Savine Employment Law Blog

Covering the Workplace

Subscribe
Visit Blog
By: Savine Employment Law, Ltd.

Blog Authors

gary savine

Latest from Savine Employment Law Blog

metoofinal.jpg
Law aims to close legal loopholes that hide harassment concerns from public view. In the past few weeks, Illinois Legislators have been working feverishly to advance SB1829, the Workplace Transparency Act. In an already busy legislative session filled with worker-friendly initiatives, the bill has already passed the Senate and is advancing rapidly through the House, picking up scores of sponsors along the way. The bill would: Mandate annual sexual harassment training and prescribe the content for such training. Extend the IHRA’s protections against harassment to independent contractors. Grant victims of sexual harassment up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for…
canstockphoto17035989.jpg
Bill Would Expand Law To Cover Virtually All Illinois Employers By the end of this week, there’s a very good chance that the Illinois Legislature will place on Governor Pritzker’s desk for his signature HB0252 – a bill that would eliminate the minimum employee threshold for anti-discrimination prohibitions in the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA). This will make virtually any employer with as few as one employee subject to all anti-discrimination prohibitions in the IHRA. Currently, companies with less than fifteen employees are subject only to anti-discrimination prohibitions covering sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination and disability discrimination. But, if a company…
PaidLeaveFinal.jpg
Last week, the Illinois Senate approved SB0471 calling for mandatory paid family leave benefits to workers in Illinois. The bill now advances to the Illinois House. Dubbed the “Healthy Workplace Act,” the proposed law provides that an employee who works in the State who is absent from work for specified reasons is entitled to earn and use a minimum of 40 hours of paid sick time during a 12-month period or a pro rata number of hours of paid sick time. If passed, the law would extend to the rest of Illinois many of the paid leave rights already afforded…
Meercatfinal-e1556564511980.jpg
Federal Court Judge accepts EEOC’s proposal to make employers submit 2018 pay data, and a second year of pay data chosen by EEOC. As reported here in March, a U.S. District Court Judge reinstated EEOC data collection rules, adopted during the Obama Administration, aimed at identifying discriminatory pay gaps. The rule applies to employers who are subject to the EEOC’s longstanding EEO-1 annual reporting requirements (mainly, employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees). The Trump Administration froze the rule, but several workers’ rights advocacy groups successfully sued to unfreeze the rule. Under the…
NoSurprisesFinal.jpg
Earlier this month, Chicago City Council’s Workforce Development Committee advanced the cause for predictable scheduling by introducing the “Fair Workweek Ordinance”. The proposed ordinance would require certain Chicago employers to give workers advance notice of work schedules and pay for last minute changes. While the City Council’s proposed measure has not moved forward, it mirrors a similar proposed State law titled the “Fair Scheduling Act” that the Illinois House tabled earlier this year pending Governor Pritzker’s inauguration. A recent University of Illinois survey, summarized in the Chicago Tribune, reports that 70 percent of Chicagoans feel that unpredictable work schedules…
latest-news.jpg
It’s been a productive first quarter at Savine Employment Law, Ltd. Here’s what we’ve been up to: In January, we welcomed the arrival of our newest Legal Assistant, Elise Kline. Elise comes to us after having worked for several years at another Chicago-area employment law firm and brings deep experience handling investigations and litigation of workplace matters. Elise’s strong suit is her strong client-relations skills. We expect Elise to be instrumental in our continued growth. In April, Gary was appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) Illinois chapter. Also in April, Gary attended the…
Payscale.jpg
Equal Pay Day Reminds Employers to Take Steps Now to Ensure Pay Equity On April 2, workers’ rights groups held rallies in major cities across the country to mark Equal Pay Day, which serves to remind us how much longer into the year women would have to work in order to earn as much as men. Chicago was no exception. Hundreds of political leaders and activists gathered to raise awareness and put added pressure on policy makers and employers to do something about the pay gap. As previously reported here Illinois and federal lawmakers are listening, as they’ve kicked…
canstockphoto1500764-2.jpg
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a series of amendments, dubbed the “Paycheck Fairness Act”, that will change the Equal Pay Act. This legislation mirrors efforts in many states, including Illinois, to attack the persistent national gender pay gap. According to the International Monetary Fund, women make, on average, 82 percent of what men make – a disparity that would require women to work an extra 47 days to earn as much as men do. The proposed changes to the Equal Pay Act would strengthen the current federal law that outlaws paying men and women differently for the…
Depositphotos_61519177_s-2015.jpg
Last week, the Illinois House Labor & Commerce Committee approved an amendment to the Employment Contract Act to provide that an employer may not require employees and applicants to “waive, arbitrate, or otherwise diminish any future claim, right, or benefit to which the person would otherwise be entitled under State or federal law.” By its language, the new law would make it unlawful for employers to condition a hiring or continued employment on many types of agreements that have become increasingly common, particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2018 holding in Epic Systems v. Lewis upholding employment class…
scalesofjustice.jpg
Women’s Advocacy Groups Successfully Unfreeze Wage And Hour Data, But Will Employers Need To Comply? Last week, a D.C. District Court Judge in National Women’s Law Center v. OMBlifted the Trump Administration’s freeze on a 2016 EEOC rule that revises the annual EEO-1 report to require employers to include W-2 wages and hours worked for all employees within 12 pay bands for each of the 10 EEO-1 job categories. The EEOC has long required employers with more than 50 employees to file annual EEO-1 reports, but historically these reports have been limited to requiring disclosure of only the number…
clockhead.jpg
Proposed changes to overtime regulations are set to take effect in January 2020, pending public comment. Here’s what’s new right now: This month, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed modifying the overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in several important respects, specifically: It would reset the salary level necessary to qualify for certain exemptions from overtime to $35,308.00 (or $679 per week) – up significantly from the current level of $455 per week. But, employers would be allowed to apply non-discretionary bonuses and certain incentive payments to satisfy up to 10 percent of the salary level…
mandatoryretirement.jpg
Small businesses are now required to offer mandatory retirement plans to their employees. Here’s what’s new in Illinois right now: The Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act (Secure Choice Savings Act) requires certain Illinois employers to offer retirement benefits with a state-run payroll-deduction Roth IRA. Employers must comply if they meet all of the following criteria: (1) have 25 or more employees, (2) have been in operation at least 2 years; and (3) they don’t currently offer an employer-sponsored retirement plan. The required registration date is July 1, 2019 for employers with 100 or more employees, and November 1, 2019…
telecommuting.jpg
In this new series, we highlight legal changes that Illinois Employers must know now. With the inauguration of J.B. Pritzker on January 14, 2019, the Illinois legislature is gearing up to advance its workplace agenda. This legislative is likely to bring new employee rights, and new employer obligations, that could be costly to businesses that don’t comply. We’ll keep you updated on newly introduced laws as they’re debated and enacted. First up, we’ll focus on new state and local employment laws enacted at the end of the Rauner administration that address reimbursing work expenses. What’s New Right Now In Illinois?…