Successes in the Year 2007
2007 was yet another hallmark year with more cases coming to resolution than ever in the past and continued growth as new lawyers joined the firm. Below are a few examples of the many cases settled in 2007. Please note that cases can take anywhere from a few months to several years to reach their conclusions.
United States District Court (N.D.Ill.)
06 C 6057
(Off the Clock Overtime)
In this “off the clock” overtime case, our clients included eight mortgage brokers who were forced to work very lengthy hours, often past midnight, but were only permitted to record eight hours on their time sheets. The case is referred to as an “off the clock” case because the extra hours were not recorded at all. As a result, they were not paid the overtime due to them. We settled the case to their satisfaction less than six months after filing.
United States District Court (N.D.Ill.)
06 C 5406
(Disability Discrimination)
This case came to be known in our offices as “The Case of the Narcoleptic Electrician.” Our client, an electrician for a large vehicle manufacturing plant, suffered from bouts of narcolepsy: a disability wherein a person spontaneously falls asleep. This created concern by his employer about the safety of him working around electrical wiring. As an accommodation, our client requested that he be transferred to a section where he would be working on non-live electrical projects (no electricity in use) so that he could be safe and still using his engineering skills. Instead, the company put him in a paint shop. We prevailed upon the company to give him electrician work as he had originally requested and in addition settled the monetary portion of the case to his satisfaction.
United States District Court (N.D.Ill.)
06 C 5955
(Overtime)
This case involved two low income Spanish speaking clients, who were forced to work overtime at a local restaurant, but were paid a salary. Because of the language barrier, the clients had a difficult time finding counsel to assist them. We settled the case to their satisfaction, less than six months after filing.
United States District Court (N.D.Ill.)
06 C 4652
(Non-Compete Agreement)
In this case, our client was being sued by a former employer to enjoin him from taking what it believed to be a competing job. (To have the court order him not to take the job.) In spite of the fact that the company was based in California and our client in Florida, we were able to defend the case. The case was settled to his satisfaction.
United States District Court (N.D.Ill.)
06 C 0445
(Family and Medical Leave Act Retaliation, Public Policy Wrongful Discharge, Worker’s Compensation Retaliatory Discharge, Assault/Battery)
Our client had been the plant manager of a manufacturing facility. His boss enjoyed a great deal of rough housing including wrestling, hitting, and cutting the hair off employees’ arms with a knife including our client. Our client injured his arm on the job (unrelated to the horseplay) and had to file a worker’s compensation claim as well taking medical leave. Upon his return, he was still taking intermittent FMLA leave for therapy sessions. His boss complained that he had “a bad flipper,” could not be his “lunch buddy” anymore (because he had therapy in the afternoons), and commented “Oh I can’t hit you in that arm anymore” before proceeding to hit him in the other arm. In spite of numerous complaints by the Plaintiff to stop hitting him because it jarred his entire frame and caused a great deal of pain, the boss kept at it, until on one such occasion our client through a pen down on the table and yelled at his boss to stop hitting him. The pen bounced off the table and hit the bosses pants and our client was sent home. He then attempted to file a criminal charge of assault and battery. Later that day the boss received a phone call regarding the worker’s compensation claim and immediately had our client’s cell phone disconnected and the locks changed on his door. He was officially terminated a few days later. We settled the case to his satisfaction.
United States District Court (C.D.Ill.)
05 C 2152
(Sex Discrimination and Retaliation)
Sex discrimination and retaliation by the U.S. Army led to the filing of this case in 2005. The Plaintiff losing her military status. The emotional distress led the Plaintiff to suffer rapid changes in weight and other issues of a physiological nature. This case also involved some complex analysis of army regulations to resolve making it interesting as well as challenging. Our client had begun pursuing this case through several different legal forums even before she came to us in 2005. We settled it to her satisfaction.
United States Merit Systems Protection Board
0752-07-0570
(Federal Employee “for cause” termination)
Our client had worked for the Federal Government when she took ill. After exhausting her FMLA leave, she continued to request additional extended leave which was routinely granted. Then one month six days into the leave, her leave was denied and she was ordered back to work but the Government did not answer her phone calls seeking information about how to do so or where she should report. When she finally spoke with someone, she was told that she needed a return to work note from her doctor before she could return. The Government charged her as being absent without leave (AWOL) for 23 days and on that basis terminated her. We appealed her case to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and among other things, she was offered her job back.
United States District Court (N.D.Ill.)
07 C 0048
(Overtime Violations)
Our clients consisted of a group of nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants who were forced to work overtime but were paid for only 40 hours a week. We settled their cases to their satisfaction in less than 6 months.
United States District Court (N.D.Ill)
06 C 6054
(Family and Medical Leave Act)
Our client had suffered an injury and had begun to take intermittent FMLA leave. But his employer did not approve the leave until several months after he had first requested it and counted numerous absences taken prior to that approval as unapproved. Although the leave was later approved, our client was terminated for having too many days when he was absent without leave (AWOL). We settled the case to his satisfaction.
United States District Court (N.D.Ill.)
06 C 3193
(Age Discrimination)
In this case, the Plaintiff was terminated from his accounting job for poor performance. He was over 40 at the time. We settled the case to his satisfaction.
United States District Court (N.D.Ill., Western Division)
07 C 50129
(Overtime)
Our client was a laser repair technician who was paid an hourly wage, but was paid only straight time for his overtime hours. This case was filed in Rockford, Illinois, the Western Division. We settled the case to his satisfaction.
Circuit Court of Cook County (Illinois)
07 CH 15040
(Defense of Non-Compete and Trade Secret Violation Claims)
This is the common story of the employee who left one company to go to another and was sued for allegedly violating a non-competition agreement and allegedly stealing trade secrets. The first company asked the Court for a restraining order requiring our client to give up his new job, a job in which he was making more than $200,000. We saved his job and resolved the entire case in only a few months.
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