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Janusz Walczak, Unsplash

As I have covered previously, here, it’s a bit of the wild west as to the way forward when it comes to emotional support animals. HUD still doesn’t have anything, but if you plug in assistance animals into the search engine on their website, you get what appears as discussed below. The search engine is an AI bot. My thanks to individuals on the AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disabilities), listserv for alerting me to this and raising other related concerns. My thoughts are below. The cutting and pasting is mine from the inquiry I made. As for organization…
Continue Reading HUD’s AI Bot Take on Emotional Support Animals and Service Animals: It’s A Mess

Illinois’s renewable energy landscape shifted significantly in January 2026 with the enactment of the Illinois Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA). Among the law’s provisions, a major expansion of project labor agreement (PLA) requirements stands out for developers, EPCs, investors, and contractors. As PLA mandates continue to broaden across Illinois’s renewable energy market, early assessment and strategic planning will be critical to managing project risk and avoiding costly surprises.
Continue Reading Illinois Expands Project Labor Agreement Requirements for Renewable EnergyProjects

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) formally rescinded the federal guidance employers have relied on for nearly 50 years when designing voluntary affirmative action plans under Title VII. In a June 29 vote, the EEOC voted to rescind the two documents that provide a long-standing roadmap for employers. This move follows the EEOC’s recent National Enforcement Plan (NEP), which signaled that the agency would treat race- and sex-conscious workplace programs as intentional discrimination. Although U.S. Supreme Court caselaw remains unchanged, the rescission narrows federal enforcement posture. As a result, employers with voluntary affirmative action plans, diversity initiatives, or other programs…
Continue Reading EEOC Rescinds Affirmative Action Guidance: What Employers Need to Know
About Title VII, DEI Programs, and Compliance Risks

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend. I wrote this blog entry while taking a break between watching World Cup games and Wimbledon over the weekend. It’s been a tremendous World Cup and Wimbledon. Also, this month is disability pride month. I recognize being disabled proud isn’t always easy and often depends on the particular disability and even when a person becomes a person with a disability. That said, I am proud to be disability proud.

I thought I would put up a short blog talking about questions raised by a recent United States Supreme Court decision in…
Continue Reading A Two For: Thoughts on Trump v. Slaughter and How the Latest NCAA D1 Eligibility Rule Discriminates Against Persons with Disabilities

Hiring your first out-of-state employee can introduce a complex web of local and state employment laws that may differ dramatically from those you already follow. From paid leave requirements and pay transparency laws to non-compete restrictions and city-specific ordinances, multi-state employment compliance can quickly become a challenge for unprepared employers.
Continue Reading Hiring Your First Out-Of-State Employee? Watch for These Compliance Risks

The Chicago Bar Association Committee Meeting Notice
Please join the Solo/Small Firm Practitioners Committee for the following meeting:
Date/Time: July 7, 2026 at 12:15pm
Topic: Simple Agentic AI for Law Firms
Speaker: Mathew Kerbis, The Subscription Attorney, CEO of Practi
Meeting Format: Webcast
Committee Chairs: Mathew Kerbis, Subscription Attorney LLC; Charles Krugel, Charles A. Krugel, Labor & Employment Law on Behalf of Business

Click here to register and for meeting information: https://learn.chicagobar.org/products/solosmall-firm-practitioners-committee-070726

Register for a Meeting: You MUST register in advance to attend committee meetings. To register, click on the link above, sign into the website, click on ‘Register Myself’ and then ‘Proceed to Checkout’. If…
Continue Reading Solo & Small Firm Practitioners Committee Meeting 7/7/26: Simple Agentic AI for Law Firms

My eyes were opened to the lingering touches of the GDR and the distrust sewn between families, friends, and neighbors through 40 years of occupation. During a tour of the Statsi Prison in Berlin, I was able to slip away from the group and capture the empty hall where so many experienced the horrors of oppression and false-accusation.
Matthew Ansley, Unsplash

I hope everyone is staying cool with the heat of the summer. Also, the World Cup has been absolutely fascinating even if you are not a soccer fan.

This week’s blog entry explores Hunter v. United States , here, decided by the United States Supreme Court on June 18, 2026. It doesn’t really have anything to do with disabilities per se except that the plaintiff had a disability whose treatment of it was very much an issue. Also, many people with disabilities, both mental and physical, are in the prison system. As usual, the blog entry is divided…
Continue Reading A Criminal Defendant’s Waiver of an Appeal Only Goes So Far

Leaves of Absence and Medical Issues: What Employers Need To Know Before Problems Escalate
 Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Employers today are navigating a workplace that looks very different from the one that existed even five years ago:

At the same time, employers are trying to balance compassion with operational realities. Businesses still need people to show up, customers still expect service, and managers still have deadlines to meet. That tension

…
Continue Reading The National Law Review Picks Up Leaves of Absence Article Quoting Me

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Jon Tyson, Unsplash

Even if you are not a huge soccer fan, the World Cup has been fascinating to watch. Good luck to whatever team you are rooting for.

It is just about the end of the Supreme Court term, so we can expect a flurry of decisions to come down in the next couple of weeks. They have just come down with two decisions affecting people with disabilities or have fact patterns concerning people with disabilities. This week’s blog entry will talk about  T.M. v. University of Maryland Medical System Corporation, here, holding that Rooker-Feldman is here to stay. It…
Continue Reading Rooker-Feldman Here to Stay, But What Does it Mean for Persons with Disabilities?

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would place strict deadlines for employers and newly certified unions to reach a first collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The bill, which garnered some bi-partisan support to pass the GOP-led House, would potentially place the terms of such initial collective bargaining agreements in the hands of federal arbitrators, instead of being negotiated to conclusion by the parties.
Continue Reading U.S. House Passes Bill to Fast-Track Initial Union Contracts

8B4D3AF3-C721-4050-A5CD-D192B5B77A12-300x200You may have seen the headlines earlier this year about the Colorado AI Act taking effect June 30, 2026. If you were preparing for that law, you were preparing for the wrong thing.
The original Colorado AI Act, formally known as SB 24-205, is dead in any practical sense. A federal court stayed enforcement in April 2026. The U.S. Department of Justice and Elon Musk’s xAI joined a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. The Colorado legislature responded by passing a replacement bill. Governor Polis signed the replacement, SB 26-189, into law on May 14, 2026.
What that means is that the…
Continue Reading The Colorado AI Act Everyone Was Preparing For No Longer Exists. Here Is What Actually Takes Effect and Why Illinois Businesses Should Still Pay Attention

47C1291E-3785-4045-ABE9-48B9077C93BB-300x200This happened yesterday.
On June 16, 2026, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Illinois’ $56 billion state budget into law. Buried inside it was something the crypto industry never saw coming: the Digital Asset Tax Act. Illinois is now the first state in the country to impose a direct tax on cryptocurrency transactions, and the industry is furious.
If your business touches digital assets in any way, including accepting Bitcoin as payment, holding crypto in a company account, using a crypto payment processor, or operating any platform that exchanges or stores digital assets for customers, you need to understand what this law…
Continue Reading Illinois Just Became the First State to Tax Crypto Transactions. Here Is What Every Business Needs to Know.

Employers with operations in Chicago and Cook County should prepare for local minimum wage increases effective July 1, 2026, along with related notice, posting, and compliance obligations. While the Illinois statewide minimum wage remains unchanged, Chicago and Cook County will implement higher local rates that apply based on employer size and location.
Continue Reading Chicago and Cook County Minimum Wage Increases Take Effect July 1: Employer
Compliance Updates

Lady Justice background.
Tingey Injury Law Firm, Unsplash

Synopsis: Legislative Alert!!!Illinois Lawmakers Fiddle with the IL Workers’ Compensation Act. IL WC Medical Defenses Now More Perilous for Illinois Employers. Thoughts and Research by John P. Campbell and Eugene F. Keefe
The Illinois General Assembly recently passed House Bill 5228, introducing significant changes to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. These revisions will greatly impact how employers, claims professionals, and attorneys on both sides manage and defend claims in this state, as explained below. This will not become law unless and until the Governor signs it—he has 60 days to do so.
Editor’s Comment: Every five or six years we…
Continue Reading June 2026; New Legislative Changes to IL WC Act Arrive; New Odd Strategy Claimant Attorneys May be Trying to Rein in IME sites and more

A new legal opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is reshaping how employment discrimination claims based on unequal outcomes may be handled. On June 9, 2026, the U.S. DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a formal legal opinion concluding that the EEOC’s approach to disparate-impact liability is unconstitutional. While this theory of discrimination still exists, the opinion narrows it and raises the bar for employees who bring these claims. As a result, employers may have increased flexibility in using common hiring tools such as criminal background checks and aptitude tests without fear that they could face discrimination claims—but…
Continue Reading New DOJ Opinion Changes Hiring Discrimination Rules for U.S. Employers