Illinois Employment Legal Questions

You are not legally entitled to FMLA until you have been there for 12 months. However, there is no reason why youi have to resign or why the company would treat you as a new employee when you return to work.  The company must treat your absence the same way they treat any other leave of absence or medical leave of absence for other employees. Otherwise, it can be argued that they are engaging in pregancy discrimination.  Ask the company for a copy of his employee handbook and copies of its written leave and medical leave of absence policies.  You may then want to consider meeting with an employment law attorney to further explore this matter.... Read More

First, your husband should have workers' compensation representation as promptly as possible. If the employer fires him in retaliation for pursuing the claim, that is wrongful. That said, there may be a basis to fire him if there is a cause. For example, if company policy dictated that he should not have picked up the compressor, then there may be a basis for the firing that is not strictly retaliatory. All this would be best discussed in conjunction with the representation in the workers' compensation claim.... Read More

I am sorry for your loss. Begin by looking at your husband's records. Assuming he had an attorney, contact the attorney. If not, you should at least be able to determine the court and the case number or, if at was an agency complaint (such as the Department of Human Rights or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), then a file number and perhaps contact information. Otherwise, if he sued, you should be able to find a record of the case at the office of the Clerk of the Court for the court in which the lawsuit was filed. Many of the court clerk's have basic case docket information searchable online or you can call to inquire. If it was an agency claim, you can contact the agency and they should be able to help you find the outcome. Again, start with the attorney, if any. It sounds like this should have been investigated some time ago, but at least you can find out the details of where it stood.... Read More

The background would need to be thoroughly evaluated in a consultation. If you have not done so already, try to write out a history of the issues you have had and how you have tried to have them addressed, including the names and positions of supervisors with whom you have tried to address the issues. Make a list of employees and former employees who may be able to confirm any events or who may have had similar experiences.... Read More

If the job elimination and pay cut occured over 2 years ago, your only possible claim would be if those actions were taken in retaliation for some type of protected actiivity you may have engaged in such as having a workers compensation claim, or reporting the company to a goverment agency for some violation.  Otherwise there may not be anything you can do.  Other possible claims, such as age or gender discrimiation have long since expired as you had 300 days to initiate those claims with the EEOC. If you feel it was based on race, you may also have a claim.... Read More

This would indeed be fraud but the fraud would be against the employer, meaning they would need to be the entity to complain about this, UNLESS this is a publicly traded company which would give others the right to complain such as shareholders.  Your right to do anything or what actions you should or could take depends on what your role in the company is (e.g., owner, co-employee, comptroller, etc).... Read More

If you have some type of career service or civil service status protection that gives you the right to a hearing, then you can request this and make this argument.  If you have no right to a hearing and you are an at will employee, then your options are probably very limited.  You can review your handbook or check with HR to verify if you have such a right to a hearing.... Read More

If the new company had a written agreement as part of the buy out to give you and others a position, then you may have a claim.  Otherwise, there would be no legal action you could take unless the new company is just using this as an excuse to not hire you based on any protected classification you might belong to, such as race, gender, age, etc. Also, as to being an independent contractor, you could create your own company and that would probably meet their requests. ... Read More

The employer is limited in its ability to prevent you from talking about work related issues with fellow employees. Work related matters are often deemed protected topics of speech.  But the issue about weddings would not be what is referred to as protected speech.  It is unclear why you were singled out for this when others were not told to refrain from wedding talk.  But your summary of facts does not provide enough detail to determine if there is some other reason for why you are being singled out.  It is probably safer to avoid the subject for now but if you feel you are also being treated differently in other areas, you should discuss this with an employment attorney... Read More

Yes, you would have a claim, but it is not something that can be considered on a site like this. You should start with a consultation so that you can be given the best advice. In the interim continue to follow medical advice. It is important that you not have any gaps in treatment. If you are able to secure any of your medical records, that would be helpful, but do not wait on that arrange a legal consult. You have too much at stake to take risks with delay.... Read More

This depends on what your health issues are and how much time you may need to be off due to the health issues.  If you are considered to have a disability as defined under the ADA (limitations on a major life activity that would last approximately 6 months or longer) and only need to be off for a few weeks or couple of months, then the employer may have to accommodate you.  You would need to consult with an employment law attorney to determine if you would qualify under the protections of the ADA... Read More

It is unusual for the current company to contact your part time job for the reasons you mentioned, but there is no law against it.  Rather, the part time company would be limited in providing anything beyond the fact that you worked there. Since you are an at will employee, the full time company can make this demand that you quit the part time job... Read More

Your question depends on why the employer changed you to salary from hourly, and whether your job is what is referred to as exempt (meaning you are not entitled to overtime) or non exempt.  If you are not in a supervisory or manager position, and do not work as a professional (e.g. accountant), then the employer is required to pay you overtime and cannot avoid that by paying you salary.  If you are an exempt employee, then the employer would be able to change your compensation to salary without any detailed explanation.  The change, however, can only be made prospective from the date he tells you this; he make the change retroactively... Read More

You are absolutely entitled to be paid overtime at the rate of 1 1/2 your hourly pay rate, regardless of whether he is paying you in cash or check.  While the employer could deduct some of your time if you were spending an inordinate amount of time in the washroom, he cannot do this for just taking a few minutes here and there.  You should speak to an employment law attorney to review your situation... Read More

My suggestion is that you address the issue with HR and be ready to explain how uncomfortable and impractical this would be, especially as you get closer to your due date.  You are entitled to certain possible accommodations, but you need to differentiate between dress codes and clothing styles and the exception that should exist for pregnant women when you raise this issue to HR.... Read More

I do not have the background to say whether you are under any legal obligation to report an employer's failure to collect a W-4 to the IRS or another body. Perhaps another attorney will comment. If not, I guess my question would be whether you should do anything. You have a job. Taxes were withheld. If too much was taken, you are entitled to a refund. If not enough was taken, you may have to pay some taxes. You can submit a new federal and state W-4 forms to make sure the correct amount is taken going forward. You may want to consider adjusting for the partial year. Unless there has been some enormous consequence, why cause a stir or create a rift? If it can be handled properly, perhaps you can point out your concerns so that this does not happen with other employees. The employer should regularly be collecting several documents, including the W-4s, a state New Hire Reporting form and the required INS documents to prove that a new hire is eligible to work in the U.S.... Read More

If you can prove that the company knew when they met with you that their statements were false, AND that they knew you were relying on their statements when deciding to leave your prior job, you may have a possible claim against them.  These types of cases are not easy, but they are possible.  It will depend on all the facts. You have provided enough information to warrant meeting with an employment attorney to discuss this in more detail. At that point, you and the attorney can determine if there is enough to make a lawsuit worthwhile, or if it might be better to send a demand letter for either a severance or to obtain the working hours and location you were promised.... Read More

You can file a suit in court or with the Illinois Department of Labor for your back pay.  BUT, it seems that you may have a problem collecting if the company or the owner has no money to pay what you are owed. Although you are referred to as a 1099 employee, that may not be the correct designation and it might be that you should have been classified as an employee and paid appropriately, such as overtime if you worked overtime. See an employment law attorney or file with Ill Dept of Labor... Read More

You would not be entitled to receive workers comp benefits until you are able to look for work.  You may be able to apply before then, but if your program is ending soon, it may be simpler to wait until it is just about to end before submitting the claim. You should also note that there may be laws that protect you against the termination such as the FMLA and ADA.  You may want to talk to an attorney about that to at least explore that issue... Read More

Based on your description of events, it appears that the employer is either favoring his friends or avoiding you because of you are paid more money.  Neither of these motivations violate the law.  Discrimination has to be based on protected classifications such as race, gender, age, national origin, and other such classifications.  Your description of events does not indicate that any of these apply.... Read More

The company cannot refuse to pay you for the work you actually performed.  If the company can claim that it incurred some expenses in hiring and training you which it would not have done had it known about the false information in your CV, there might be a claim they can make for that, but that is not very likely unless they could prove you were not qualified for the job at all in light of this false information.  For example, if you needed to be certified by the state for the job and lied about being certified, that might create problems for you.   Needless to say, falsifying a resume is never a good idea and you should correct that ASAP... Read More

If you are paid hourly, or if you are in a non-managerial position and should be paid hourly even if you are not, then you would be entilted to additional pay, and perhaps overtime pay.  These are very fact intensive issues so you should meet with an employment law attorney who specializes in wage and overtime cases to review your case in more detail.... Read More

More information is needed to answer your question.  If you are worried that you may be sued individually for these issues, generally speaking, as long as you are not directly involved in these acts, you would normally be safe.  But there are exceptions.  If these are criminal issues, or if you are part of the decision process for not paying wages to employees, then you might be individually liable,  If you are worried that the company may retaliate against you for trying to complain about these issues, there are some laws that protect you against retaliation... Read More