City Council approved the Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance by unanimous vote on July 24, 2019. This past May marked the third time such an ordinance was proposed in City Council, and the language ultimately approved by City...more
7/25/2019
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Covered Employees ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Workweek ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Local Ordinance ,
Manufacturers ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Retailers ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
As the final segment in our series of alerts detailing key provisions of SB75, the anti-harassment legislation that is expected to be signed by Governor Pritzker, we review the new Sexual Harassment Victim Representation Act...more
This alert is the fifth installment in our series on SB75, the anti-harassment legislation awaiting approval by Governor Pritzker, applies specifically to public employers and amends the Illinois State Officials and Employees...more
6/21/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Ballot Measures ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Internal Controls ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Public Employers ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
This alert is the fourth installment in our series on Illinois’ new anti-harassment legislation, SB75, which is awaiting signature by Governor Pritzker. This alert focuses on new disclosure requirements under the law....more
6/21/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Ballot Measures ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hostile Environment ,
Human Rights Act ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
This alert is the third installment in our series on Illinois’ new anti-harassment legislation, SB75, which is awaiting signature by Governor Pritzker. This alert focuses on new training requirements for private-sector...more
6/21/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Ballot Measures ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Resorts & Restaurants ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
Over the last few days, we’ve been sending you updates on the key provisions of SB75, the anti-harassment legislation awaiting approval by Governor Pritzker. Previously, we wrote about the Workplace Transparency Act. In this...more
6/14/2019
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Casino Employee ,
Casinos ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pending Legislation ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
Workplace Safety
This is our first in a series of alerts detailing key provisions of SB75, the anti-harassment legislation awaiting approval by Governor Pritzker. In this alert, we focus on Article I of SB75, which creates a new law entitled...more
6/12/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Arbitration ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Hostile Environment ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Transparency Directive
On June 11, 2019, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a new law that prohibits wage discrimination based upon sex and protects workers who decline to share their salary history with a prospective employer. The new law takes...more
6/12/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Among the bills awaiting signature by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is an amendment to the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 that would ban employers from asking job applicants for information about their wage, salary or...more
6/10/2019
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Pending Legislation ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Earlier this week, on June 2, 2019, the Illinois General Assembly passed SB75, which creates three new laws and amends a number of others to increase protection for employees who are victims of sexual harassment, sexual...more
6/7/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
General Assembly ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Labor Regulations ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government
Amid the flurry of activity late in the legislative term in Springfield, the General Assembly passed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, making possession and consumption of cannabis legal in Illinois. Governor Pritzker is...more
The City of Chicago has flirted with enacting a “Fair Workweek” ordinance, aimed at ensuring predictable work schedules for workers, for several years. While the ordinance failed to gain traction in its prior iterations, this...more
Last night, an updated version of the Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance was introduced in the Chicago City Council. Prior versions of this ordinance were proposed in 2017 and 2018, but failed to gain traction. ...more
Scabby, the gnarly, diseased, inflatable rat, has long been recognized as a symbol of a labor protest. During the Obama-era, the National Labor Relations Board likened the use of Scabby to peaceful, protected activities such...more
On March 4, 2019, a federal court reinstated an Obama-administration rule requiring that private employers with 100 or more employees submit information on their workers’ wages and hours, broken down by race, sex, and...more
3/8/2019
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
OMB ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Wage and Hour
Earlier yesterday (March 7, 2019), the U.S. Department of Labor announced new proposed regulations that would increase the minimum salary for employees to qualify for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional exemptions...more
Employers across the country are on watch after a recent flurry of news about hairstyle discrimination. Earlier this year, a black news anchor in Jackson, Mississippi, alleged she was fired after wearing “unprofessional”...more
On February 15, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2019-2, providing additional guidance for Wage and Hour Division staff regarding how to apply tip credit rules for employees who perform...more
2/20/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Job Descriptions ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Guidance ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
On February 19, 2019, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1, which increases the minimum wage in Illinois to $15 per hour by 2025. Under the new law, the minimum wage will increase from $8.25 to $9.25 on...more
Yesterday, February 14, 2019, the Illinois House approved Senate Bill 1, which increases the minimum wage in Illinois to $15 per hour by 2025. The bill was approved by the Senate last week. ...more
Oh the weather outside is frightful …
No, seriously, it’s actually dangerous here in Chicago. Since much of the city seems to be on lock-down today as we all try not to freeze to death, this seems like a good time to...more
Back in 2008, Illinois enacted what at the time must have seemed like a relatively obscure law to address privacy concerns associated with biometric information – the Biometric Information Privacy Act or “BIPA”. At the time,...more
1/28/2019
/ Amusement Parks ,
Article III ,
Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Fingerprints ,
IL Supreme Court ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Standing
In a decision issued late last week, the Illinois Supreme Court allowed a private citizen to sue a company for failing to provide written notice and obtain a signed release before collecting his fingerprint data in violation...more
1/28/2019
/ Amusement Parks ,
Article III ,
Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Fingerprints ,
IL Supreme Court ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Standing
Media reports abound on the impact of the shutdown—now the longest in U.S. history—on federal workers, recipients of certain services such as food stamps and tax refunds, and the political leaders facing blame for the...more
The idea seems so simple: Instead of carefully tracking how much time each employee takes off during the year, we all agree to treat one another as professional, responsible adults, and take off whatever time we need...more