Labor & Employment Law Update

Illinois employers that have 25 or more employees and have been in business at least two years will be required to participate in the state-run retirement savings program or offer another qualifying retirement plan later this year.

The status of the Illinois Secure Choice Program was uncertain last fall following an amendatory veto issued by former Governor Bruce Rauner making the program optional, instead of mandatory, as discussed in a previous blog post. The Illinois legislature generally opposed making the program optional, and chose not to act on the amendment ...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed in December 2017, is continuing to hit employers and employees in unanticipated ways. The latest impact is on special parking spaces for executives, employees of the month and employee reserved parking spots. Generally, under the IRS Tax Code (“Code”), an employer is not able to take a tax deduction for qualified transportation fringes (“QTFs”) provided to an employee. This includes parking an employer provides to its employees (i.e., the parking lot where the employees park). However, the Code provides two exemptions allowing the ...

Many employers would appreciate a clear road map when traveling the often winding roads of reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  However, there are no rigid routes for the interactive process.  After an employee requests an accommodation, the employer must engage in a good faith and flexible dialogue that addresses the employee’s specific medical limitation, request, job position, and work environment, among other factors.  That said, employers can find guidance in at least ten hard and fast rules on the reasonable accommodation process:

As with so many ADA questions, “it depends.” However, a pair of cases pending before the 7^th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals (covering Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) could provide further guidance.

The 7^th circuit has not definitively ruled on whether obesity alone is a “disability.” Federal appellate courts for the 2^nd, 6^th, and 8^th circuits (covering NY, CT, and VT; KY, MI, OH, and TN; and AR, IA, MN, MO, ND, NE, and SD respectively) have all concluded obesity is not a disability unless it is linked to some other disabling condition. In the first of two pending ...

Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) are responsible for shielding residents “from abuse, neglect, misappropriation of resident property, and exploitation.” 42 C.F.R. § 483.12. This regulation implicates the employment process, since SNFs are prohibited from employing “or otherwise engag[ing]” individuals who have been “found guilty by a court of law,” had a “finding entered into the State nurse aide registry,” or had “a disciplinary action in effect against his or her professional license” as a result of “abuse, neglect, exploitation, mistreatment ...

As a follow up to our March 4^th blog, three days later the DOL announced a proposed OT rule increasing the minimum salary required for an employee to qualify for exemption from federal overtime pay requirements. The proposed increase in salary level is from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $679 per week ($35,308 annually). In addition, the proposed rule includes the following changes: 

• The proposal increases the total annual compensation requirement for “highly compensated employees” from the currently-enforced level of $100,000 to $147,414 per year (note, this ...

“Do I have to let my employees work from home?”  With technological advances and with market demand for flexible work arrangements constantly increasing, the question comes up all of the time. 

Generally speaking, the answer is no. Some positions just don’t translate to working remotely. For example, an auto mechanic or a doctor certainly cannot perform their job from their kitchen table. On the other hand, other positions, such as many white-collar office positions, can be well suited for remote work arrangements.  

The key in allowing remote work is to communicate expectations ...

Last Fall, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it intended to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in March 2019 regarding the salary levels applicable to the executive, administrative and professional exemptions that exclude certain employees from the coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime provisions. The DOL has been reviewing the regulations at 29 CFR 541, which implement the exemptions, and is expected to seek public comment on the salary level before issuing a final rule.

Of course, we all recall the most recent final rule on ...

In a pair of rulings handed down on Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court expanded the reach of the Missouri Human Rights Act (“MHRA”) to encompass, under certain circumstances, LGBTQ individuals and additional types of evidence that can support MHRA discrimination and retaliation claims. Both cases – Lampley, et al v. Missouri Comm’n on Human Rights, et al and R.M.A., et al v. Blue Springs R-IV Sch. Dist., et al – should have a significant impact on employers in Missouri and how they evaluate the risks of employment actions against LGBTQ individuals moving forward.