Labor & Employment Law Update

On November 9, 2023, the Chicago City Council passed the Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance. Beginning on January 1, 2024, the new ordinance requires that all employers, with one or more employee, provide employees with 10 paid leave days. The new law is not only applicable to employers that are located in Chicago but also covers any employee that spends two or more hours performing work or traveling for work in the city.

Join Julie Proscia and Heather Bailey for a timely webcast on Wednesday, November 29 at 1PM CT, offering a clarifying look at the confusing new law and what ...

Happy holidays…Not really. On November 9, 2023, the Chicago City Council passed the Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance. The new ordinance creates a confusing set of requirements for employers to navigate. Beginning on January 1, 2024, the ordinance requires that all employers, with one or more employee, provide employees with 10 paid leave days. The new law is not only applicable to employers that are located in Chicago but also covers any employee that spends two or more hours performing work or traveling for work in the city. The traveling time must be compensable ...

The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (WFEA) prohibits covered employers from discriminating against employees based on disability and requires that employers reasonably accommodate an individual with a known disability. Of course, not all disabilities are “known” – they may not be obvious or observable to an employer and they may not be clearly disclosed by the employee. So when does the duty to accommodate on the part of the employer trigger? What of the employee who complains of physical ailments and requests an accommodation but does not submit documentation from his or her physician?

On September 29 the EEOC issued a press release declaring it filed “143 new employment discrimination lawsuits in fiscal year 2023, noting that is more than a 50% increase over fiscal year 2022 suit filings.” The release also emphasized that 25 of the cases were systemic prosecutions, more than double the number of such cases in the past 3 years.

Today the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officially published its NEW Joint Employer Rule, that lowers the standard to an unprecedented level whereby an entity may be deemed jointly liable and responsible under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) for another entity’s unfair labor practices or collective bargaining obligations.

There have been several recent changes impacting employers in jurisdictions across the nation. Read the post to see if any of them apply to you.

On August 29, 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released more guidance and proposed rules on key provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that requires employers to meet certain labor mandates involving apprenticeship mandates, prevailing wage requirements and possible forced unionization on green energy construction projects.

With the January 1, 2024, effective date of the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act (IPLAWA) quickly approaching, employers need to ensure they are analyzing their existing paid leave policies to determine what changes need to be made before the end of 2023.

On Friday, October 6, 2023, Chicago’s City Council passed the “One Fair Wage” Ordinance (“Ordinance”), which gradually phases out Chicago’s “tip credit” over a five-year period until it is completely eliminated by June 30, 2028. At which point, all tipped employees working in the City of Chicago will earn the same hourly minimum wage rate as non-tipped employees. Meaning, on and after July 1, 2028, Chicago employers will no longer be able to credit an employee’s earned tips and gratuities towards their hourly wage rate and will be required to pay all employees, including tipped employees, Chicago’s minimum wage rate.

In the immigration community, autumn brings a new-year sense of renewal. A new US government fiscal year beginning October 1 means a fresh start to the annual allocation of green cards for those looking to apply. But application backlogs which have grown for countries like mainland China and India have tempered that October optimism. A new wrinkle added to the application process this year has made it trickier.