Labor & Employment Law Update

The labor world is abuzz about “micro-units” as a result of two recent National Labor Relations Board decisions regarding Union petitions to represent such “micro-units” of employees:  Bergdorf Goodman, 361 NLRB No. 11 (July 28, 2014) and Macy’s, Inc., 361 NLRB No. 4 (July 22, 2014).

What is a micro-unit and why does it matter?

A “micro-unit” is a small and discrete subset of employees at a particular worksite, which a union seeks to represent.  It is the opposite of a “wall-to-wall unit” that would encompass the majority of an employer’s non-supervisory ...

In contrast to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the recent Hobby Lobby case, which directly affected only a handful of employers, two cases with the potential to derail the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) were decided last Tuesday – with conflicting results. Less than two hours after a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Halbig v. Burwell that the insurance subsidies that help millions of Americans pay for health insurance are illegal in 36 states, the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a contradictory ruling in King v. Burwell, affirming the exact ...

“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 ...