Labor & Employment Law Update

Illinois has long limited employers from considering the criminal history of an applicant or employee in making employment decisions. The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits employers from considering an employee’s arrest history, for example. In recent years, Illinois’ “Ban the Box” law disallows employers from asking about criminal convictions prior to a job offer or before a candidate is selected for an interview and, therefore, assumed to be otherwise qualified for the position in question. Now, Illinois is poised to go a step further in banning the use of criminal ...

In response to an executive order signed by President Biden, OSHA recently issued updated COVID-19 guidance recommending that all employers adopt a formal COVID-19 prevention plan, incorporating the following activities and elements:

• Conducting a hazard assessment relating to COVID-19 exposure;
• Identifying control measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 (such as distancing, masks, barriers, work-from-home, staggered shifts, etc.);
• Adopting policies that encourage sick workers to stay home and not come into work;
• Communicating and training employees on the ...

The mis-named Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) was reintroduced in the U.S. Congress on February 4, 2021. The PRO Act, which originally was introduced in 2019 and passed the House of Representatives in 2020, would completely change the landscape in the labor-relations world. You may recall that our recent blog post advised that reintroduction of the PRO Act likely was a priority of the Biden Administration and the revamped U.S. Congress.

Billed by Democrats as legislation to support workers’ rights, the PRO Act is less worker-friendly than Union-friendly. If ...

Last November I mentioned that the Trump Administration enacted over 400 immigration policy changes during its tenure. The changes added burdens to visa petitions, delayed processing, and made life more challenging for everyone in the immigration community.

Executive Order Highlights

President Biden signed a slew of prepared executive orders when he took office. Some of the orders that affect the immigrant community include:

• the preservation and plans to “fortify” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program;
• cessation of border wall construction; and
• a ...

2020 was certainly a unique year for employers and employees. This includes complications with wage reporting. 

Most employers have issued wage reports to their employees by the January 31^st deadline and prior to the publication of this alert. These employers must now determine whether they are required to issue corrected Form W-2s.

Thanks to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) (which required employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide paid sick and family leave for certain COVID-related reasons) certain employees received paid sick leave when unable to ...

Back in October 2020, we reported on the McDonald v. Symphony Bronzeville Park LLC decision,where the Illinois Court of Appeals for the First District ruled that the state Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA) and its exclusivity provisions do not bar claims for statutory damages under BIPA. The decision found that while the WCA provides remedies to workers that have sustained an actual injury, BIPA provides statutory, liquidated damages to employees who allege privacy right violations even when there is no injury and as a result, employees could continue to pursue BIPA ...

After the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced that it had extended its ACT Mediation pilot program, the EEOC reversed course yesterday and abruptly concluded pilot programs relating to the EEOC’s conciliation and mediation efforts.  The ACT Mediation pilot, which launched on July 6, 2020, expanded the categories of charges eligible for mediation, generally allowed for mediation to take place throughout an investigative process (rather than only before the investigation begins as is traditionally the case outside the pilot), and expanded ...

On the last day of 2020, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter impacting employers using telework arrangements in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.  While a vaccine is now rolling out and we will hopefully get the pandemic under control in 2021, this opinion letter provides guidance to employers that have had to institute remote and hybrid work policies and/or arrangements with their workforce. 

Specifically, the opinion letter addressed two general scenarios: 

1. Employee has a parent-teacher conference in the middle of the day and works from the office, attends the ...

They say that the only constant in life is change.  Here is a quick overview of the shift that we expect to see in the realm of labor and employment after President-elect Joe Biden takes office.  

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

The NLRB is expected to have a Democratic majority as early as August 2021.  The five-member Board currently has three Republican members, one Democrat, and one vacancy.  The expectation is that the Biden administration will move quickly to fill the vacancy.  In addition, the term of William Emmanuel, a Trump appointee, will expire in August 2021 – opening the ...

A Wisconsin state court recently issued a helpful reminder to employers operating in Wisconsin – and employers with employees working outside of their home state:  always check local and state conviction records laws before using them in making any employment-related decision.

In Cree, Inc. v. LIRC, the employer rescinded a job offer to Derrick Palmer after discovering that he had multiple convictions for “domestic incidents,” including “2012 convictions for strangulation/suffocation, fourth-degree sexual assault, battery, and criminal damage to property ...