorneys and three support staff, and built the firm's procedure for litigating FLSA lawsuits from intake to resolution.

Trial and Hearing Record

I've tried FLSA cases to verdict in federal courts and arbitration forums across the country. Most lawyers who advertise themselves as FLSA attorneys have never actually tried one to verdict. That's not a knock on them. FLSA cases settle, and that's usually the right outcome. But when a case doesn't settle, you want a lawyer who has been to trial.

Representative Results

I've recovered millions of dollars in unpaid wages for workers across the United States. A few representative results:

• Golden v. Quality Life Services, et al. (D.N.M.). $1.2+ million settlement on behalf of misclassified workers.

The FLSA is calibrated to make individual workers and small groups whole, not to bankrupt employers. The point of an FLSA case isn't the size of the headline. The point is that the worker gets paid every dollar owed, plus liquidated damages.

How I Work With Clients

I take every case personally. I handle each matter myself, from the first phone call through resolution. When you hire Welmaker Law, you hire me. There's no junior associate filtering your calls and no paralegal sending you form emails.

My approach starts with transparency. I'll tell you the strengths of your case and the weaknesses. I won't promise outcomes I can't deliver, and I won't sugarcoat the risks. The best attorney-client relationships are built on honest communication, not false optimism.

Before filing suit, I typically reach out to the employer with a settlement proposal that gives them a chance to resolve the matter without litigation. Many employers, once they understand their legal exposure, choose to settle rather than face a federal lawsuit. When they don't, I file suit and litigate the case through resolution.

Why I Do This

I grew up understanding what it feels like to be financially squeezed. Money problems aren't theoretical to me. When a hospice worker walks in and says her last four paychecks bounced and she can't make rent, I hear that the way someone who has been there hears it. That's part of why I take some cases that, on paper, don't make a lot of sense.

The other part is simpler. The FLSA exists because Congress recognized in 1938 that workers don't have the bargaining power to fight for fair pay one at a time. The whole point of the statute is to put a thumb on the scale for people who work for a living. Most of the employers I sue know what they're doing. A few don't, and those cases get resolved quickly. The ones who know and did it anyway are the ones who get the full treatment.

Federal Court Admissions

Speaking

For the past four years, I've been the annual presenter at the East Texas Human Resources Association. The topic, in my framing, is how to avoid lawyers like me. The audience is HR professionals who actually want to keep their employers out of FLSA litigation, and the talk is built around the specific exemption mistakes, recordkeeping failures, and pay practices that drive the cases I file.

Bar Memberships and Professional Associations

• State Bar of Texas
• Texas Employment Lawyers Association
• National Employment Lawyers Association — former member, Ethics and Sanctions Committee

Fees

I handle FLSA cases on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing upfront, and you owe no fees unless your case results in a recovery. My fee agreement is written in plain English, and I explain it in detail before any engagement begins. If there is no recovery, you pay nothing, not even the costs.

Get In Touch

Welmaker Law, PLLC
505 E. Magrill St.
Longview, Texas 75601
(512) 799-2048
doug@welmakerlaw.com

State Bar of Texas. Admitted to practice in federal courts across the United States.