It is critical for employers to ensure that they are providing a safe work environment for each and every one of their employees. However, there are many situations in which this is not the case, and employees may fall victim to a violation of their employee rights. Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment occurs when an employer either demands […]
Receiving Unpaid Leave Under The ADA
In recent years, there has been an uprising concerning employees and employers negotiating the event in employees provided with an unpaid leave under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC created a publication with guidelines highlighting what the employer and employee need to consider with specific examples. Below are some important points brought up in […]
Employer Retaliation
In the workplace, employees can be rather hesitant to filing a complaint if their employer is doing something wrong. In most cases, employees are generally fearful of retaliation by their employer. This can happen in many instances, whether it be discrimination, failure to pay overtime, or many other employment law violations, employes are concerned with […]
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 […]
Starting July 2017 – Most Chicago Workers Will be Entitled to 5 Paid Sick Days
Yesterday, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance requiring employers to provide employees (within the City of Chicago) one hour of sick leave for every 40 hours of work. The accrual is capped at five sick days in a 12-month period. The ordinance is scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2017 and will affect virtually […]
A Lawsuit Has Been Filed Challenging The New Alabama Law That Bans Local Governments From Raising The Local Minimum Wage
A group of workers in Birmingham Alabama have challenged a new state law which prohibits local governments, specifically the City of Birmingham, from raising their minimum wages. Birmingham sought to raise its minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by next year in an effort to fight income inequality. Birmingham is about 74% African-American. Plaintiffs assert that […]
FedEx “Independent Contractors” are Entitled to Overtime—Federal Appellate Court Rules that FedEx Misclassified its Employees
On August 27, 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California rejected FedEx’s argument that its drivers were independent contractors and concluded that they were in fact employees entitled to overtime pay and meal period benefits under California law. The Court ruled that a class of approximately 2,300 delivery drivers may proceed with their class claims […]
ILLINOIS LAW GRANTS WORKPLACE PROTECTION TO PREGNANT WOMEN AND NEW MOTHERS
House Bill 8, signed into law this (last) week, becomes effective January 1, 2015. It provides new protections in the workplace for pregnant women and new mothers. This law requires specific reasonable accommodations for pregnant women including restrictions on heavy lifting, manual labor, access to places to sit, additional time to recover from pregnancies, a private space […]