Two new employment statutes recently passed by the Illinois state legislature will substantially change how when and how employers conduct criminal background checks of job applicants and address the needs of pregnant employees. As the January 1, 2015 effective date of these statutes approaches, Illinois employers should ensure that their policies and practices are in compliance with each law.
Army Cpl. Robert Hellin served tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea. He also happens to be a Juggalo, or follower of the hardcore hip‐hop band Insane Clown Posse. Hellin, who sports several visible Posse tattoos, worries the FBI’s characterization of Juggalos as a “hybrid gang” subjects him to military discipline, including involuntary discharge.
Dennis Nebus wants his son circumcised. When Chase was born on Halloween 2010, his mother did, too. Now, however, the unmarried Florida parents find themselves in court over this decision and, as to be expected in a circumcision dispute, the case has several wrinkles.
Like peppering a taut direct examination with a few leading questions or throwing some argument into a dramatic opening statement, an attorney vouching for a client or witness before the jury is improper, but rarely does it lead to much trouble.
“True friends stab you in the front,” noted Oscar Wilde, and a recent Illinois decision vividly illustrates the famed playwright’s point. Plaintiffs Brian and Nicole Kelly were not only friends with defendants Larry Orrico and Renae Yockey, they lived two doors down from them in suburban Itasca.
Some manufacturers will initially consider a sales rep’s commission claim with sympathy, others with reasonableness, and perhaps most with nervous skepticism. Then there is The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. (now known as McGraw Hill Financial, Inc.), a leading publisher of elementary school textbooks.
He’s not a big name in Chicago, but Vito J. Lopez is notorious in New York. Once considered among the state’s most powerful politicians, the former chairman of the Brooklyn Democrats and longtime state assemblyman resigned from office in disgrace last year after two more of his ex-staffers filed sexual harassment allegations against the 72-year-old pol.
A great deal of the discussion surrounding the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) deals with large companies and the burden to “big business.” It is estimated that 96% of all businesses in the United States have 50 or fewer employees and employ nearly 34 million workers[1]. For these companies and their smaller counterparts (those having 25 or fewer employees), there is a great deal of confusion about the ACA.
Just in time for spring training, baseball litigation seems to be on the upswing. Exhibit A is the suit filed by three ex-farmhands on Feb. 7 in San Francisco federal court alleging Major League Baseball, three of its teams and the commissioner “have preyed upon minor leaguers, who are powerless to combat the collusive power of the MLB cartel.”
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