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Neural Data: What Illinois Business Owners Need to Know
California enacted an Amendment to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) that adds neural data to the list of protected personal sensitive information. For Illinois business owners—especially those conducting business in California or utilizing neurotechnology—this development is worth understanding, as it marks another step in the expanding landscape of data privacy laws. Neural data, often collected through non-invasive neurotechnology tools, is now considered sensitive and will be protected under the same stringent requirements as other personal information like genetic, biometric, and geolocation data.
What is Neural Data and Why is it
Continue Reading Consumer Privacy Laws Include Neural Data: What Illinois Business Owners Need to Know

Our blog entry of the day reminds me of the situation where a team wins the football game but loses a key player in the process. I thought of that when reading EEOC v. Walmart Stores East, L.P., here, decided by the Seventh Circuit on August 27, 2024. As usual, the blog entry is divided into categories, and they are: facts; Walmart’s knowledge of plaintiff’s disability and the interactive process; sufficiency of evidence for punitives and compensatory damages should not be reduced; need to revisit the district court’s injunctive relief order; and thought/takeaways. Of course, the reader is free…
Continue Reading Won the Game But Lost the Right Tackle: EEOC v. Walmart Stores East, L.P.

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Insurance Coverage for BIPA violations.
Businesses across Illinois are facing serious challenges in securing insurance coverage for lawsuits brought under the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).   And a recent decision by the federal court in Chicago – Westfield Insurance Company v. UCAL Systems, Inc. – dealt yet another blow to corporate policyholders.  This ruling is just the latest in a series of legal setbacks that make obtaining coverage for BIPA claims under standard Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies an uphill battle.
What Is BIPA, and Why Does It Matter?
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Continue Reading Insurance Coverage for BIPA Violations: A Growing Challenge for Illinois Businesses

Before proceeding with today’s blog entry, I want to wish everyone celebrating a happy new year. I realize that my blog entry is late this week, but I have a good reason for it. We got back from parents weekend last Sunday, then had to deal with Helene damage, which fortunately was not anything that couldn’t be handled, and then we had the Jewish new year.
 
The blog entry of the week continues our theme from last week, which is nondelegable duties of Title II entities and how they may face direct liability for that delegation or for ignoring…
Continue Reading Direct Liability for a Title II Entity Delegating Their ADA Responsibilities Redux

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The Chicago Bar Association Committee Meeting Notice
Please join the Solo/Small Firm Practitioners Committee for the following meeting:
Date/Time: October 1, 2024, 12:15pm
Topic: Blogging 101: How to Write Blog Posts That Help You Attract, Engage, and Convert Your Ideal Clients
Speaker: Alison Ver Halen, Content Marketer, SEO Strategist, Speaker & Author
Meeting Format: Webcast
Committee Chairs: Mathew Kerbis, Subscription Attorney LLC, Charles Krugel, Attorney, Charles A. Krugel, Labor & Employment Law & Human Resources Counseling on Behalf of Business

Click here to register and for meeting information: https://learn.chicagobar.org/products/solosmall-firm-practitioners-committee-10124

Join the CBA in Join the CBA in Sicily April 27-May 4, 2025 (travel registration now open)!

Register…
Continue Reading Chicago Bar Association Committee Meeting Notice-Solo/Small Firm Practitioners Committee

Most employers have policies and procedures in place to maintain an atmosphere of safety and mutual respect in the workplace. These policies often prohibit employees from engaging in unlawful behavior, such as harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. But what happens when a third party (i.e., a customer, vendor, or other party outside of an employer’s direct control) engages in bad behavior – is the employer liable for a third party’s behavior? It depends.
Continue Reading When External Vendors Create Internal Problems: Managing Harassment from
Outside Sources

On Friday of last week, I presented to the Minnesota CLE Health Law Institute in Minneapolis on working with disabled clients and disabled attorneys. One of the cases that came up is the one that we are going to be talking about this week, Battle v. state of Tennessee, here, decided by the Middle District of Tennessee on September 6, 2024. If the reasoning of this case proves persuasive in other courts, this decision could be a very big deal indeed for the reasons we will discuss. As usual, blog entry is divided into categories, and they are: facts;…
Continue Reading Direct Liability for a Title II Entity Delegating Their ADA Responsibilities

Back in April 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule that would have banned non-compete agreements nationwide as of September 4, 2024. (You can read our alert on the FTC’s final rule here.) However, on August 20, 2024, in the case Ryan LLC v. FTC, a federal district court in Texas issued a permanent injunction blocking the FTC’s final rule from going into effect on September 4. This followed the same court’s preliminary ruling in July that offered limited, temporary relief from the rule for plaintiffs only. In its August 20 ruling, the federal court made…
Continue Reading FTC Ban on Non-Competes Is Blocked—For Now

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Make Sure Non-Disclosure Agreements Don’t Stymie Whistleblowing

Small businesses who enter into non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with employees need to ensure that those documents clearly delineate that they will not be used to discriminate against those who engage in “whistleblower” activity—or such employers could potentially face unpleasant regulatory consequences.
This was underscored in late July, when the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a “reminder” that the Consumer Financial Protection Act establishing the agency bars employers from either firing or otherwise discriminating against employees who participate in whistleblower activity, assuming the business in question is regulated by the CFPB.

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Continue Reading Make Sure Non-Disclosure Agreements Don’t Stymie Whistleblowing

Is your company heading for a “memepocalypse”? With the “Big Debate” now behind us, at least on TV, it’s time for Illinois employers to prepare to manage political tensions at work. 
 In just fifteen minutes we can get you started for free. On September 24, 2024, at 12:00 pm CT, we’re hosting our fifth in a series of “DO IT NOW!” webinars. 
Election Day is Tuesday November 5.  If the last election cycle is any indicator, this means that for the next few months, workers’ political passions will soon be spilling over all around the workplace. These circumstances are…
Continue Reading Do It NOW! Webinar To Cover Politics At Work

Before getting started on the blog entry for the week, I did finish Over Ruled. What is clear from reading the book, is that Justice Gorsuch clearly believes that the administrative state had gotten too big and that sufficient guardrails for the administrative state do not exist. Also, from reading that book, it is pretty clear to me that he would think Loper Bright overruled Kisor v. Wilkie. So, administrative regulations he will uphold will have to have a very tight relationship to the particular statute and even more so with respect to any guidances. It will be interesting to…
Continue Reading In a Batson Challenge, what Prosecutor Says is Everything or is It?

On August 23, 2024, in the case of Restaurant Law Center, et. al. v. U.S. Department of Labor, et. al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit invalidated the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2021 Tip Credit Rule (”Rule”) that required employers to pay tipped workers the general minimum wage rate for their time spent performing work that is not part of a tipped occupation, including downtime.
Continue Reading Federal Appeals Court Invalidates the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2021 Tip
Credit Rule

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I just got back from the Federal Bar Association national convention in Kansas City, which was fabulous. I was part of a fantastic panel speaking on policing and persons with disabilities. In particular, we talked about a lot of different things. My part focused on why Graham v. Connor should no longer be used as the basis for training (we discussed that issue in this blog entry), and the police responsibility for getting the laws regarding service animals, particularly with respect to title III of the ADA, correct. The panel was fabulous…
Continue Reading Temporary Impairments, Minor Defined, and Whether Medical Testimony is Required in Order to Establish a Disability

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Meet Ray.

Ray is to the FMLA as Patrick Mahomes is to football. Ray is an FMLA pro, having taken FMLA leave a total of 158 times over three years. No joke. F-M-L-A simply rolled off Ray’s tongue, enabling him to take leave on countless occasions.

As the story goes, Ray started his latest FMLA journey with a three-week leave of absence for pneumonia.

Ray worked as a mechanic, regularly operating and repairing the loin-puller machine for his employer, Swift Pork Company. Ray must have loved that loin-puller machine, since he got really salty upon his return to work when…
Continue Reading When an Employee Abruptly Requests FMLA Leave after Being Given a Sucky Work Assignment, Can He Safely Be Terminated?