Can I be fired for being a whistleblower in Illinois?
It is illegal in Illinois to fire someone for being a whistleblower.  The Illinois Supreme Court made an interesting ruling in the case of Michael v. Precision Alliance Group, LLC., 2014 IL 117378.   The ruling helps clarify the standard in Illinois for retaliatory discharge cases.     The Court explained that “while there is no precise definition of what constitutes clearly mandated public policy, a review of Illinois case law reveals that retaliatory discharge actions have been allowed in two settings: where an employee is discharged for filing, or in anticipation of filing, a claim

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk that an employer need not compensate for the time that employees spend passing through security screenings at the end of a shift. Integrity Staffing’s employees gathered items for Amazon’s customers. The employees were required to undergo mandatory security screenings before leaving each day that took 25 minutes.   The employees sued under the FLSA for unpaid wages for the 25 minutes spent undergoing security checks.

The Supreme Court ruled that the time was not compensable and no wages were due. The Portal-to-Portal Act exempted employers from FLSA liability for

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued complaints against McDonald’s franchisees and their franchisor, McDonald’s USA, LLC, as joint employers.  The complaints allege that McDonald’s USA, LLC and certain franchisees violated the rights of employees working at McDonald’s restaurants at various locations around the country by, among other things, making statements and taking actions against them for engaging in activities aimed at improving their wages and working conditions, including participating in nationwide fast food worker protests about their terms and conditions of employment.
On the heels of this announcement, a group of former McDonald’s workers are now suing their

The Seventh Circuit recently held that a court may award a tax component award as part of damages recoverable in an employment discrimination case under Title VII’s remedial scheme. EEOC v. Northern Star involved a wrongful termination case where an employee asserted racial harassment and termination for opposing the harassment. A jury awarded $15,000 in compensatory damages. The EEOC sought additional remedies from the district court. It requested front pay and back pay, along with a tax-component award to offset the employee’s impending income-tax liability on the lump-sum back-pay award. The district court denied the front-pay request but granted the back-pay and

Cook County has approved an ordinance to stop employers from committing wage theft.  According to the Chicago Tribune:  “Businesses that have broken state or federal wage and labor laws would be disqualified from receiving property tax abatements, business licenses or county contracts. Companies seeking to do business with Cook County also would be required to file an affidavit certifying they have not violated any wage and labor laws.”
The Tribune article reports that employer steel $7.3 million from Cook County workers each week.

Illinois passed a law (PA 98-1050) requiring that employers of any size make reasonable accommodations arising out of pregnancy.   The law relates to accommodations while the employee is pregnant, recovering from childbirth, and if the employee is having common medical conditions associated with being pregnant.
Employers must provide reasonable accommodations unless the employer can show an undue hardship. Reasonable accommodations are reasonable, temporary changes that let an individual do the essential functions of a job while pregnant or recovering from childbirth. Employers cannot retaliate against an employee who requests a reasonable accommodation.
In Illinois, the Illinois Department of Human Rights

Unpaid wages, bonuses, and commissions are common problems at the end of an employment relationship. Employees frequently retain lawyers to sue for unpaid compensation in the form of bonuses, wages, commissions, overtime or under employment contracts.
A recent Illinois case addresses the use of language by employers to avoid payment of compensation. In McClerly v. Wells Fargo, the Illinois Appellate Court considered a case where an employee sued to collect an earned bonus he expected to receive after his job was eliminated. Wells Fargo moved to dismiss on the basis that it had full discretion to deny a bonus to

The US Department of Labor has issued an interpretation relating to independent contractors.   It relates to the Fair Labor Standard Act’s identification of workers who are not properly classified.   It explains that:
Misclassification of employees as independent contractors is found in an increasing number of workplaces in the United States, in part reflecting larger restructuring of business organizations. When employers improperly classify employees as independent contractors, the employees may not receive important workplace protections such as the minimum wage, overtime compensation, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation. Misclassification also results in lower tax revenues for government and an uneven

The NLRB recently issued a ruling that expands the potential liability of franchisors and others in employment lawsuits. Essentially, the decisions allows for companies (other than the direct employer) to be deemed an employer. For example, subcontractors could potentially be deemed the employees of the company for whom they work—and the company that subcontracts work to their direct employer.
Recently, congressional leaders of the House and Senate labor committees have proposed legislation to limit the definition of an employer to only those that have “direct and immediate” control over employees.
The practical implication of the expanded definition is that franchisors

In 200 East 81st Restaurant Corp. d/b/a Beyoglu and Marjan Arsovski. Case 02–CA–115871 the NLRB ruled that a single FLSA plaintiff who brought a putative wage class action lawsuit, and then was fired, was able to bring a claim for protected and concerted activity.  The employer had alleged wrongfully terminated the employee after he filed a claim for wages on behalf of himself and others under the FLSA.   The NLRB found that:
“The Board has long held that the filing of a lawsuit by a group of employees is protected activity…. However, the Board has never been squarely pre- sented with

Information about the Sistar Overtime Pay Lawsuit is available here. The lawsuit alleged that employees worked over 40 hours per week but were not paid the required time and one half of their regular rate of pay. A judgment was entered in favor of our 50+ clients and is available here. We also have available the complaint, the motion for judgment on the pleadings, and the order entering judgment. We commend the company for agreeing to the relief in the lawsuit.
Overtime Lawsuit Judgment
Overtime Lawsuit

We are frequently asked whether it is legal to be fired for filing for workers compensation claims. In Illinois, it is illegal to retaliate against an employee who files for workers compensation. In 2016, an injured worker received a jury verdict of $2.65 million against a well-known grocery store chain in a workers comp retaliation lawsuit. The employee alleged that the store fired him after unilaterally changing his absences from excused for injury to “no call, no show” after he filed for workmans compensation. The Workers’ Compensation statute is in place specifically to protect employees from work-related injuries. Under the