Protecting Employers Since 1985

Independent Contractor Protection Laws

By Nancy E. Joerg / November 29, 2016

NEW LAWS SPRINGING UP: With the change in our national economy and workforce tilting more and more towards “self-employment” and independent contractor status, new laws are springing up, both state and federal, to respond. Some of these new laws intend to punish companies who “misclassify” employees by (incorrectly) calling them independent contractors. NEW YORK LAW…

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Five Key Questions Regarding IDES Follow-Up Audits

By Nancy E. Joerg / November 18, 2016

I am getting an increasing number of phone calls from very nervous people who have heard that the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) is now auditing Illinois companies based solely on the fact that the company had a prior IDES audit involving alleged “misclassification of independent contractors” (“follow-up audits”). In the past, the IDES…

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Why It Is So Important To Train All Managers And Supervisors To Identify Harassment

By Nancy E. Joerg / October 27, 2016

To protect the Company from becoming a defendant in a devastating lawsuit, all managers and supervisors must be carefully and periodically trained to recognize workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. COURTS LOOK TO SEE WHAT EMPLOYER DID TO HANDLE ALLEGED HARASSMENT: Without the proper and extensive training of managers and supervisors, an employee’s harassment complaint may…

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Yes, Illinois is Still an Employment-At-Will State!

By Nancy E. Joerg / October 12, 2016

Yes, Illinois really is an employment-at-will state. To that point, Illinois courts follow the employment-at-will legal doctrine in deciding “discharge cases.” “Employment at will” means there is mutual freedom by both the employer and the employee to end the employment relationship. This means that the employer can end the employment relationship at any time, for…

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More Aggressive Action By USDOL Against Classifying Workers As Independent Contractors

By Nancy E. Joerg / September 23, 2016

NEW U.S. DOL WEBPAGE ABOUT MISCLASSIFICATION MYTHS: Government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Labor (“U.S. DOL”) continue to try to reign in companies that use independent contractors (and make it more high-risk for these companies to do so). In this spirit, the U.S. DOL recently established a controversial new page on its website…

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Illinois Supreme Court Finds that IDES was Mistaken in Denying Unemployment Benefits

By Nancy E. Joerg / September 8, 2016

In this case, American Airlines looks like a harsh and unreasonable employer. The Claimant was an American Airlines employee who was fired by American Airlines for merely helping a passenger obtain a seating upgrade and also giving the passenger some champagne for the flight. REASON AMERICAN AIRLINES WAS UPSET: American Airlines decided that the Claimant…

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Avoid Religious Discrimination in Your Workplace

By Nancy E. Joerg / August 25, 2016

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law which prohibits employers (with at least 15 employees) from discriminating in the workplace based on such issues as religion. Title VII specifically forbids companies from any of the following actions concerning religion in the workplace: failing to hire or promote applicants or…

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