When sexual harassment lawsuits started becoming a major liability issue for employers, many employers sensibly responded by requiring their supervisory employees to go through mandatory anti-harassment training. There is at...more
In a move that should surprise precisely no one who has been paying attention to current U.S. politics, GOP lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate introduced legislation to block the U.S. DOL’s anticipated overtime exemption...more
Back in December, we wrote about a case involving the Chicago Police Department, in which officers alleged that they were owed additional overtime for time spent responding to calls and messages on their Blackberry devices,...more
Over the last few months we've been asked on an almost daily basis when the DOL will be publishing its hotly anticipated white collar exemption rules. The short answer is still, we don't know. A few months ago, the word was...more
In our previous post about the DOL's new Administrator's Interpretation ("AI") on joint employment under the FLSA, we focused on "vertical" joint employment. That's the variety of joint employment that exists when there is...more
On January 20, 2016, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor issued a new Administrator's Interpretation ("AI") on the issue of joint employment under the FLSA. What is joint employment? The FLSA generally...more
Last October, we reported on a petition by an auto dealership asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals holding that the dealership's service advisors did not qualify for the...more
Over the years I've had the opportunity to represent and advise a number of small businesses on wage and hour issues. Small businesses are understandably reticent to spend money on legal fees, so my first contact with many of...more
Earlier this year, we reported on a spike in the number of ADA public accommodation lawsuits being filed against businesses in Illinois. (FR Alert: Wave of ADA Public Accommodation Lawsuits Continues to Spread, Hits...more
Last week, in DIRECTV v. Imburgia, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision once again re-affirming the strong federal policy in favor of arbitration.
At issue in this case was a service agreement entered into...more
If a tree falls in the forest but there is no one around to hear, does it make a sound? If a non-exempt worker answers an e-mail message after hours on her Blackberry but fails to put in for overtime, has she performed...more
Waiting is the hardest part.
Ever since the Department of Labor issued its proposal to substantially increase the minimum salary level needed to classify an employee as an exempt executive, administrative or...more
Q. We keep track of work hours for non-exempt employees using an electronic timekeeping system. For our exempt employees, we really have no records of how many hours they are working each day or week. Are we required to? Even...more
Q. We offer free lunches to our food service employees. Can we count the cost of these lunches as part of our employees' compensation?
A. The short answer is yes, but as we all know, there's no such thing as a free...more
Agencies and other third-party employers of live-in household employees and home companionship providers, take note: the long-delayed regulations reclassifying many of these workers as non-exempt employees entitled to minimum...more
9/24/2015
/ Appeals ,
Companionship Exemptions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Domestic Workers ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Healthcare ,
Home Health Care ,
Home Healthcare Workers ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you are probably familiar with the six-factor test that the U.S. Department of Labor uses to determine whether an intern should be considered an employee for purposes of the Fair...more
9/21/2015
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Training ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Internships ,
Medicare ,
Minimum Wage ,
Nurses ,
SCOTUS ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unpaid Interns ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
A recent article posted by the ABA Journal highlighted the increased prominence of defamation claims in lawsuits brought by employees against their current or former employers. (“Fired workers increasingly add defamation...more
On June 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an applicant rejected for a retail store position by Abercrombie & Fitch because she wore a headscarf could maintain a Title VII claim against the retailer, even though she...more
6/2/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Clothing ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Retailers ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII
Along with decorations, holiday feasts, and other merriment, employers in Illinois get to celebrate the close of another year by updating their policies and practices to comply with several recently enacted laws that will...more
House Bill 8, now Public Act 098-1050, was recently signed by Governor Pat Quinn. As we reported in June of this year, the resulting amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act expand upon the anti-discrimination protections...more
If you are like many HR professionals, when you are tasked with preparing documents like offer letters, noncompete agreements, or separation agreements, you start by pulling out a document that you have used in the past and...more
As the legislative session drew to a close at the end of May, the Illinois General Assembly approved several new laws that will affect Illinois employers beginning January 1, 2015. The laws are now awaiting approval by...more
6/6/2014
/ Background Checks ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Discrimination ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Wage and Hour
If there is a secret to avoiding or, if necessary, winning lawsuits involving employee requests for religious accommodations, it is this: be reasonable. Two recent federal appeals court rulings highlight this seemingly...more
In July 2013, we reported on the First District Appellate Court’s ruling in Fifield et al. v. Premier Dealer Services, Inc., in which the court upended Illinois law regarding what consideration is needed to create an...more