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On Friday, August 10, 2018, Governor Rauner signed two new legislative measures in the attempt to end sex harassment at the Capitol and elsewhere. House Bill 4243 takes effect immediately and forbids tax dollars to be used to settle sex harassment claims. The goal is to prevent lawmakers and their staff from using public monies…
Read MoreThe Answers to the Top Ten Employer Questions When a company uses independent contractors, it is not unusual for the Company to suddenly get a letter from the IRS that a current or former worker has submitted an IRS Form SS-8 (Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding).…
Read MoreWhat Should Our Company Do?! As an attorney who has been helping Illinois companies with these kinds of sudden IDES audit notices for the last 30 years, I am well aware of the panic that often sets in when an Illinois company opens a letter from the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), and it…
Read MoreDick Wessels’ Client Visits and Restaurant Tips Client visits: You may have heard that our firm’s founder, Dick Wessels, since 1985 has had a practice of paying a short visit to clients and friends of Wessels Sherman. His deep conviction is that it is important to actually visit the place of business to get a…
Read MoreThe purpose of this article is to update readers on what has been happening recently with Illinois Department of Employment Security (“IDES”) Hearings (and IDES audits) regarding the classification of owner-operator truck drivers (i.e., are they independent contractors or misclassified employees for purposes of Section 212.1?). SECTION 212.1: Many readers will know that the IDES…
Read MoreThere has been so much written lately both in gossip columns and legal (and standard) news about sex harassment in the workplace. Employers are understandably quite nervous about dating among co-workers. Can it lead to lawsuits? When does it deteriorate to sex harassment? What should an employer do? LAYER OF LEGAL PROTECTION: Workplace dating is…
Read MoreIt Depends On What State You Are In!! State laws set the rules governing employers’ legal obligations to allow employees and former employees, see their own personnel files. Therefore, employers should have a firm grasp on the legal rules for employee access to their own personnel files. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia have…
Read MoreThere is a wide variation, state by state, as far as the treatment of the independent contractor versus employee classification issue. Laws regarding independent contractor status and unemployment insurance benefits, workers’ compensation coverage, overtime, etc. vary widely from state to state. Yes, there are also Federal laws which impact independent contractor status; but, increasingly, states…
Read MoreIt reached a similar conclusion with respect to her FMLA claim: Unfortunately, no. The answer to stopping sexual harassment problems in a company is more complicated and difficult than just hiring an extremely dedicated and motivated Human Resources Department. Every person in the Company must be fully trained to understand the total unacceptability of sexual…
Read MoreGood news for New Jersey employers who use independent contractors! Happily, the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division [in Garden State Fireworks Inc. v. NJ Dept. of Labor, A-1581-15T2 (N.J. App. Div. September 29, 2017] recently decided that a pyrotechnics company’s legal relationship with its independent contractor pyrotechnicians satisfied all three parts of the…
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