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Congratulations to the excellent employees & management of my client, the Dill Pickle Food Co-op, for ratifying its first collective bargaining agreement with its new labor union the Dill Pickle Food Co-op Workers’ Union (DPFCWU). This is a great example of what positive & cooperative (no pun intended) labor relations can accomplish. Please see the below public relations release for more information.

Co-op Update: The Dill Pickle and the Dill Pickle Food Co-op Workers’ Union Sign Three Year Collective Bargaining Agreement

The DPFCWU and Dill Pickle Leadership celebrate after the signing of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Erika Mikkalo, DPFCWU
Continue Reading New Collective Bargaining Agreement Signed

I’ve now garnered eight five-star reviews on Google! They’re pasted below.
 Peg Dunne Pavelec
Chuck has been a valuable resource for our company over the past decade or so. Chuck is extremely responsive and understanding. He considers the human element in addition to the legal issue, which always helps come to a meaningful resolution. Chuck is generous with both his time and legal expertise. While working with Chuck, I always feel I am learning to be a better executive while he handles our sensitive situations. I am always appreciative for his involvement. Thanks, Chuck!
 Mark Thomas
I have
Continue Reading Eight 5-Star Ratings on Google!

Leading Professionals to Teach About Protecting Your Employee Assets: The Life Cycle Of The Employment Relationship 2023
Financial Poise Webinars announces “Welcome to the Team! Recruiting and Hiring, Including Restrictive Covenants,” a live webinar premiering  January 25th at 2:00 PM CST. This webinar is co-produced by West LegalEdCenter and part of the “Protecting Your Employee Assets: The Life Cycle Of The Employment Relationship 2023” series. It will feature Charles Krugel (Law Offices of Charles Krugel); Matthew Christensen (Garfinkel Group, LLC); Helen Bloch (Law Offices of Helen Bloch, P.C.); and Cynthia E. Fruchtman (Law Offices of Cynthia E Fruchtman).
Continue Reading Protecting Your Employee Assets (23/24 Ed.)–Webinar Premiering 1/25/23


My client, the Dill Pickle Food Co-op, is thrilled to announce that their former labor union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was decertified on 12/20/22! The IWW was replaced with our own employees’ union, the Dill Pickle Food Co-op Workers Union.
We’re really excited and pleased that our employees chose to go their own way and start their own union. The Co-op’s board of directors has consistently and publicly said that they wanted employees to be unionized. Unfortunately, the IWW just didn’t work out for all concerned.
A few noteworthy items about IWW’s decertification. The IWW was my client’s
Continue Reading The Dill Pickle Food Co-op Has a New Employee Union – The Dill Pickle Food Co-op Workers Union!


Contractor v. Employee: Dept. of Labor Proposed Employee Classification Rule

December 19, 2022; By Charles A. Krugel

Contractor v. employee violations occur in every industry. This is in part due to the regulatory processes in wage rates, labor agreements, and exemptions defining who is and who isn’t an independent contractor.
To paraphrase a genial and genuinely funny former US President, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help!
This article analyzes a new government attempt to help society and the economy by improving guidance on employment relationships and minimizing the impact of wage and hour evaders. A typical case
Continue Reading Contractor v. Employee: Dept. of Labor Proposed Employee Classification Rule

Thanks to Cheryl Winokur Munk for quoting me in her 11/15/22 article for Property & Casualty Specialist. Due to copyright restrictions, I’m only posting my contributions. The above links should take you to P&C’s website oe the article itself.

Carriers Should Prepare for Potential Rise in Sexual Harassment Claims

With more people returning to work, some employment professionals expect a rise in sexual harassment claims

By Cheryl Winokur Munk|November 15, 2022
How Insurers Can Be Proactive

With many insurance employees coming into the oce more frequently, it’s an opportune time for carriers and payers to sharpen their policies on
Continue Reading I’m Quoted in Carriers Should Prepare for Potential Rise in Sexual Harassment Claims” in P&C Specialist

The HR troubles with Twitter’s layoffs—and how to avoid them

The HR troubles with Twitter’s layoffs—and how to avoid them

By Tom Starner

November 10, 2022

When new billionaire owner Elon Musk laid off roughly half of Twitter‘s employees last week using workers’ personal email addresses, HR’s reaction and advice was strong and swift—on and off the social media network.
Clumsy, unprofessional, brutal, inhumane, the opposite of what good leaders would advise or do.
“Elon, please contact Onwards HR before you do any more layoffs at any of your companies,” Onwards HR founder Sarah Rodehorst wrote on LinkedIn
Continue Reading HR Executive Quotes Me in “The HR troubles with Twitter’s layoffs—and how to avoid them”

How can caregivers who worked through the pandemic be sure they’re getting the hazard pay they are due?

By Lynne Curry | Alaska Workplace
Updated: 23 hours ago 11/7/22

Question:
I work as a caregiver. Unlike many employees able to switch to remote working, we caregivers traveled to our clients in their homes. They needed us to shower, cook and clean. For some of these people, we were their only contact with the outside world. We risked our lives every time we went out. We cared for and worried about our clients’ health. Even with masking, gloves and goggles, we
Continue Reading I’m Quoted in the Anchorage Daily News

The Food Institute
Your Single Source for Food Industry News, Data and Trends Since 1928

Experts Predict ‘Striketober’ to Remember

 | SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

Slightly more than a month before the mid-term elections, thousands of U.S. workers are threatening to turn October into “Striketober,” with restaurant workers at the forefront of the bid to increase wages and improve working conditions.“The goals of unionization haven’t changed that much: They continue to be focused on better wages/benefits and better working conditions,” Andrew Moyer, executive vice president and general manager at Reputation Partners, told The Food Institute. “What has inflated those expectations significantly
Continue Reading I’m Quoted in “Experts Predict ‘Striketober’ to Remember” from The Food Institute

A colleague of mine, Neil Lappely, head of Lappley & Associates & an expert in compensation strategy / executive compensation / incentive pay / salesforce compensation / market pricing / board of director pay, asked me the following about DEI strategy.
Wed, Aug 24, 7:11 AM
Hi Chuck,
Hope you are enjoying the last part of summer.
I ran across the attached Harvard Business Review article: To Drive Diversity Efforts Don’t Tiptoe Around Legal Risks.  Thought of you and have a question.  When does a goal turn into a quota?  I am in the position of suggesting to
Continue Reading Question From Colleague Re DEI

I still get questions about pyramiding of overtime. Prior posts are here: 8/31/20; 12/4/17; 1/10/17; 4/1/16; 12/1/16; 1/2/13. Below are the most recent questions (in blue). Following those are my responses (in black).
Names have been changed to protect anonymity of the poster & their company.
From: Jane Doe, Esq.Subject: Pyramiding of overtime
Message Body:Good day –
I have been reviewing your blog posts during an adjournment of a contentious battle over overtime computation for employees working in a public penal facility. I am hoping you might have the time to provide some insight.
Continue Reading Even More Questions on Pyramiding of Overtime


 
 
On 5/21/22, Max Barack & I will be discussing workplace rights for the United Chinese American Illinois Chapter https://www.il.ucausa.org/team.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Workplace Investigations Webinar 5/11; I’m Moderator

New Employment Law Webinar Premiering May 11, 2021

Financial Poise Webinars announces “I Know What You Did Last Summer: Workplace Investigations,” a live webinar premiering May 24th at 2:00 PM CST. This webinar is co-produced by West LegalEdCenter and part of the “Protecting Your Employee Assets: The Life Cycle Of The Employment Relationship 2022” series. It will feature Charles Krugel (Law Offices of
Continue Reading 2 New May Law Webinars

Thanks to Sheldon Alderton, a LinkedIn contact & group member of Charles Krugel’s Labor & Employment Law & Human Resources Practices Group (3,900-plus members). As a followup to the recent Construction Dive article quoting me, Sheldon recently asked me questions about the viability of labor unions going forward. I’ve decided to turn Sheldon’s questions & my answers into a blog & LI post. Below are his questions & my answers.
Sheldon Alderton 
Hey Charles, I was super intrigued by the Construction Dive article you were featured in about labour shortages and union labour power. I worked on the
Continue Reading Q & A About Labor Unions in 2021


Thanks to writer Joe Bousquin for quoting me in:

Is ‘Striketober’ the moment construction unions have been waiting for?
The convergence of worker shortages, supply chain snarls and vaccine mandates could give labor the upper hand at the bargaining table, experts say.

Published Oct. 28, 2021


Senior Reporter

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images via Getty Images

Charles Krugel, a management-side labor attorney in Chicago, has been spending a lot more time lately resolving conflicts between his contractor clients and the labor unions that represent their workers.
“In the past, union work was 10% or 15% of my practice,” Krugel told
Continue Reading Construction Dive Quotes Me in “Is ‘Striketober’ the Moment Construction Unions Have Been Waiting For?”

Thanks to Tony Ramos, Founder/President of Integra Security Alliance for speaking at my employment relations class at Loyola University Quinlan School of Business class this past Tuesday 10/19/21! Tony’s PowerPoint for the class was so good that I’ve published it to my website.
The post Security & Privacy in the Age of AI & Biometrics first appeared on Charles A. Krugel.
Continue Reading Security & Privacy in the Age of AI & Biometrics

Thanks to Lynne Curry for quoting me in her 10/5/21 article: I was fired because I refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19. Can I sue? This was published in her Workplace Coach Blog & the Anchorage Daily News. The article is below.
I was fired because I refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19. Can I sue?

By Lynne Curry
Published: 10/5/21

Q: I can’t believe it. My employer fired me because I wouldn’t get vaccinated.
I suppose you could say they “warned me.” I’d gotten the “You need to show proof of vaccination by September 30th, or we’ll consider
Continue Reading I’m Quoted in the Workplace Coach & Anchorage Daily News