When running a successful business, one of the most important practices and policies to have in place is an effective, efficient and proactive complaint procedure. Be Respectful: When a complaint is brought to your attention, it is important to ensure that they are treated with both respect and consideration. You must take every claim seriously. […]
USERRA and your Rights
USERRA and Your Rights Those who serve are our nation’s heroes. While away protecting our country, our country must protect their employment rights—and it does! The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, USERRA, covers current and former members of all military branches, the Coast Guard, the Public Health Service and the National Disaster Medical […]
When Does my Employer Have to Pay me and What do I do if They are not Doing it on Time?
Many employment laws and regulations are designed to ensure employers don’t take advantage of their employees. Some of those laws include when and how your employer should pay its employees. In Illinois, an employer must pay an employee by check or in the discretion of the employee by direct deposit or a debit card (subject to very strict guidelines). […]
What Trump’s Termination of James Comey Teaches Employers on What Not to Do
Donald Trump fired James Comey, Jr. as the FBI Director with a letter and memorandum of the rational for the termination (if you haven’t seen them you can take a peek here.) While this act is taken at the highest levels of government related issues of enormous public interest, it is substantively little different than decisions […]
Employee/Employer: When Hiring An Employment Attorney Can Be A Good Idea
Lawsuits are becoming more and more common in today’s workplace. Whether you are an employee, or an employer, it is important to know whom you can trust in the event you need to file or defend a lawsuit. Employee Issues Failure to pay proper wages or overtime (“Wage Theft”) as well as deprivation of rights like Family Medical […]
Seventh Circuit: Title VII Protects Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination in the Workplace
In an en banc opinion which the dissent calls “momentous”, on April 4, 2017, the Seventh Circuit held “that a person who alleges discrimination on the basis of her sexual orientation has put forth a case of sex discrimination for Title VII purposes.” With this opinion, the 7th Circuit becomes the first in the nation to explicitly recognize sexual orientation […]
Understanding Your Severance Agreement
When an employee’s employment is “at will”, this means that an employee can either quit or be fired at any point during their employment. Which means that in the case of either of these scenarios, an employee may not receive compensation once employment has been severed. However, many employers will use a severance agreement in order to […]
Understanding Gender Discrimination
Gender discrimination has become a hot topic of conversation lately, especially when it comes to equal pay for men and women. And while both men and women certainly have the ability to be equally as successful, there are still things that women, or men, may experience, often due to outdated perceptions about gender roles, equality, or […]
Wage Theft: A Common Workplace Issue
Wage theft is a common workplace issue that is increasingly becoming a problem for employees all over the country. Wage theft may occur when an employee does not receive all of their wages or any wages at all. Recognizing Wage Theft Not paying employees correctly maybe a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA establishes a Federal […]
Recognizing Sexual Harassment In The Workplace
Every workplace should be free from sexual harassment or discrimination of any kind. All workplaces are required by law to ensure that each and every employee is free from these concerns. Nonetheless, they do happen, and often. Unfortunately, many people fail to understand that sexual harassment comes in a variety of forms, and identifying it is not always easy. […]