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Good 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…
Read MoreTwo of the five deadliest mass shootings in the United States have taken place over the last few months. On October 1, 2017, fifty-eight (58) people were killed at the Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. In that shooting, a gunman fired from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on…
Read MoreWhile the author is seventy-two (72) and probably will be out of the workforce in a few years (?), according to the United States Census Bureau (National Population Projection Statistics), Employers will be facing some interesting changes and challenges in their future workforces. Those “changes and challenges” will not only deal with technological issues, but…
Read MoreYour company utilizes electronic timekeeping software, whether purchased for internal use or provided by a third party payroll service. The system is operating, so it must be doing so legally, right? Not necessarily. On several recent occasions I discovered, much to the dismay of my clients, that the timekeeping system they have been utilizing for…
Read MoreYet 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 MoreEffective as of June 1, 2018, the Illinois Responsible Job Creation Act, which amends the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (820 ILCS 175/1 et seq.), is intended to strengthen and stiffen the Temporary Staffing Industry Regulation. It is alleged that there are over five hundred thousand (500,000) Temporary Workers in the State of Illinois…
Read More“The ADA is an antidiscrimination statute, not a medical-leave entitlement.” These are the words employers have been waiting more than 25 years to hear, since the date the ADA first became effective, and even more so after the passage of the Family Medical Leave Act in 1993. They address an issue that has vexed employers…
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 MoreA Chicago law firm, Edelson P.C., that bills itself as the “Plaintiff Class Action Powerhouse” has launched three (3) separate class action lawsuits in the Cook County court system for what is alleged as violations of the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14/1 et seq.). This Act, which became effective as of October 3,…
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