Posted on December 00, 0000 in Employment Discrimination

According to an article posted by ChicagoPride, an Illinois gay rights group has had some issues with President Obama’s State of the Union address, and, in particularly, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

On February 12^th, President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address and made reference to providing equal benefits for gay and lesbian service members and their families.  While it is true that this is an important issue, there are many other issues facing LGBT Americans.  These issues include the passing of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), advancing comprehensive immigration reform that includes same-gender couples, and striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Executive Director of The Civil Rights Agenda, the largest Illinois LGBT civil rights advocacy organization, leader Anthony Martinez, “many LGBT leaders and community members had hoped that the President would choose this moment to aid in advancing important policy issues affecting LGBT Americans.”

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Employment Lawyer

Ten states raised their minimum wages by 10 to 35 cents per hour in January, according to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune. Minimum wages were increased in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. The increase will boost the incomes of almost 1 million low-paid employees by $190 to $510 per year, a study shows.

The minimum wages were raised in accordance with state laws requiring yearly adjustments to keep pace with inflation. "For a low-wage worker, these increases are a vital protection against rising costs. In states without indexing, inflation slowly erodes the value of minimum wage workers' pay," said David Cooper, an analyst with the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Employment Discrimination

Workers have the protection of local, state and federal laws outlawing discrimination in the workplace.  That covers any protected status such as race, age, physical ability, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and others.  There are different ways that discrimination can be noticed.  Discrimination can be present in many aspects of work, including the hiring and firing process, promotions, work assignments and compensation.

Most recently, a 16 year veteran of the Elgin police department has initiated legal action against his employer and two coworkers.  Phillipp D. Brown claimed in his federal lawsuit that there is a racist culture which exists in his workplace.  There was no discipline for the use of racial slurs, black officers were disenfranchised, and the Ku Klux Klan was celebrated according to the claimant.  Brown has also said that his complaints against discrimination resulted in being passed over for career opportunities.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Employment Lawyer

A recent study listed Peoria as third on a list of the top 25 metros for high-tech employment growth from 2010-2011.

A San Francisco-based nonprofit Engine commissioned the Bay Area Council Economic Institution to analyze U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics data and to identify communities around the country that have experienced noticeable job growth in the tech-sector.

Grant Brewen, CEO of Peoria NEXT, the high-tech collaborative formed 11 years ago, said “When we talk about technology in the greater Peoria region, many people groan as if the words, ‘technology,’ and ‘Peoria,” don’t belong in the same sentence, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

At his office in the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, 801 W. Main St., the business incubatory that opened in 2007, Brewen also added that, “This region has an amazing amount of technology and research activities happening, and every day more and more ideas are put to the test.” He said that the area has “always been known as a manufacturing and agriculture focused region, and the area had to accept the notion that it could also embrace technology commercialization.”

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Employment Discrimination

The Illinois Equal Pay Act, according to the Illinois Department of Labor, “prohibits employers with four or more employees from paying unequal wages to men and women for doing the same or substantially similar work.” The only provision to the law is if the wage difference is based upon a merit, seniority system, or a system measuring earnings by factors other than gender. Any employers found to be in violation of this law are not only responsible to make up the wage difference, but are also subject to civil fines and the payment of legal costs. The law was passed in 2003 and went into effect on January 1, 2004.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Privacy

Some employers have started requiring employees and applicants to provide passwords or otherwise full access to their social media accounts due to the increasing popularity of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The Illinois Legislature has recently put a stop to this practice.

Illinois amended the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act on August 1. It now prevents employers from demanding access to employees’ and job applicants’ social media accounts. The addition to the law will go into effect January 1, 2013.

Employers will be prohibited from requesting or requiring passwords or any other related private account information in order to gain access to personal accounts from employees and applicants. Employers are also not permitted to access social media accounts for any reason, including work-related investigations of misconduct, harassment, or any other legitimate business reason. The law has no exceptions.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Employment Lawyer

According to Chicago Business, unemployment in the United States is down to a seven-year low. The rate fell from 7.9% in October to 7.7% lower in the last four years. This drop in the unemployment rate was seen as a perceived improvement in the economy.

Companies added 146,000 jobs which contributed to the lowering of the unemployment rate. The government has even stated that the super storm Sandy did not have any effect on the figures. These job gains were very similar to the increase that happened last year at the same time. Many believe this increase in jobs occurred because of increased retail jobs for the Christmas season.

An economist at Global Insight believes the market is not improving rapidly but that is also good news. The reason it’s good news is because there is still growth despite many fears that job hunters and employers may have. There are some discouraging signs in some of the numbers because many believe that some of the unemployed may not be looking for employment at this time. This causes the numbers to be incorrect and there may be more people who need work that don’t have it.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Contract Disputes

Knowing whether or not you’re eligible to receive overtime has long been an important issue for employees and employers alike. Businesses commonly label positions as exempt from receiving overtime, when the work that’s being performed in that position should be, by law, non-exempt. According to the Illinois Department of Labor, “when determining whether an exempt or non-exempt from receiving overtime, an employer in Illinois needs to review their employee’s classification against both the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLAS) and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law.” There are several incidences in which employers don’t always take the initiative, and so it’s good for employers to review these laws as well.

According to the Minimum Wage Law, workers 18 and over must paid a minimum of $8.25 per hour; workers under 19 may be paid $.50 per hour less than the adult minimum wage. Most minimum wage jobs are non-exempt for workers 18 and over, which often gets overlooked. Although the nitty-gritty of state regulations differ, according to the University of California a non-exempt job is such:

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Fair Labor Standards Act

“Stand up. Live better” was the mantra heard throughout the nation this holiday weekend as thousands of Wal-Mart workers staged a strike. The walkout hit hundreds of cities on Black Friday, traditionally regarded as the busiest shopping day of the year.  OUR Walmart the worker organization that is coordinating the protests is being backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

At issue for the workers is what they call Wal-Mart’s retaliation against speaking out for better pay, fair schedules and affordable health care. Such retaliation can include shuffling around their shifts, cutting hours and moving them around departments. Currently, Wal-Mart employees start at $7.53 minimum wage. It is well-documented that many Wal-Mart employees need to file for public assistance, such as food stamps, in order to supplement their low income. The low wages of their workers has been compared to the salary of the company’s CEO. A report on ABC News placed CEO Michael Duke’s at $35 million per year.

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 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Contract Disputes

From the beginning of May till the middle of August, the employees at the Joliet Caterpillar plant have been on strike for leverage in a deal that was being sought by Caterpillar.  Over 750 workers decided to go on strike based on Caterpillar’s demand to freeze pay increases among other things.  The pay freeze was set to affect nearly two-thirds of the factory workers for the duration of six years.

The major claim on the side of the workers is that Caterpillar has been chronicling record profits as it was asking for major concessions from its workers.  The company has claimed that the factory’s top-tier workers earn substantially more than their peers in the marketplace.  On average, the top-tier workers earn $26 per hour while the lower-tiers earn in the range of $12 to $19 per hour.  In an effort to remain competitive, they were asking for these concessions.

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