Over the objections of the business community, Chicago’s City Council last week adopted one of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s signature policy goals of his young mayorship, doubling paid leave benefits for nearly all employees working in Chicago. The city’s new Paid Leave Ordinance (PLO) overhauls the existing paid sick leave ordinance, requiring Chicago employers to provide employees 80 hours of combined paid sick leave (PSL) (40 hours) and personal time off (PTO) (40 hours). PLO benefits are more expansive than existing paid leave obligations under the Paid Leave for All Workers Act (which are ..read more

On August 11, 2023, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed HB 3129, a new pay transparency bill, into law. This bill is one of several other recent amendments to the Illinois Equal Pay Act, an Illinois law that, among other things, prohibits employers from paying employees unequal wages based on sex or race for doing the same or substantially similar work. With HB 3129 set to take effect on January 1, 2025, Illinois joins a growing minority of U.S. states that have enacted similar pay transparency laws over the past few years, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, New York, and Was ..read more

On October 26, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the “Board”) issued its long-awaited final rule (the “New Rule”) addressing the standard for determining joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The new rule is effective December 26, 2023. By issuing the new rule, the Board rescinds and replaces the previous rule issued under the Board (when it was controlled by appointees of former President Donald Trump) entitled, “Joint Employer Status Under the National Labor Relations Act,” which was published on February 26, 2020, and took effect on April 27, 2 ..read more

As has been widely reported, the White House issued a comprehensive and sweeping (some might say overly broad) Executive Order on October 30 about “the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development, and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” Interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has skyrocketed — as have concerns about how it is developed and implemented in the workplace and society at large, including reports about fake images, impacts on elections, predictive outputs containing stereotypes, and other biases based on race, religion, gender, and other risks. Recognizing this, the Order notes that AI ..read more

Most employers operating in Illinois are (or should be) aware of Illinois' stringent Biometric Information Protection Act (BIPA). As we have written about previously, BIPA’s requirements are exacting, and BIPA plaintiffs do not need to prove actual damages. Instead, any technical violation of BIPA’s statutory obligations can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages for employers, depending on the number of violations during the five-year limitations period. Oftentimes, this means that employers are essentially facing strict liability for BIPA non-compliance. Seemingly in an attemp ..read more

According to a March 2023 Pew Research Center article, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 7% of employees with jobs that could be done from home actually worked from home. The article went on to note that 55% of the same group worked from home in October 2020, as compared to 43% in January 2022, and roughly 35% were “full-time” remote workers as of early 2023. In addition, another 41% of this same job group (those with work that could be done from home) continued to work remotely on at least a hybrid schedule. These numbers cover nearly three quarters of those with jobs that can accommodat ..read more

The year 2023 will be remembered as a milestone for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC, and, together with the DOJ, the “Agencies”) in their efforts to expand antitrust enforcement to labor markets. This article provides an update on the Agencies’ latest antitrust efforts in the field of labor and employment. FTC Proposing a Nationwide Ban on Noncompetes. In January, the FTC proposed a regulation that, if adopted, would ban virtually all employee noncompete agreements across the United States. The FTC’s proposal garnered over 21,000 comments in respons ..read more

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision invalidating affirmative action at America’s colleges and universities, a flurry of lawsuits challenging private employers’ diversity and inclusion programs have been filed around the country.  Meanwhile, with those suits making their way through the courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) continues to remind us to remain focused on fostering inclusive work environments free from bias and harassment. In addition to issuing proposed enforcement guidance on harassment in the workplace (see this week’s companion article), th ..read more

Sexual orientation, gender identity, and race continue to be widely discussed and politicized throughout the U.S. Issues related to these protected categories also continue to arise in the workplace. The EEOC recently issued proposed enforcement guidance that will help employers address emerging issues related to these categories, including issues related to employee conflict at work. For example, employers are dealing more frequently with issues related to employees and customers intentionally misgendering and misnaming transgender employees. The proposed EEOC guidance states that the intenti ..read more

The specter of workplace violence is certainly one of the top concerns that keep employers awake at night. Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at work, ranging from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide. Violence is the third-leading cause of fatal occupational injuries in the U.S. In 2019, 761 of such fatalities were cases of intentional injury by another person.  Employers should consider the following strategies to prevent and/or reduce violence at work and ..read more