Labor & Employment Law Update

With the Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance’s July 1, 2017 effective date around the corner, the Cook County Commission on Human Relations (“CCCHR”) approved its administrative rules on May 25, 2017.

While we previously discussed the Ordinance, one of the most significant aspects of the rules is the new requirement that employers provide covered employees with a notice of their rights under the ordinance at least once per calendar year.

The CCCHR also published a model poster, which must be posted in each place of business where any covered employee works within ...

On May 15, 2017, the seventh circuit ruled that unless the language in a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) explicitly states that the employee must resolve his statutory and contractual rights through the grievance procedures in the contract, an employee is free to file suit in court to resolve his statutory claims.

After being terminated from employment, Luis Vega, a seasonal employee at Forest Home Cemetery, attempted to collect unpaid wages by resorting to the grievance procedures of his CBA.  When these efforts proved futile, Vega filed a Fair Labor Standards Act ...

Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced on Monday that portions of the controversial Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule will go into effect as planned on June 9, 2017, with full implementation of the rule on January 1, 2018. Issued in April 2016, the fiduciary rule expanded the definition of a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and imposed a higher standard of care and significant new procedural requirements on those providing investment advice to retirement plans, plan sponsors and participants. Implementation of the rule was ...

The National Business Group on Health’s Eighth Annual Survey on Corporate Health recently revealed the growing prevalence of workplace wellness programs. Many such programs are expanding their aim to not only better the physical health of employees, but also to improve employees’ emotional health and financial security.

Employers should be cautious that health and wellness programs, particularly those dealing with the physical and emotional health of employees, do not run afoul of existing laws. Many employers offer employees health promotion and disease prevention ...

Recently, there has been much discussion about the composition of the five-member board in Washington, D.C., including President Trump’s appointment of Philip Miscimarra as National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman, and the expected shift from pro-labor initiatives – especially in light of the expiring term of the NLRB General Counsel who was appointed by President Obama. The NLRB recently issued an order that may be a sign of things to come.

On May 5, a divided NLRB denied the NLRB General Counsel’s motion for summary judgment (a request for judgment as a matter of law ...

As the Trump administration looks to unburden employers through the rollback of employment-related regulations and Executive Orders, one of the likely results will be an increase in state and local employment legislation and regulation—especially in so-called “blue states.”

Employers have long been forced to consider state and local laws—in addition to federal—regulating their workforces. Many state and local laws already serve to increase employee protections over and above those contained in federal law counterparts—i.e., adding additional protected ...

The July 1^st effective date of the Cook County and Chicago Sick Leave Ordinances is quickly approaching and employers must review their paid time off, sick and vacation policies now to ensure compliance with the new ordinances. Some of the key similarities and differences of the ordinances’ provisions are highlighted below.

The Supreme Court’s recent McLane Company v. EEOC decision addresses the constraints placed on appellate review of actions to enforce or quash broadly written Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) subpoenas. The case arose from a supply chain company’s requirement that employees in certain physically demanding positions pass a physical examination prior to returning to work from medical leave. The company terminated an employee who failed the exam three times while attempting to return to work after taking maternity leave.

The employee filed a ...

It’s that time of the year when college students will come knocking looking for a job or an internship. Depending on the nature of an organization’s business, an unpaid intern might be a great idea. But before organizations start engaging summer intern help, they need to make sure that they are complying with the Department of Labor (DOL) requirements, which include the following six factor test:

• The internship is similar to training that would be offered in an education environment;
• The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
• The internship is not ...

When a change of ownership occurs for a business that employs individuals who are represented by an incumbent union, the new owner must be aware of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) successor bar doctrine.  It used to be that following a sale or a merger of a business, there was a window of time during which employees, the new employer, or a rival union, could challenge a union’s majority status as representative of those employees. However, in 2011, the NLRB modified the doctrine in UGL-UNICCO Service Co., 357 NLRB No. 76 (Aug. 26, 2011), holding that for stability, the new ...