Articles on Employment Law

Advising your clients regarding their Unemployment Insurance Act obligations By Anthony R. Phelps Business Advice and Financial Planning, September 2009 Clients looking to form a new business are often surprised regarding the vast amounts of regulation controlling their new activities.
Criminal prosecution under the Occupational Safety and Health Act By MIchael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, September 2009 Employers do not typically think about the possibility of criminal liability under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. However, Section 17(e) of the Act punishes any employer convicted of willfully violating any standard, rule, order or regulation prescribed pursuant to the Act, if that violation caused an employee’s death. 
Borrowed employee has retaliatory discharge claim By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, June 2009 In a case of first impression, the Illinois Appellate Court determined that an employee of a staffing company could sue the company’s customer for retaliatory discharge.
Court strikes down Illinois law prohibiting employers from using E-Verify By Cindy G. Buys International and Immigration Law, June 2009 In late 2007, Illinois enacted Public Law 95-138 prohibiting Illinois employers from enrolling in the federal government’s Employment Eligibility Verification System or E-Verify until the federal government could certify that the results of the E-Verify system were 99% accurate.
Expanded liability for sexual harassment in Illinois By Kenneth W. Gage & Laura R. Feldman Labor and Employment Law, June 2009 On April 16, 2009, the Illinois Supreme Court expanded Illinois employers’ exposure to damages for sexual harassment and distinguished Illinois law from federal law.
International HR economic downturn toolkit: What you need to know to project-manage cross-border restructurings, pay-cuts, and reductions-in-force By Donald C. Dowling, Jr. Corporate Law Departments, June 2009 When a U.S.-headquartered employer suffers economic difficulties and needs to cut back its human resources costs, the first strategies that will likely come to mind are U.S.-style retrenchments like restructurings, pay-cuts, and reductions-in-force. This “toolkit” addresses how American-based multinationals can project-manage a cross-border human resources retrenchment across operations outside the U.S. 
The COBRA subsidy and what it means to employers By J.J. McGrath Corporate Law Departments, May 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law February 17. It expands COBRA by offering eligible individuals a 65 percent subsidy of their required COBRA premiums and an additional enrollment period to re-elect COBRA coverage and pay only 35 percent of the COBRA premium.
Discharge for misconduct cuts off temporary total disability benefits By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, May 2009 A summary of the case of Interstate Scaffolding, Inc. v. The Workers’ Compensation Commission, et al.
U.S. Supreme Court expands employees’ ability to pursue retaliation claims By Kathryn Woodward Labor and Employment Law, May 2009 The United States Supreme Court recently decided that an employee who answers questions about alleged harassment during an internal investigation may later pursue a retaliation claim even where the employee did not initiate the complaint.  
Your IT personnel have become child porn cops By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, May 2009 Under a recent amendment to the Illinois Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act, there is a new obligation on certain Illinois workers to report child pornography which they discover on the job.
Form I-9: Delay of another Interim Rule By Maryann Bullion International and Immigration Law, April 2009 All employers, whether they are individuals, corporations, government entities, or a small family business, have an affirmative duty to ensure they are not hiring aliens who are unauthorized to work in the United States.
Employment agreements By Herbert J. Klein Business Advice and Financial Planning, March 2009 Key points to consider in advising a client considering an employment agreement.
New challenges and opportunities for employer leave of absence programs By David L. Miller Labor and Employment Law, March 2009 Recent changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act raise new challenges and opportunities for employers when managing employees who are ill or injured.
You’ve got to play to win: Employers and the H-1B visa lottery By Sonya Som Administrative Law, March 2009 Due to the statutory limits placed on issuance of new H-1B visas each fiscal year, businesses that want to take advantage of this option must be prepared to enter the annual H-1B visa lottery.
Two new laws require employers to extend health benefits By Jim McGrath Corporate Law Departments, January 2009 Recently President Bush signed Michelle’s Law, prohibiting health insurance companies from terminating coverage for dependent college students who are forced to leave school due to a medical condition or serious injury.
Employment claims based on association with another person By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, December 2008 You can imagine the unseen narrator on Desperate Housewives, Mary Alice Young, saying something like this: Relationships: From birth we begin to form relationships with others. Our deepest relationships are usually with close family members. Those relationships can bring incredible joy, but sometimes also carry legal entanglements.
Illinois acts to protect biometric information By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, December 2008 Illinois recently enacted the Biometric Information Privacy Act, Public Act 95-0994.
EEOC issues ADA guidance on applying performance and conduct standards to employees with disabilities By Mary Theresa Metzler & Karen D. McCarthy Corporate Law Departments, October 2008 On September 3, 2008, the EEOC issued “a comprehensive question-and-answer guide addressing how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to a wide variety of performance and conduct issues.”
Employee has claim for harassing workplace behavior not directed at her By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, September 2008 Reeves worked as a Transportation Sales Representative for C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (“CHRW”) in its Birmingham, Alabama branch office. She was the only female TSR in the office.
Employee lawfully discharged after objecting to disclosing protected health information By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, September 2008 Rockwell Lime Company, seeking competitive bids for group health insurance, requested its employees authorize the disclosure of their protected health information to insurance companies for the purpose of pre-enrollment underwriting and risk rating.
Employer loses insurance coverage for failure to timely report a claim of discrimination By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, September 2008 The lesson here? Read your policy requirements. Arrowood Indemnity Co. refused to defend Westrec Marine Management Co., because Westrec failed to timely report a claim of discrimination.
Employer’s confidentiality policy violates labor law By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, September 2008 The NLRB alleged that Northeastern Land Services, Ltd. violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act by maintaining, in its employment contracts, an overbroad confidentiality provision, and by terminating employee Dupuy for breaching that policy.
Memorizing secret information may violate Trade Secrets Act By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, September 2008 Al Minor & Associates, Inc., (“AMA”) is an actuarial firm that designs and administers retirement plans and that employs pension analysts who work with approximately 500 clients.
Nondisclosure agreements: A discussion with useful examples By Eugene F. Friedman, J.D.,Ph.D. Business Advice and Financial Planning, September 2008 Nondisclosure agreements find use in a wide variety of situations including employment, business sales, joint ventures, and other cooperative efforts.
Plaintiff’s prior lawsuits and mental health treatment may be admissible evidence By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, September 2008 In September 2003, Davis began employment with Lincare as a full-time healthcare specialist. Lincare’s area manager, Kline, promoted her to center manager in June 2004.
Recent case involving the non-enforcement of non-solicitation agreements By Peter LaSorsa Corporate Law Departments, September 2008 Last spring, the Third Circuit Appellate Court in Illinois upheld a Will County Judge’s decision and held an employment agreement, which restricted the ability of the employee to solicit customers of the employer post-employment, was not enforceable due to a lack of adequate consideration notwithstanding that it was signed at the time the employee was hired by the employer.
Recent Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit decisions: Employment and labor decisions By Gary R. Clark Corporate Law Departments, July 2008 On June 19, 2008, the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit issued four decisions resolving key questions in labor and employment law which are summarized below.
Are employment contracts a matter of record and available under FOIA? By Marc Christopher Loro Administrative Law, June 2008 This article examines the applicable FOIA provisions, and the appellate court’s reasoning and holding that the contracts must be disclosed.
EEOC issues guidance on employment testing By Michael R. Lied Labor and Employment Law, June 2008 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released a fact sheet that provides employers guidance on employment related testing and selection methods.
He said, she said: Handling uncorroborated allegations of sexual harassment By Richard A. Russo Labor and Employment Law, June 2008 While most of the general principles and steps for conducting an effective sexual harassment investigation apply to investigations involving uncorroborated allegations, there are a few additional issues that an employer should consider.

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