Offers four strategies manufacturers should consider when crafting and implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives
Outlines legal implications (e.g., nondiscrimination laws and liability issues) employers should consider before administering COVID-19 vaccinations
Illinois Court constricts ways to bring Human Rights Act claims for workplace discrimination against defunct employers’ corporate successors
Analysis of new guidelines Illinois employers face for increasing minimum wages and gas taxes, as well as workplace harassment rules
A wide variety of employment-related statutory changes went into effect in Illinois this year. These include important amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA), such as P.A. 101-0430, which, effective July 1, 2020, expanded the definition of an employer to cover any person employing at least one (not fifteen) employee(s). Additionally, P.A. 101-0221—which enacted the Workplace Transparency Act, the Sexual Harassment Victim Representation Act, and the Hotel and Casino Employee Safety Act and which amended the IHRA, the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act ...
On August 28, 2017, several new, employer-friendly provisions of the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA) took effect. Since then, the Missouri Supreme Court has issued a string of employment law opinions favorable to employers. Most recently, the Supreme Court struck a victory for employers defending retaliation claims asserted under the MHRA based upon requests for accommodation of disability. In the case Li Lin v. Ellis, SC 97641, 2020 WL 203145 (January 14, 2020)*, the Court held as an issue of first impression that an employee’s mere request for accommodation of a disability was ...
In 2019, 72,675 Charges were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Frequently, EEOC Charges are filed regardless of whether the claim has any merit. Since the EEOC has the authority to investigate regardless of whether there is reasonable cause to believe discrimination occurred, any EEOC Charge is going to cost an employer time, effort, and money to deal with it.
During the EEOC’s investigation, the employer and the Charging Party will be asked to provide information related to the Charge. The EEOC may ask an employer to: 1) submit a statement of position ...
The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) means business. And in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, No. 16-285 (May 21, 2018), the FAA means continued support for businesses. Interpreting the FAA, the Supreme Court held that employers and employees could agree to resolve disputes between them through one-on-one private arbitration and that arbitration agreements that disclaimed class actions or collective actions were enforceable.
Congress adopted the FAA in 1925, in “response to a perception that courts were unduly hostile to ...
While movies and television shows never include a scene about jury instructions, in which the attorneys make impassioned (but boring) arguments about comma placement and the definitions of commonly used words, trial attorneys recognize that jury instructions can make or break a case. In a recent employment discrimination trial in Springfield, Illinois, faulty jury instructions may have cost the plaintiff a verdict in her favor, damages in the amount of $100,000, and attorney’s fees for a case that has been litigated since 2011.
The case of Schnitker v. Springfield Urban League ...
The Seventh Circuit recently became the first circuit to hold that “discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). Hively v. Ivy Tech Cmty. Coll. of Ind., 853 F.3d 339, 341 (7th Cir. 2017). “For many years, the courts of appeals of this country understood the prohibition against sex discrimination to exclude discrimination on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation.” Id. at 340. On April 4, 2017, the Seventh Circuit issued its groundbreaking decision,[1] departing from ...
Does your company monitor its network or devices for network security or data confidentiality? Does your company have any policies or practices that seek access to any employees’ personal online accounts? If so, a recent amendment to Illinois’ Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act (“Act”) may require your company to adopt or revise its policies or practices to comply with the law.
Expands the scope of protected content. The amendment has shifted the focus from social networking accounts or profiles to personal online accounts (POAs). A POA is “an online account, that is ...
The Missouri Court of Appeals recently rendered unenforceable employment contracts seeking to bind “at-will” employees unless there is consideration from the employer beyond an offer of employment. In Kathryn Jimenez v. Cintas Corporation, et al., No. ED101015 & ED1011241 (Mo. App. E.D. Jan. 13 2015), the Eastern District held that an offer for at-will employment, regardless of whether the offer from the employer was for new employment or continued employment, does not constitute sufficient consideration to form a binding employment contract.
Kathryn Jimenez began ...
St. Louis area employers with employees in Illinois should be aware that, on January 1, 2015, Illinois joined the ranks of a dozen or so other states around the country that “ban the box.”
The Box
The “box” is that section of many standard employment application forms that asks applicants whether they previously have been convicted of a crime. In Illinois, employers are now prohibited from considering or inquiring about an applicant’s criminal record until the applicant has been determined qualified for the position and notified of an impending interview, or, if the ...
In Sandifer et al. v. U.S. Steel Corp., No. 12-417 (Jan. 27, 2014), a unanimous Supreme Court recently affirmed a grant of summary judgment in favor of U.S. Steel Corp. (“Defendant”). The Court held that time spent by Plaintiffs, former and current employees of Defendant’s steelmaking facilities, donning and doffing protective gear at the beginning and end of each workday was not compensable under a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) between Defendant and Plaintiffs’ union. This holding was based on the Court’s finding that Plaintiffs’ donning and doffing ...
