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Illinois

AG recommends no pension for convicted prisons director

11/12/2008

Donald Snyder, former director of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), forfeited his right to pension benefits when he was convicted of engaging in “a scheme to defraud the people of the state of Illinois,” Attorney General Lisa Madigan said.

Can a ‘bad’ motive firing of an at-will employee backfire?

11/12/2008

Marsha Bartel was an award-winning NBC journalist working on the “Dateline NBC” television show. NBC fired her, claiming it was laying off staff. She sued, alleging NBC had fired her for complaining that the show was not adhering to NBC’s internal ethical standards. The case offers some important reminders about how to handle termination of at-will employees.

Our applicant turns out to be a transgender—can we revoke the job offer?

11/12/2008

Q. Our company has just made a job offer to a highly qualified man to work in our company’s IT department. During the final stages of our interviewing process, the candidate told us that “she” is transgendered —that she would be transitioning from male to female. We believe employing a transgender employee could be very disruptive and cause a morale problem in the company. Can we rescind the offer based on the candidate’s transgender status?

How must employees ask for FMLA leave?

11/12/2008

Q. Does an employee have to say that she wants to “take FMLA leave” in order to satisfy the requirement that she notify her employer of her “intent to take leave”? What must an employee tell an employer to preserve her right to take FMLA leave?

Is it legal to ask departing workers to waive FMLA claims?

11/12/2008

Q. In our severance agreements, we typically require a terminated employee to waive all claims, including FMLA claims that could have arisen while the employee worked for us. I’ve now heard that it is improper for employers to get waivers of FMLA rights from existing employees. What should we do?

Employment law in the Obama administration: What to expect

11/06/2008

With a Democratic-controlled Congress, President-elect Barack Obama will likely push for these employment law priorities …

Both love and justice are blind: Consider banning boss/employee relationships

10/28/2008

Does your handbook and employment policy specify that supervisors and subordinates shouldn’t develop personal, romantic or sexual relationships? If not, consider adding such a provision. It can go a long way to avoiding potential lawsuits when those relationships go bad.

Ask for clear notice of FMLA condition

10/08/2008

Employees who need FMLA leave to deal with serious health conditions are supposed to let their employers know. Employees don’t have to use the words “FMLA leave” when they request it, but they must give their employers enough information to reach the reasonable conclusion that the employee has a serious health condition. Simply calling in sick isn’t enough …

Investigate, follow up on all harassment cases

10/08/2008

Employees who complain about sexual or other kinds of harassment shouldn’t be left to wonder whether their complaints are being investigated. Employers should apply sound investigation procedures and then follow up with the employee who came forward to let her know the result. That’s true even if the company isn’t going to take any action …

State agencies grapple with personnel moves to meet budget

10/08/2008

State department heads have taken different approaches to achieve the $2 billion in budget cuts mandated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich for this fiscal year. The Department of Children and Family Services cut 179 positions and planned to transfer 127 workers to vacant spots in more-urgent areas …