Labor & Employment Law Update

Pre-employment drug screening for marijuana is starting to create exposure for employers.  In several states, including Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, courts have ruled that employees have a valid claim against an employer for terminating or pulling a job offer because the employee tested positive for marijuana during the pre-employment stage, in order to enforce a drug-free workplace policy. In fact, Illinois’ new recreational cannabis law, effective January 1, 2020, infers that employers could face a claim under Illinois’ Workplace Privacy law for doing the ...

Illinois recently enacted a Collective Bargaining Freedom Act which bars local governments from establishing “right-to-work” (“RTW”) laws or zones. This most recent piece of legislation serves as a timely reminder of the differing responses by states to the right-to-work movement. 

Section 14(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) gives states the discretion to pass laws limiting the ability of unions to collect dues from non-members, commonly referred to as RTW laws. Critics claim that such laws lower wages and benefits. Supporters argue that RTW laws and ...

The New York Times recently published an article discussing trends in the area of unlawful age discrimination occurring at a time when the U.S. has the lowest unemployment rate in half a century. New York Times writer Patricia Cohen details, how despite a scramble to lure applicants to alleviate a massive shortage of workers, many workers over 50, and now even over 40, appear to find that they are considered too old for a new position. The allegations of age discrimination have unleashed a wave of litigation. Notably, in a settlement with various plaintiffs groups, Facebook ...

Organized labor wasted no time in securing Governor Pritzker’s signature on legislation that undoubtedly calls for the Illinois prevailing wage rate to fall in lock step with the area union contracts. Per the new law, now in effect, the prevailing rate of wages paid to individuals covered under Illinois’ prevailing wage law shall not be less than the rate that prevails for work of a similar character on public works in the locality in which the work is performed under collective bargaining agreements, or understandings between employers or employer associations and bona fide ...

On May, 1, 2019, Indiana Senate Bill 99 was signed into effect amending Indiana’s Wage Assignment Statute. The amendment makes the statute a bit more employer friendly by clarifying that, with proper authorization from the employee, an employer can deduct the cost of rental uniforms from an employee’s wages. Although the legislative intent behind the 2015 amendments to the Act may have been to allow deductions for rental uniforms, prior to the 2019 amendment, the statutory language only allowed employers to deduct wages for purchased uniform costs. In a 2018 case before the U.S ...

There is no duty of care to “not make a negligent recommendation to a prospective employer” in Missouri. That is the upshot of an April, 2019 ruling out of Missouri’s Southern District Appellate Court, Doe v. Ozark Christian College, which is sure to have Missouri employers and human resource professionals breathing a collective sigh of relief – at least for now.

In Ozark, the defendant is a religious college. The school educates students in ministry and from time to time makes recommendations to prospective employers – i.e., churches – regarding placement of ...

A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) memorandum-issued policy is at the heart of a court case challenging recent H-1B visa denials.

The “Contracts and Itineraries Requirements for H-1B Petitions Involving Third-Party Worksites” memo was issued on February 20, 2018 without any notice or comment period required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The memo directs adjudicators to ensure a contractor has actual and exclusive “control” of the contractor’s employees at the third-party site as a criterion for visa approval. This requirement comes ...

The workplace is changing: Millennials, Generation Z-ers, and Baby Boomers looking to supplement their retirement income. These individuals are more interested in autonomy and avoiding bad managers, office politics and lengthy, non-productive staff meetings. Plus, the tax-savvy individual knows the economic advantage of having access to traditional business deductions through a Schedule C, rather than being limited to the standard deduction or itemizing as a W-2 employee would be.

More and more businesses also seem to be interested in the advantages of a gig workforce, also ...

t appears Illinois will become the 11^th state to permit recreational cannabis. Once Governor Pritzker signs the legislation, as promised, beginning January 1, 2020, the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (“Act”), will allow adults (21+) in Illinois to possess and consume cannabis. While there is a lot “rolled” into the 600 plus page law (pun intended), there are significant employment pitfalls for employers with regard to enforcing drug free workplaces.

The Act expressly permits employers to adopt and enforce “reasonable” and nondiscriminatory zero ...

The CDC reports that half of all Americans will experience mental illness at some point in their lives. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 46.6 million adults in the U.S., roughly 1 in 5, experience some form of mental illness in a given year, and for 11.2 million Americans each year, roughly 1 in 25, the condition is sufficiently severe and substantially limits major life activities. Yet, despite the wide prevalence of these conditions, our society continues to stigmatize mental illness. As a result, conditions often go untreated leading to reduced employee ...