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If you’ve been injured on the job and received workers’ compensation benefits, you may be wondering, “Will my workman’s compensation claim affect my future employment?” You’re protected under the law if you’ve been involved in a workers’ comp case, and potential employers cannot hold that against you as a condition of hire.

In fact, Illinois law strictly regulates what employers can and cannot ask you regarding past jobs, and workers’ compensation claims are largely protected.

Laws About Workman’s Compensation

According to the Social Security Administration, each state regulates its own workman’s compensation programs. In Illinois, employees are protected from wrongful termination…
Continue Reading Can a Workers’ Comp Case Affect Future Employment Opportunities?

Synopsis: The “buried” IL WC IME report… what happens at trial?

Editor’s comment: While Respondents may technically keep an IME report from the trial record on hearsay grounds, doing so often places the defense posture on tenuous ground.

In Kelly Stork v. Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, 19 WC 27240, 21 IWCC 0032 (2021) Petitioner worked for Respondent as an Obstetrics Technician, assisting doctors during child birth. At the time of accident, Petitioner was holding a woman’s leg during childbirth and alleged she injured her back and hip.

Respondent obtained two IME’s. However, there was a strong suspicion these were less than…
Continue Reading 5-15-2022; The "Buried" IME Report–What happens at hearing in IL WC?; UR given proper respect by IL WC Commission; Please don’t hit me.. it may not be covered by IL WC Insurance and more

Many—if not most—employment discrimination and retaliation lawsuits involve a company’s decision (a) to terminate or otherwise discipline an employee or (b) not to hire a particular applicant. And the reason why the company made its decision is quite possibly the most important fact in the majority—if not all—of these cases.
Continue Reading Putting Your Business In A Strong Position To Defend Against Employment
Discrimination Claims

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Subchapter V for Small Business Owners
For the past two years, small businesses whose bottom lines were impacted by the onset of COVID-19 enjoyed greater protections while going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizations in the form of higher debt limits under the Small Business Reorganization Act.
That act, passed in August 2019 and enacted as of February 2020, established what came to be called “Subchapter V” of the SBRA, aimed at providing a simpler, less costly and ultimately more beneficial Chapter 11 process for small business debtors who would struggle to afford administrative and other costs.
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Continue Reading Small Business Debt Relief

Synopsis: What Am I Missing in IL WC School Bus Driver Claim?Editor’s comment: Every hand is a winner and some hands are losers. When do you stop appealing a ruling to keep losing before every hearing/appeal officer?An IL school bus driver had work that involved picking up children/students in the morning and driving them to school and then returning and picking up students from school in the afternoon and driving them home.The driver began driving a bus with a manual door opener that required the use of a door handle to open/close the bus door at each and every stop.
Continue Reading 4-28-2022; What Am I Missing in IL WC School Bus Driver Claim? and more

Employers with 100 or more employees in Illinois have begun receiving notice that it is time for their business to comply with obtaining their Equal Pay Act Registration Certificate (“EPRC”). In order to obtain the EPRC from the Illinois Department of Labor (“IDOL”) a business must complete an EPRC Compliance Statement, submit their Federal EEO-1 disclosure and provide pay data regarding their Illinois employees. 
Continue Reading Illinois Department of Labor Posts Equal Pay Act Registration Certificate
Compliance Statement Sample and FAQ’s

Contributed by Jeff Risch and Sara Zorich, April 27, 2022

Employers with 100 or more employees in Illinois have begun receiving notice that it is time for their business to comply with obtaining their Equal Pay Act Registration Certificate (“EPRC”). In order to obtain the EPRC from the Illinois Department of Labor (“IDOL”) a business must complete an EPRC Compliance Statement, submit their Federal EEO-1 disclosure and provide pay data regarding their Illinois employees.  Recently, the IDOL, updated its website to provide employers with additional guidance on compliance and samples.

The new FAQ’s have provided clarity for employers…
Continue Reading Illinois Department of Labor Posts Equal Pay Act Registration Certificate Compliance Statement Sample and FAQ’s

Contributed by Sara M. Rose on April 22, 2022

Below are some of the latest state updates –

INDIANA

Indiana Code 24-4.9-3-3, which addresses “reasonable” delays in reporting data security breaches, was amended by H.B. 1351 to impose a forty-five (45) day limit on reporting breaches of certain personal information.  Effective July 1, 2022, employers must notify Indiana residents, including employees and applicants, no later than forty-five (45) days after discovering a breach of certain personal information.

MASSACHUSETTS

The COVID-19 Massachusetts Emergency Paid Sick Leave Program ended on March 15, 2022.  However, employers may continue to seek reimbursement for qualifying…
Continue Reading Local and State Employment Law Update: COVID-19, Wage Transparency and Criminal Records

Below are some of the latest state updates – INDIANA Indiana Code 24-4.9-3-3, which addresses “reasonable” delays in reporting data security breaches, was amended by H.B. 1351 to impose a forty-five (45) day limit on reporting breaches of certain personal information.  Effective July 1, 2022, employers must notify Indiana residents, including employees and applicants, no later than forty-five (45) days after discovering a breach of certain personal information. MASSACHUSETTS The COVID-19 Massachusetts Emergency Paid Sick Leave Program ended on March 15 …
Continue Reading Local and State Employment Law Update: COVID-19, Wage Transparency and
Criminal Records

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Repayment of Student Debt by Employers
Retaining employees, and attracting new ones, has always been at the forefront of employer’s minds, but never more so than right now.  An extension of the student loan repayment plan for employers is one attractive way to stabilize your workforce.
The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) extended tax-free employer sponsored student loan repayment through 2025.  This means that employers can give each employee up to $5,250 of non-taxable money to pay off student loans per year.  The amount the employer contributes is deductible by the employer and it…
Continue Reading Student Loan Repayment

Contributed by Beverly Alfon, April 19, 2022

Board diversity requirements have hit the headlines again due to a recent ruling by a California Superior Court judge who struck down a 2020 California law (AB 979) that required companies headquartered in California to have from one to three board members who self-identify as a member of an “underrepresented community,” which includes Asian, Black, Latino, Native American, and Pacific Islander individuals, as well as those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. It allowed the Secretary of State to fine companies who did not comply. The court found for the plaintiff,…
Continue Reading The Push For Corporate Board Diversity Requires Your Attention, Regardless of Legal Challenges

Board diversity requirements have hit the headlines again due to a recent ruling by a California Superior Court judge who struck down a 2020 California law (AB 979) that required companies headquartered in California to have from one to three board members who self-identify as a member of an “underrepresented community,” which includes Asian, Black, Latino, Native American, and Pacific Islander individuals, as well as those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. It allowed the Secretary of State to fine companies who did not comply. The court found for the plaintiff …
Continue Reading The Push For Corporate Board Diversity Requires Your Attention, Regardless
of Legal Challenges

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Contributed by Michael Hughes, April 18, 2021

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On April 11, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, filed a brief in a case pending before the NLRB, Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, seeking a return to the NLRB’s long-abandoned Joy Silk doctrine. Under that doctrine, unions may obtain representational status, simply by claiming to have the support of a majority of a private employer’s employees (typically through union card signing)—and putting the burden on the employer to affirmatively demonstrate a good-faith doubt as to that majority status in order to…
Continue Reading “Card Check 2.0” — NLRB General Counsel Seeks to Resurrect Long-Dead Joy Silk Doctrine to Help Unions Organize Employees