Labor & Employment Law Update

Unsurprisingly, California is yet again changing its already very employee friendly employment laws. Currently, California leads the nation with its employee friendly laws, though states like Illinois are quickly catching up. The California Legislature’s latest move is a first for any US state by banning “caste” discrimination in the workplace under its civil rights and employment discrimination laws. Seattle passed a similar law in February.

Employers in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin must now accommodate an employee’s work-schedule “if an employee's disability substantially interferes with his ability to travel to and from work … if commuting to work is a prerequisite to an essential job function, including attendance in the workplace, and if the accommodation is reasonable under all the circumstances.” Equal Emp. Opportunity Commission v. Charter Communications, LLC, 75 F.4th 729, 734 (7th Cir. 2023). 

On Wednesday July 19, 2023, the Chicago City Council introduced legislation to eliminate the city’s “tip credit” over a two-year period (if passed), in an effort to raise the city’s current hourly minimum wage rate for tipped employees to equal the city’s hourly minimum wage rate for non-tipped employees.

On August 4, 2023, Governor Pritzker signed House Bill 2862 into law amending Illinois’ Day and Temporary Labor Services Act. This game changing legislation passed by State Legislature affects Illinois’ Staffing Industry as a whole and ALL EMPLOYERS that utilize temporary labor in Illinois. For more information about this new legislation, see our previous blog on House Bill 2862.

On January 1, 2023, we saw the Illinois minimum wage increase from $12.00 to $13.00. The City of Chicago and Cook County are also increasing their set minimum wages on July 1, 2023.