Labor & Employment Law Update

A few weeks ago, the Seventh Circuit federal appellate court (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin) held that an employee’s absence from work was protected by the Family Medical Leave Act – even though she was on vacation with her terminally ill mother in Las Vegas.   Ballard v. Chicago Park District, Case No. 13-1445 (7^th Cir. Jan. 28, 2014).

There was no question that Ballard provided daily care to her mother.  However, when she requested FMLA leave to travel with her mother to Las Vegas, Ballard’s employer denied the request.  Ultimately, the employer terminated her for the ...

Federal:   Federal Contractors be on alert! In an attempt to get Congressional support to raise the federal minimum wage for all workers, President Obama announced that he was going to be issuing an Executive Order that will require federal contract employers to pay workers a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour on any new federal contracts.  This could happen as soon as the next week or so.

The NLRB poster rule has gone by the wayside.  The NLRB gave up its fight to require all private employers to post the union-friendly poster by allowing the Supreme Court’s review deadline to pass ...

Earlier today the National Labor Relations Board announced proposed rule changes that will drastically speed the union election process, limit issues employers can raise in the pre-election process, and limit employers’ appeal rights. The proposed amendments are nothing new. Substantively identical changes – dubbed the “Quickie” or “Ambush” Election Rule — went into effect April 30, 2012 but was quickly invalidated when the D.C. Circuit ruled the Board did not have a quorum when it passed the rule changes. The amendments proposed today are open for public ...

More employers are encountering issues with transgender employees and job applicants.  The term “transgender” has various meanings, ranging from people who have undergone a sex change operation, are considering or preparing for such an operation, or are merely dressed like the opposite sex.

There are indications that “gender identity” could become a category of work place discrimination.  The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill providing protection against work place discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, although the bill is considered ...

Making sure your company is complying with the ADA just got a little bit more difficult (as if it wasn’t already difficult enough).

The Appellate Court for the Seventh Circuit recently issued two rulings that have added to the complexity of the ADA.  In Spurling v. C & M Fine Pack, Inc., 13-1708, 2014 WL 107968 (7th Cir. Jan. 13, 2014), the plaintiff had been fired after repeatedly falling asleep while on the job.  After the district court granted summary judgment, the appeals court reversed finding that the company had notice that the employee was suffering from a medical condition ...

On January 27, 2014, in Sandifer v. U.S. Steel Corp., 12-417, 2014 WL 273241 (U.S. Jan. 27, 2014), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Seventh Circuit decision that time spent donning and doffing protective gear was time spent “changing clothes” under Section 203(o) of the FLSA allowing parties to a collective bargaining agreement the ability to bargain over compensability of such time at the beginning and end of the work day.

Clifton Sandifer filed a collective action under the FLSA seeking compensation for the time he and others spent donning and doffing work gear items ...

Filings, filings and more filings…that is the theme of 2014. It seems like every month brings another looming deadline – taxes, 5500 etc. Well, let February be no exception. From February 1, 2014 through April 30, 2014, employers who are required to keep OSHA Form 300, the Injury and Illness Log, must post the Form 300A, the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, in a conspicuous workplace common area.

If you are reading this and saying ‘huh??’ or ‘uh oh!’, you are not alone. But never fear! Amundsen Davis will get you through yet another governmental regulatory ...

Another Attempt to Help Labor Unions

Last month, we reported the recent amendment to the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act (IPWA) requiring fringe benefits to now be annualized for purpose of taking a credit for fringe benefit payments.  The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) recently updated its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to explain how the IDOL interprets the new annualization requirement.  In the process of updating its guidance, the IDOL has expanded on how fringe benefits might affect the prevailing base hourly rate that a contractor must pay.  ...

Recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reiterates that the DOL will allow telemedicine visits—generally speaking, health care appointments held via video conference—to qualify as in-person visits to a health care provider under certain circumstances.

As our readers know, the FMLA provides certain employees up to 12 workweeks of leave for, among other things, a “serious health condition.”  An employee can show the existence of a serious health condition by several methods that include establishing that the employee has an illness or injury that involves ...

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, ADAAA) prohibits, among other things, an employer from discriminating against an employee with a disability on the basis of that disability.  The Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently interpreted the definition of disability to include obesity.

While the EEOC’s ADA interpretive guidelines provide that obesity is a disability in “rare circumstances” only, the court in this case mused that an administrative assistant who claimed to have had weight-related difficulty walking across a parking lot ...