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Illinois officially has made it easier for certain workers who contract COVID-19 to claim it is an occupational disease for purposes of collecting workers’ compensation. On June 5, 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law House Bill 2455, which amends the Illinois Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act (820 ILCS 310/et seq.) with respect to such claims.

In April 2020, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission passed an emergency rule creating this same rebuttable presumption, but quickly withdrew the rule after it was challenged in court.

This amendment (codified as Public Act 0633) creates a rebuttable presumption that the exposure to and contraction of COVID-19 by a “COVID-19 first responder or front-line worker” arises out of and in the course of the employee’s employment, and is causally connected to the hazards or exposures of the employee’s employment.
Continue Reading It’s official: Illinois law presumes COVID-19 is a workplace injury for essential workers

On April 23, 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced he would be extending the state stay-at-home order through May 30, 2020. The new extended order, which goes into effect on May 1, 2020, imposes a number of new restrictions, while lessening others.

New restrictions and requirements

  • Face covering required in public settings: Illinois residents over the age of two who are able to medically tolerate a face covering are required to wear face coverings when in public places where they are unable to maintain 6-foot distancing. Face coverings are also required in public indoor spaces such as stores.
  • Employers must provide employees with face coverings and PPE: Employers that are Essential Businesses and Operations and those engaged in Minimum Basic Operations, as those terms are defined in the order, must provide employees with face coverings and require employees to wear face coverings where maintaining a 6-foot distance is not possible at all times. Additionally, when the circumstances require, employers must provide employees with other personal protective equipment (PPE) in addition to face coverings.
  • Essential stores must provide employees with face coverings and follow additional distancing requirements: Consistent with the new required measure that employers provide face coverings/PPE to employees, retail stores designated as Essential Businesses and Operations under the executive order must provide face coverings to all employees who are not able to maintain 6-foot social distancing at all times. They must also, to the greatest extent possible:
    • Limit occupancy at 50% of store capacity or at the occupancy limits set by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity;
    • Set up store aisles to be one-way where practicable and identify the one-way aisles with signage and/or floor markings;
    • Inform customers about social distancing requirements established by the extended order through signs, announcements, and advertisements; and
    • Discontinue the use of reusable bags.
  • Manufacturers must follow social distancing requirements and take other precautions: In addition to following the social distancing requirements set forth in the order, manufacturers that continue to operate must take other appropriate precautions, which may include:
    • Providing face coverings to employees who are unable to maintain 6-foot social distancing at all times;
    • Staggering shifts;
    • Reducing line speeds;
    • Operating only essential lines;
    • Ensuring all spaces where employees may gather allow for social distancing; and
    • Downsizing operations to the extent necessary to allow for social distancing and a safe workplace.
  • Work-from-home encouraged, poster required: All businesses must evaluate which employees are able to work from home, and are encouraged to implement work-from-home arrangements when possible. If employees must physically report to a work-site, employers must post the guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health and Office of the Illinois Attorney General regarding workplace safety during the COVID-19 emergency.

Continue Reading Face coverings required in Illinois, and other updates to stay-at-home order

As the use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions grows, regulations on the practice will increase as well.  Illinois has kicked off these regulations with the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act, which requires employers to disclose and job applicants’ consent before using artificial intelligence on candidate videos when used to assess an individual’s fitness …

Over the past few years, 31 states have legalized some form of medical or recreational marijuana use and this wave of legalization continues to grow. Since there has been no consistent approach taken related to the intersection of legalized use and employment, employers must stay vigilant about recent developments in each location in which they operate.

To assist in navigating these waters, below is a summary of the recent enactments in Illinois and Nevada, as well as an update as to newly published judicial interpretations of the medical marijuana laws in New Jersey and Michigan.
Continue Reading New marijuana laws and court cases continue to provide inconsistent guidance for employers: a summary of recent developments in Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey and Michigan

A reminder to all employers with any employees who work in Chicago or elsewhere in Cook County, Illinois: ordinances mandating that you provide paid sick leave to employees who work in Chicago or Cook County take effect July 1, 2017.

As we previously reported here, under the Chicago Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (and the almost identical Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance), employers must begin awarding every employee who works in Chicago or Cook County one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked, up to at least 40 hours of paid sick leave per year (plus up to at least 20 unused rollover hours from the previous year). Nearly any employee who works at least 80 hours within any 120-day period in either jurisdiction qualifies, but employers may require the employee to wait up to 180 days after starting employment before they may use accrued paid sick leave.  Employers can avoid the carryover and accrual requirements by “frontloading” their employees with equal or greater leave at the start of each calendar or benefit year.

Recently released interpretative rules from the City and County have added the following clarifications:

  • According to the City’s rules, “[i]n the case of a conflict between the [City’s] Ordinance and the Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance, the [City’s] Ordinance shall prevail within the City.”
  • After the first year of employment, an employee may use a maximum of 60 hours of paid sick leave (unless the employer has a more generous policy)
  • An employee may use paid sick leave in one-hour increments, unless the employer establishes and disseminates a written minimum-use policy
  • An employer is not required to allow paid sick leave use while the employee is on disciplinary leave
  • Paid sick leave must be paid no later than the next regular payroll period beginning after the leave was used
  • The following employees are not covered under either ordinance:
    • Employees working in construction covered by a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”)
    • Employees covered by a CBA entered into before July 1, 2017
    • Employees covered by a CBA entered into on or after July 1, 2017, and that explicitly waives their rights under the ordinance(s)
  • Immigration status does not affect an employee’s rights under either ordinance
  • A private right of action is possible under both ordinances

Continue Reading Chicago-Area Employers: Paid Sick Leave Begins July 1

A new law will make it much more costly for Illinois employers that fail to pay employees their earned wages, including final compensation such as accrued but unused vacation pay.  The Illinois Wage Theft Enforcement Act, S.B. 3568 (the "Act"), signed into law July 30, 2010, increases both civil and criminal penalties for violating the state’s wage payment law, imposes new risks for employers who ignore or unsuccessfully challenge employees’ wage claims, and creates a new cause of action for employees who face retaliation for having complained about unpaid wages.  The Act will take effect January 1, 2011.

Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act

The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (the "Wage Payment Act") requires employers to pay employees their earned wages no later than a specified period following the date on which the wages are earned, and to pay employees who resign or are terminated all wages they earned through their last day of employment, no later than the first regular payroll date thereafter.  The law applies to every employee in Illinois, exempt or non-exempt, regardless of the employer’s size or location.  "Earned wages" includes not only an employee’s salary or hourly pay, but also any earned bonuses or vacation pay.  With some limited exceptions such as tax withholdings and authorized deductions for benefits, the Wage Payment Act also prohibits employers from deducting anything from an employee’s wages, unless the employee signs an authorization at the time of the deduction.  The law also allows employees to recover damages from any corporate officer or agent of an employer who knowingly permits the employer to violate the Wage Payment Act.Continue Reading Illinois Cracks Down on Employers Who Fail to Pay Wages or Vacation Pay

The Illinois Supreme Court has held that under that state’s Human Rights Act (the “Act”), an employer is strictly liable for sexual harassment by any of its supervisors, even if the harasser does not supervise the victim. Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department v. Illinois Human Rights Commission, Nos. 105517 and 105518 consolid. (Apr. 16, 2009). In other words, an employer is automatically responsible if any of its supervisors sexually harasses any of its employees, regardless of whether the supervisor has any direct or indirect authority over the employee.

Facts

A sheriff’s department records clerk complained that a supervisor named Yanor, who did not supervise her, pressed himself on her and kissed her, and asked her a month later if she would go with him to a motel for the night. Two months after that, the clerk received a letter on official stationery of the state public health department which said that she might have been recently exposed to a communicable or sexually transmitted disease according to a confidential source who tested positive. Frantic, the clerk reported the letter to a friend in management at the sheriff’s department. The department investigated and determined that Yanor had written and sent the fraudulent letter. After Yanor explained that he had meant the letter as a joke, the employer suspended him for four days without pay and urged the clerk not to take the matter any further.

Despite that request, the clerk filed a complaint with the Illinois Human Rights Commission, alleging in part that the sheriff’s department had sexually harassed her in violation of the Act. The Commission agreed, finding that Yanor had engaged in a series of acts “that cumulatively constituted a hostile work environment,” and because he was a supervisor, the department was liable for his conduct.Continue Reading Illinois Employers Strictly Liable for Sexual Harassment by All Supervisors, Even Those With No Authority Over Victims

Illinois employers need not pay certain workers’ compensation benefits to employees fired for cause, according to a recent state appellate court decision. Interstate Scaffolding, Inc. v. The Workers’ Compensation Commission, et al., 385 Ill. App. 3d. 1040, 896 N.E. 2d 1132 (3d Dist. 2008).

The case involved an employee injured while working, who then…