Protecting Employers Since 1985
Yet one more area of controversy for our Congress to battle over is the “Gig Economy.” Should Congress regulate it through new legislation? – or is it better to leave it to the courts? On September 6, 2017, the House Education and Workforce Committee held a fascinating Congressional Hearing to air and discuss competing viewpoints…
Read MoreIf your Company is audited by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) and you use independent contractors, you will (almost always!) be asked to complete the IDES Worker Relationship Questionnaire for each group or type of independent contractor. PURPOSE OF QUESTIONNAIRE: The purpose of the Worker Relationship Questionnaire is to elicit enough factual responses…
Read MoreThis discrimination case is a heartening legal victory for the employer. A Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed with defendant employer Freedom Mortgage Co. in a racial discrimination suit filed by an African-American former employee. The Seventh Circuit upheld a lower court’s ruling that the former employee didn’t have proof that the employer fired…
Read MoreDisciplinary Procedures: Be sure that the disciplinary procedures are described as mere guidelines and that appropriate discipline depends, of course, on the particular facts and circumstances of any particular disciplinary case (and that the employer retains the right to use its discretion on a case-by-case basis as to any disciplinary issues). State that any list…
Read MoreThe need for workplace investigations usually arises suddenly and without warning. Company management receives a complaint (most commonly a sex harassment complaint or a complaint of discrimination) and often does not know how to proceed. As a management-side labor and employment law firm, the attorneys in our law firm frequently receive calls from clients wanting…
Read MoreA Federal Judge invalidated the $47,476 salary threshold that the U.S. DOL attempted to implement last year. A Texas Judge who last year temporarily enjoined the D.O.L. from implementing its highly controversial overtime regulations in December, as planned, has issued a final decision declaring them invalid and unenforceable. District Court Judge Amos L. Mazzant, III…
Read MoreIt often happens that an employee tells the employer that the employee is quitting…but later the employee claims the employer really fired the employee. How does this happen? Let’s look at a typical fictional example. Steve, a machine operator, decides that he wants to quit to go to see his sick grandmother who lives in…
Read MoreThe IRS Form SS-8 has been used for decades by the IRS and is often sent to a company when a disgruntled independent contractor complains to the IRS that he/she was really an employee (and was misclassified by the company). The IRS Form SS-8 is entitled “Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment…
Read MoreOnce an Illinois company is audited by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), the IDES auditor will send his/her findings to another division of the IDES that is in charge of putting together the tax bill from the audit. The tax bill is known as the Notice of Determination & Assessment (commonly referred to…
Read MoreOn Wednesday, June 7, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor (US DOL) issued a three sentence statement trumpeted by national news and happily noted by many employers. The recently-confirmed Labor Secretary, Alexander Acosta, personally announced that he has withdrawn the US DOL’S two Interpretations on two key legal issues worrying many businesses: joint employment and…
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