On October 4, 2017, the United States Department of Justice, through Attorney General Jeff Sessions, issued a memorandum rescinding an Obama-era policy protecting transgender employees from employment discrimination pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Attorney General […]
City Council Passes “Hands Off, Pants On” and Automated External Defibrillator Ordinances for Chicago Hotel
October 13, 2017
On October 11, 2017, the Chicago City Council passed the so-called “Hands Off, Pants On” Ordinance requiring Chicago hotel employers to provide all housekeepers and restroom workers who work alone with mobile notification devises or “panic buttons” that summon hotel security […]
Employee Fingerprinting and the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act: Class Action Suits Filed
October 9, 2017
On September 29, 2017, a group of employees at Peacock Foods filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that the company’s collection of employee fingerprints for time-tracking purposes violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The Act, which was enacted in 2008, requires […]
October Immigration Update: H-1B premium processing, new interview requirements, and I-9 update
October 4, 2017
H-1B premium processing restoration: After temporarily suspending premium processing on all H-1B petitions in early April 2017, USCIS has incrementally restored this benefit over the last 6 months to various application categories. On October 3, 2017, the agency announced that […]
Just like the leaves turning colors, you can count on a flurry of court filings from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) every September as the agency rushes to get cases on file before the end of its fiscal year, […]
New Timeline for Responding to Student Records Requests
October 3, 2017
Governor Rauner recently signed into law changes to the Illinois School Student Records Act. The changes in P.A. 100—532 create new procedures for responding to parents’ requests to inspect or copy their child’s permanent and temporary school records. These changes went […]
Take Two: The Supreme Court Again to Decide the Constitutionality of Public Sector Union “Fair Share Fees”
October 2, 2017
As we previously reported, on July 2015, the United States Supreme Court decided to hear an appeal of a case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit regarding the legality of “fair share” fees for public employees. […]
New OCR Title IX Dear Colleague Letter Withdraws Obama Era Guidance
September 27, 2017
Late last week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced the intention of the Department of Education to overhaul the way it addressed sexual misconduct on college and university campuses, as well as in K-12 schools. As we previously noted, DeVos’s recent […]