The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has emerged as one of the nation’s busiest federal district courts with respect to wage-and-hour litigation. As reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, in 2015 alone, 542 Fair Labor Standards Act actions were filed in the Northern District of Illinois. Between 2011 and 2015, wage-and-hour
President-elect Trump’s strong base with blue collar workers helped him win yesterday’s election, despite significant union backing for Hillary Clinton during the campaign. Trump has not, however, revealed details on how he plans to address issues of interest to the unionized workforce beyond backing out of international trade treaties, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and
Aside from proposing potential carve-outs for small businesses under the new overtime rules that go into effect on December 1, 2016 and supporting six weeks of paid maternity leave, President-elect Trump has not discussed in significant detail how, if at all, he plans to address issues involving workers’ rights. However, it is possible to predict
Effective July 1, 2017, Cook County Ordinance 16-4229 (“Ordinance”) will allow employees who work in Cook County to accrue and use earned paid sick leave. The Ordinance is nearly identical to Chicago’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance that passed the city’s council by a vote of 48-0 earlier this year. Under both the Chicago law and
On July 29, 2016, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed into law the Illinois Child Bereavement Leave Act (the “Act”). The Act, which became effective upon signing, provides certain Illinois employees up to ten workdays of unpaid leave to grieve the death of a child. Employees who have been employed for twelve months or longer and
Effective January 1, 2017, the Illinois Freedom to Work Act (the “Act”) will prohibit private sector employers from entering into non-competition agreements with employees earning a “low wage.” The Act defines low-wage employees as those who earn the greater of: (a) the federal ($7.25 per hour), state ($8.25 per hour), or local (currently, $10.50 per