Let’s say you’re the CEO of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, a multi-billion-dollar company that’s been owned and operated by your family for generations. Your kids all lead their own, individual subsidiaries that you funded after...more
Almost 2 months in, the writers’ strike in Hollywood shows no signs of ending soon. Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are seeking a guarantee that studios won’t use artificial intelligence (AI) to write or rewrite...more
On January 10, 2023, the Illinois Legislature passed the “Paid Leave for All Workers Act,” (PLAW Act) effectively guaranteeing that as of January 1, 2024, with a few exceptions, “an employee who works in Illinois” will be...more
As 2022 came to a close, President Biden signed the 2023 omnibus government funding bill. Included in the bill—with bipartisan support—are two provisions that expand protections for pregnant and nursing employees. Both of the...more
1/6/2023
/ Breastfeeding ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
New Regulations ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rest and Meal Break
Have you googled the term “quiet quitter” or “quiet quitting” recently? The sheer number of videos and other posts addressing it, analyzing it, complaining about it, lauding it, and advising on it on news sites and social...more
The City of Chicago amended its sexual harassment Ordinance on April 27, 2022. Chicago employers should take note of the following significant changes to the law that took effect on July 1, 2022. The amended Ordinance imposes...more
As if that title didn’t give it away, I’m kind of a sci-fi nerd. I don’t speak Klingon, and I’ve never watched a single episode of Dr. Who, but my current reading list includes a revisit of Foundation, I have a Starship...more
Outside of Hollywood, employers have used biometrics to limit access to sensitive information and secure areas for a number of years. As costs of implementing the technology decreased and the technology became more...more
4/6/2022
/ Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Fingerprints ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information
For months now, employers and their counsel have been awaiting the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling in McDonald v. Symphony Bronzeville Park, LLC regarding whether the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act preempts claims for...more
2/4/2022
/ Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Class Action ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Preemption ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Workers Compensation Act ,
Workplace Injury
Employers (Montana-based or otherwise) obviously cannot brand their employees and/or toss them off a dark cliff, even in the interest of protecting legitimate business interests such as trade secrets or customer...more
It’s September, which happens to be my favorite month. The leaves start changing, and we Midwesterners get to pull cardigans and boots out of storage in preparation for the inevitable chilly day that will hit within these...more
It’s no secret that Illinois courts have historically been less than friendly to restrictive covenants, and non-compete agreements in particular. On August 13, 2021, Governor JB Pritzker signed into law Public Act 102-0358,...more
8/26/2021
/ Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Freedom To Work Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Lifting Up Illinois Working Families Act into law on February 19, 2019. The Act gradually increases the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next six years. Illinois is now the...more
Breaks for Expressing Breastmilk Must Be Paid -
Effective August 21, 2018, Illinois amended its Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act (820 ILCS 260/10). The prior law, which went into effect in 2001, required employers who...more
10/8/2018
/ Breastfeeding ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
New Legislation ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reimbursements ,
Required Documentation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest to weigh in on the heated debate as to whether sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status and/or gender expression are protected classes under Title VII of the...more
3/20/2018
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
On March 10, 2017, in Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, a split panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that it was bound by prior precedent that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not...more
7/12/2017
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
On April 3, 2017, in Christiansen v. Omnicom Group, Inc., the Second Circuit held that it was bound by prior precedent in ruling that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not prohibit sexual orientation...more
5/9/2017
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
In a landmark decision overruling decades of precedent, the Seventh Circuit en banc declared that sexual orientation discrimination violates Title VII in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College. This comes as the first decision...more
As these authors have previously reported, several cases analyzing whether sexual orientation is protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 have been winding their way through the courts. ...more
4/5/2017
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
En Banc Review ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Gloucester County School Board v G.G. ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
School Restrooms ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title IX ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration
Since its enactment, courts have followed the premise that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not prohibit sexual orientation discrimination. A changing of the tides began in July 2015, when the Equal Employment...more
12/13/2016
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
En Banc Review ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Job Promotions ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour