The Fish Law Firm, P.C.

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January 13, 2020:    A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit about individuals that used Workwellbrand, known as uAttend and/or Citadel, finger or facial scanners for employee timekeepingpurposes. The lawsuit alleges that Workwell and the employers that used their scannersviolated an Illinois law called the Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) by collectingemployees’ fingerprints or facial scans on time clocks in Illinois without complying with thelaw’s requirements. Workwell and certain employers covered in this Settlement (the“Participating Employers”) deny any wrongdoing and maintain that they have not violated anylaws. You can find out if your employer is part of the

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Continue Reading $900,000 WorkWell Biometric Fingerprint Class Action Settlement

January 7, 2020:  This page provides an update for our approximately 3,300 clients who worked at Providence Life Services in Illinois.    Judge Sanjay Tailor granted final approval of our $3,000,000.00 class action settlement which sought damages for Illinois employees under the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).  Our clients should expect that their checks will arrive in February 2020.   For more information about the settlement, click here.

Continue Reading Final Approval Granted In $3 Million Class Action Settlement

December 16, 2019:   Earlier this year, a DuPage County, Illinois jury returned a verdict in our client’s favor in a breach of contract claim that also sought to pierce the corporate veil under an alter ego theory.  The plaintiff requested approximately $2.75 million in damages.  Our client, an Indiana-based healthcare company and its alleged alter ego, stuck to their guns  before a 14 person jury (12 jurors plus 2 alternates).  After a week of testimony, the jury found in our client’s favor.  After losing at trial, our opponent filed a post-trial motion that, among other things, sought to challenge the

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Continue Reading $2.75 Million DuPage County Jury Trial Win To Stand

Imagine working for around minimum wage as a cleaning lady and being forced to sign a 5-page contract that has a non-solication and non-disclosure agreement that you do not understand because you don’t speak English.   Imagine how scary in would be when years after you sign that contact, you get sued for over $50,000 plus attorney fees for violating the contract by working for another cleaning service.   As someone making minimum wage, how can you afford a lawyer?
This was the situation when, earlier this year, 3 cleaning ladies came to us desperate for help.  They got sued in Kane

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Continue Reading Pro bono victory for non-English speaking cleaning ladies in non-compete dispute!

December 4, 2019:   We are happy to report that Attorney Kim Hilton  obtained summary judgment on a portion of our clients’ claims against the Bulldog Ale House in New Lennox, Illinois.  We sued on behalf of servers and alleged that they were not properly paid.   The court ruled that Bulldog Ale House failed to establish that it properly informed its employees of the law and therefore that it would lose the tip credit (what allows servers to be paid less than the minimum wage, i.e., $4.95 instead of $8.25).   A copy of the ruling is available here. 

Here is

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Continue Reading Victory Against Bulldog Ale House In Overtime Lawsuit

December 19, 2019: $850,000 Wage Settlement For Single Employee–DuPage County Circuit Court. We are happy to report that we represented a high-level employee who was not properly paid incentive compensation. We asserted claims for breach of contract and under the Wage Payment and Collection Act. The case proceeded in court while our client was still employed. After less than 1 year, the case was resolved to our client’s satisfaction.

Continue Reading $850,000 Wage Settlement For Incentive Compensation

We have reached a $290,000 wage and overtime class action settlement with Metro Link IL, LLC relating to its employees who worked at its stores (selling the MetroPCS brand) in Illinois.    A copy of the Notice, which should be sent to you if you are eligible, is pasted below.
You can read the following documents from the Metro Link overtime class action lawsuit which is pending in Chicago, Illinois:
Notice
Settlement Agreement
Preliminary Approval order
If you worked at a Metro Link store that sold MetroPCS products and were not included in the case, let us know.
NOTICE OF…
Continue Reading Metro Link IL, LLC Overtime Class Action Settlement

November 11, 2019:   Litigation Attorney Thalia Pacheco obtained dismissal of a fraud and rescission lawsuit filed against our client in the Circuit Court of McHenry County, Illinois.  The lawsuit arose out of the sale of an expensive piece of machinery to a Wichita, Kansas-based company by our client, an outstanding Illinois seller of machinery.  The lawsuit, which sought punitive damages, compensatory damages, and attorney fees, was dismissed less than a year after being filed.

Continue Reading McHenry County Fraud Lawsuit Dismissed

November 10, 2019:  Employment lawyer David Fish was interviewed on ABC regarding the impact of legalization of marijuana/cannibas in the workplace.   Click here for the interview with ABC’s Judy Hsu.
Can I Be Fired For Using Marijuana In Illinois?
Significant changes to the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act (820 ILCS 55, the “Privacy in the Workplace Act”) and the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (the “Cannabis Act”, 410 ILCS 705) are coming January 1, 2020.  This article discusses these laws and the impact on marijuana in the workplace.
Pursuant to the Privacy in the Workplace Act,

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Continue Reading The impact on legalized marijuana in the workplace–Interview on ABC

Can I Be Fired For Using Marijuana In Illinois?
Significant changes to the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act (820 ILCS 55, the “Privacy in the Workplace Act”) and the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (the “Cannabis Act”, 410 ILCS 705) are coming January 1, 2020.  This article discusses these laws and the impact on marijuana in the workplace.
Pursuant to the Privacy in the Workplace Act, it is “unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire or to discharge any individual [or to disadvantage as to compensation or terms of employment] because the individual uses lawful products

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Continue Reading Work Weed

We filed a proposed class action lawsuit against a company named Just Brands concerning its JustCBD product of CBD gummy candies.   The lawsuit alleges that our client relied upon the packaging on the label that says there is   “No THC”.   We are interested in hearing from others about their experience with CBD products and whether they impacted employment drug tests, specifically, whether a drug test came up positive for THC.
Also, if you have purchased a JustCBD product, or any CBD product that had a label regarding THC, please let us know your experience with it.

Continue Reading CBD Class Action Lawsuit

The Department of Justice is actively exploring, investigating and challenging no-poach and wage-fixing agreements between employers. The Department of Justice asserts that: that when “companies agree not to hire or recruit one another’s employees, they are agreeing not to compete for those employees’ labor. Robbing employees of labor market competition deprives them of job opportunities, information, and the ability to use competing offers to negotiate better terms of employment.”

In the Southern District of Illinois, a putative class action against Jimmy Johns was allowed to proceed under a theory that its franchisees’ franchise agreement restricted franchisees from hiring each other’s

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Continue Reading Are ‘No Employee Poaching Agreements’ Anti-Trust Violations?

$3 Million Class Action Settlement—Providence Life Services
We have entered into a settlement with Providence Life Services for alleged privacy violations.  The settlement administrator has set up an Internet page where you can view the relevant pleadings at:  ProvidenceBIPASettlement.com
Click here to view a copy of the Settlement Agreement.
The lawsuit includes those persons who worked at Resthaven Illiana Christian Convalescent Home, Inc. d/b/a Providence Life Services, Timothy Place d/b/a Park Place of Elmhurst, NFP Providence Operations, LLC, Park Place Christian Community of St. John, Inc., Christian Living Campus, and/or NFP Providence Management and Development Company Incorporated who had their

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Continue Reading Providence Life Services Settlement For Illinois Employees

Top Verdict recently reported that two of our wage and hour class action cases were on its “Top 50 Settlements in Illinois in 2018”   Our settlements were ranked 37 and 41st in the state.   One of the settlements was an overtime class action we bought against WeatherTech (Bolingbrook, Illinois) and the other was an overtime class action we brought against Heights Tower Service of Yorkville, Illinois.

Continue Reading Firm Settlements Reported Among Largest In Illinois

Our client, a former senior sales representative of a  large publicly traded Swiss medical device manufacturer, prevailed in a temporary restraining order hearing before Judge Tharpe in Chicago federal court on Thursday.   The company alleged that our client violated his non-solicitation agreement by working (on behalf of competitors) with surgeons and sought to restrain him from doing so on an emergency basis.  The lawsuit alleged breach of an employment contract, violation of federal and state trade secret laws, and sought emergency injunction relief.  We argued that the non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality agreements were too broad and therefore unenforceable.   Following this

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Continue Reading Client Prevails in TRO Hearing Over Non-Solicitation of Surgeons and Hospitals

A recent case arising out of Rock Island County, Illinois (Zoepfel v. Black Hawck College, 2019 IL App (3d) 180524 (August 7, 2019)) provides useful guidance to how sexual harassment cases will be treated in state court under the Illinois Human Rights Act.  There, the court denied a claim where the plaintiff was aware that her supervisor had pornography on his desk.  However, in finding against the plaintiff, the court concluded that “the undisputed facts of record do not indicate that a reasonable person would believe that plaintiff was subjected to sexual harassment because no reasonable person looking at the

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Continue Reading Sexual Harassment Decision Provides Guidance To Discrimination Claims In State Court