Our Blog: Uncategorized

Despite what many employees think, you may not record workplace conversations.

Illinois is one of only eleven states that require two-party consent to the recording of a private conversation.  In the rest of the 39 states, only one party’s consent is needed.  And, despite what many think, workplace conversations are often “private conversations” for purposes of the law.

I wrote about the …

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Biden to Sign Law Ending Mandatory Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Cases

Congress recently passed the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021” (H.R. 4445).  This bill received increasingly rare bipartisan support and we expect President Biden to sign it into law any day.

Let’s take a quick look at what this law does and what it means …

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Kristin Case and Kate Sedey have once again been recognized by their peers and the Illinois Super Lawyers Association.  Ms. Case and Ms. Sedey were rated  “Super Lawyers” for their work in the field of employment and labor and for their work in litigating employment-related matters.  Kristin has now been recognized by Illinois Super Lawyers every year since 2010 and …

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Federal Court Decides Covid-19 is Not a “Transitory and Minor” Disability Exempted from ADA protections
What happens if fired for testing positive for COVID

First, trust that you are not alone in worrying about this.  Employment lawyers have been wondering the same thing.  Since the expiration of the FFCRA last December, there has been nothing explicitly prohibiting termination of a Covid positive …

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In 2016, the Illinois legislature passed the Illinois Freedom to Work Act which banned non-competes, one type of restrictive covenants, for employees earning minimum wage or less.  If you recall, this Act was a direct response to the Jimmy John’s non-compete debacle.  In that instance, the Illinois Attorney General sued Jimmy Johns and the sandwich-maker relented.

While that Act was a good …

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Kristin Case and Kate Sedey have once again been recognized by their peers and the Illinois Super Lawyers Association.  Ms. Case and Ms. Sedey were rated  “Super Lawyers” for their work in the field of employment and labor and for their work in litigating employment-related matters.  Kristin has now been recognized by Illinois Super Lawyers every year since 2010 and …

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Today is a big day for workers in Illinois and Chicago! The Illinois minimum wage has increased for the second time since January and Chicago’s Fair Workweek Ordinance is also in effect beginning today. We hope that these changes will help provide financial stability to hard working employees throughout our city and state!

As a part of a multi year-plan to …

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An unprecedented number of employees have found themselves needing unemployment benefits during this time of crisis.  Many employees we have talked with have been temporarily laid off or “furloughed” but expect to return to work.  Others, still, have lost their jobs entirely.  The Illinois Department of Employment Security has published a list of Frequently Asked Questions that is helpful in …

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In follow up to our Coronavirus Q&A for Employees from earlier this week, we wanted to tackle some FAQs from healthcare workers that are specific to the medical industry.

Doctors, nurses, techs and other healthcare workers are on the front line of the COVID-19 crisis and the medical industry is the quintessential “essential business” right now.  As a result, there are …

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In these tough times, most of what we are seeing in our newspapers and news feeds is negative and dark.  I won’t repeat the staggering numbers and scary predictions here because we’ve all seen them.  Instead, I wanted to take this opportunity to share some uplifting news and to report on the remarkable steps some members of the business community …

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