Labor & Employment Law Update

“Equality in the workplace is not only the right thing to do, it turns out to be good business.”  – U.S. President Barack Obama, July 21, 2014

On July 21, 2014, President Obama – in allegiance to his commitment to the LGBT community – signed an Executive Order that amends Executive Order 11246 giving workplace protections to those applicants and employees seeking work from federal contractors and subcontractors by specifically prohibiting contractor discrimination based upon not only a person’s sexual orientation, but now their gender identity too.  Unlike the Hobby ...

Although the Illinois Medical Marijuana law went into effect on January 1, 2014, marijuana (medical and recreational) is still currently illegal to be possessed or used in Illinois. On July 16, 2014, a significant step was taken towards changing that when the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) approved the administrative rules for the Illinois Medical Marijuana law.

The administrative rules address the licensing of registered users, dispensaries and cultivators, as well as regulations on the operation and management of dispensaries and cultivators. However, the ...

On July 3, 2014, the Illinois Supreme Court issued its decision in Kanerva v. Weems, 2014 IL 115811, reversing the circuit court’s dismissal of four lawsuits, Bauer v. Weems, No. 12–L–35 (Cir. Ct. Randolph Co.); Kanerva v. Weems, No. 12–L–582 (Cir. Ct. Sangamon Co.); Maag v. Quinn, No. 12–L–162 (Cir. Ct. Sangamon Co.); and McDonal v. Quinn, No. 12–L–987 (Cir. Ct. Madison Co.). One of the claims raised in each of the four cases was the constitutional validity of amendments to the Illinois State Employees Group Insurance Act instituted by the general ...

The Illinois “Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act” has been approved by the Illinois legislature. It was sent to Governor Quinn on June 27, 2014, and he is expected to sign it into law.

Once signed (or if the Governor doesn’t veto it by August 27, 2014), the Act would go into effect January 1, 2015. Illinois would become the fifth state on a growing list of states (currently Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Hawaii) to enact “ban the box” legislation that applies to public and private employers. Another five states (California, Colorado ...

In March 2003, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich issued an executive order calling for state recognition of a union as the exclusive representative of home health care personal assistants employed in the “rehabilitation program.” The executive order was subsequently codified by the Illinois legislature, which declared personal assistants to be “public employees” of the state of Illinois “solely for the purposes of coverage under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act.” Subsequently, the personal assistants selected SEIU as their exclusive ...

Maybe. Organizations representing a variety of business and labor interests accepted the NLRB’s invitation to weigh in on whether the board should reconsider its standard for determining when organizations are deemed “joint employers.” Teamsters Local 350 requested the NLRB review a decision which found Browning-Ferris and its subcontractor, Leadpoint (which provides employees to the Browning-Ferris facility), were not joint employers because Browning-Ferris did not share immediate and direct control over the terms and conditions of Leadpoint’s employees ...

In what was disappointing news to employers in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in December 2013 that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) failure to engage in good-faith conciliation efforts with an employer prior to filing a lawsuit alleging the employer engaged in unlawful discrimination or harassment is not a viable affirmative defense requiring the dismissal of such a lawsuit.

According to the employer’s petition to the Supreme Court, the Mach Mining case began with a single EEOC charge from one ...

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that President Obama’s three appointments to the NLRB in January 2012, made without the “advice and consent” (i.e., approval) of the Senate, were invalid appointments.  The case is NLRB v. Noel Canning, and affirms a prior decision of the court of appeals for the D.C. circuit.

As a result, hundreds of cases decided by the NLRB from January 2012 through July 2013 have been rendered void – as if they never happened – because the NLRB did not have a quorum and could not lawfully act.  The NLRB may have to reconsider those cases anew.  That ...

On Tuesday, the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an FMLA decision that was in favor of the employer and instructed the lower court to issue a ruling in favor of the employee.  The case involved the application of FMLA to an employee caring for an adult child and the issue regarding information the employee must provide about the duration of the leave and return to work status.  The court’s opinion is instructive on both issues.

Suzan Gienapp worked at a residential nursing care facility.  She requested time off to care for her adult daughter who had to undergo treatment for ...

In a recent workers’ compensation case, the personal and neutral risk defenses have been seriously eroded via an appellate court created exception based on the number of times an employee is exposed to a neutral risk (no greater risk than the general public/no defect) with employer knowledge of the personal condition.

In the case of Village of Villa Park, a community service officer suffered from a right knee condition related to a prior non-work injury (fall on ice at his vacation home).  Due to the injury suffered in that accident, the petitioner was scheduled for ...