Labor & Employment Law Update

The seventh circuit recently clarified under what circumstance a collective bargaining agreement may restrict an employee’s access to a judicial forum for purposes of resolving statutory claims. In Vega v. New Forest Home Cemetery, the appellate court reversed the lower court’s dismissal of a Fair Labor and Standards Act (FLSA) claim brought by a former employee who had not complied with the grievance process provided in his collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

Luis Vega filed an FLSA lawsuit claiming New Forest failed to pay him for 54 hours of work. Vega was a union member ...

As part of what is certain to be an evolving area of the law, the Staff of the Cook County Commission on Human Rights has issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to the new Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance (effective 7/1/17).  These FAQs (which may be updated from time to time), as well as the Cook County Earned Sick Leave Rules (“Rules”), are available for download from the Cook County Website.

In reviewing the Cook County FAQs, it is important to note their opening disclaimer, which essentially states that the FAQs are not legal advice, do not have the force of ...

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens recently signed into law changes to the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA), bringing it in line with federal employment law standards. The changes take effect August 28, 2017.

The most significant change is the return of the motivating factor standard to Missouri discrimination claims. Prior to 2007, MHRA claims, like federal claims, were analyzed to determine whether a protected characteristic “motivated” the challenged employment decision. In 2007 the Missouri Supreme Court, relying on MHRA’s definition of “discrimination” as well ...

On June 27, 2017, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it is reinstating the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division opinion letter process, which was in existence for more than 70 years prior to a change in procedure in 2010.

DOL opinion letters allow employers (and employees) to submit questions to the DOL regarding whether particular employment practices comply with the laws the DOL enforces. The DOL then has the discretion to respond, publicly, with appropriate guidance. Opinion letter guidance can be presented to courts and investigators—by the employer that ...

This morning OSHA issued a press release announcing that it would be delaying the compliance date for its rule requiring most employers to electronically submit their injury and illness data to OSHA. The press release proposes pushing the compliance date back four months, from July 1, 2017 to December 1, 2017. We previously reported on the rule, its requirements, and its significant impact last year.

In the press release, OSHA echoes the Trump administration’s earlier promise to review and reconsider any recently enacted administrative rules and ...

On July 1, 2017, Chicago’s Minimum Wage increases to $11.00 per hour for non-tipped employees and $6.10 for tipped employees (Chicago Municipal Code §1-24). Cook County’s new minimum wage is $10.00 per hour for non-tipped and $4.95 for tipped employees.

IMPORTANT NOTICE REQUIREMENTS: All employers that maintain a business facility within the geographic boundaries of  Chicago AND/OR are subject to one or more of the license requirements in Title 4 of the Municipal Code of Chicago are covered by Chicago’s Minimum Wage Ordinance and MUST do the following starting July 1st:

Imagine that in order to increase time and attendance record accuracy and efficiency, you have invested in a new biometric time clock system. This makes good business sense and overall, it is a straightforward issue…until HR tells you that an employee has refused to use the time clock for religious reasons.

In U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Consol Energy, Inc., (4^th Cir. June 12, 2017), a coal mine worker who was a practicing evangelical Christian, refused to use a hand scanner time clock because he believed that it would “mark” him with the sign of the ...

Summer is unofficially here.  Kids are out of school.  Many employees are checking their vacation balances to see how much time they can take off work.

For HR, vacation balances can be incredibly time-consuming. You have to worry about different accrual rates for different employees and set up tracking systems to account for those different rates. You have to make sure time off is being properly requested, approved and accounted for. After all, vacation not properly accounted for can lead to over-stated liabilities on company financials. For most companies, payroll is already the ...

As previously reported on March 29^th, the fight against the Supreme Court’s 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education continues. On June 6, 2017, Mark Janus, an Illinois state employee who is required to pay agency fees to AFSCME Council 31 pursuant to the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, filed a petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of a seventh circuit decision that affirmed the dismissal of his complaint. The petition poses the following question to the Supreme Court:  should Abood be overruled and public sector agency fee arrangements ...

The proposed budget released by the White House in May includes a plan to provide new parents with up to six weeks of paid leave to bond with a new child. Obviously the plan is far from becoming law; implementing such a plan would require congressional approval and that process has yet to start. Still, the plan is interesting for its shear breadth and its mode of funding. The plan calls for funding through each state’s unemployment insurance programs. So far at least, there are very few details.

Though many employers choose to provide some amount of paid leave to new parents, only 3 states ...