The following op-ed was by ITLA President Mark D. Prince was published in the Peoria Journal Star on January 5, 2019.
Spotlight: Workers’ comp reform needed to reduce premium rates
In the span of less than a decade, the price paid by Illinois employers for workers’ compensation insurance dropped from third highest in the nation, as compared to other states, down to 22nd on the list.
Tesla’s long-simmering relationship with the United Auto Workers is heating up again.
As part of an ongoing effort to organize the electric automaker’s Fremont, California, assembly factory, the union has filed a string of unfair labor-practice charges and safety complaints with the National Labor Relations Board. These include allegations that…… (click here to read the full article via CNBC)
If you get a call that looks like it’s from the Social Security Administration (SSA), think twice. Scammers are spoofing SSA’s 1-800 customer service number to try to get your personal information. Spoofing means…. (click here for the full article from the FTC website)
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is the only federal law aimed at protecting expecting mothers at work. It is four paragraphs long and 40 years old. It says that a company has to accommodate pregnant workers’ requests only if ….(click here to read the full article via the New York Times)
On January 1, 2015, the Illinois Pregnancy Accommodation Law, an amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act, went into effect, providing greater protection for pregnant employees. Now all employers in the State of Illinois are required to make reasonable accommodations for “pregnancy, childbirth, or medical or common conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth” upon request by the affected employee. The new amendment expands the protections of prior disability discrimination laws in Illinois, which did not cover accommodations for most pregnant employees who were otherwise healthy. Under the new law, virtually every pregnant employee is entitled to a pregnancy-related accommodation. The Illinois Pregnancy Discrimination Law and Illinois Human Rights Act are State laws which provide protections to pregnant employees in Illinois in addition to those protections under the Federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act under Title VII.
In order to assert your rights under the Illinois Pregnancy Accommodation Law, you must make a request for a reasonable accommodation. Upon that request, your employer may require you to provide documentation from your health care provider regarding the need for the requested accommodation. However, your employer may only require your doctor to provide the medical justification for the requested accommodation, a description of the types of accommodations which are medically advisable, the date when the accommodations became medically advisable, and the probable duration of the need for the accommodation. Both the employee and the employer are required to engage in timely, good faith, and meaningful exchange to determine effective and reasonable accommodations.
Once you have requested a reasonable accommodation for your pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition and provided the relevant documentation from your health care provider, it is unlawful for your employer to deny your accommodation request unless it can show that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the ordinary operation of the business. An “undue hardship” on the employer means an accommodation that would be prohibitively expensive or disruptive to the employer’s business when considering the nature and cost of the accommodation; the overall financial resources and size of the employer; the number of employees and location of the employer’s facilities; and the nature of the employer’s operations.
SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Bruce Rauner reappointed 11 arbitrators to the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission (IWCC), on Tuesday… (click here to read the full press release).
Attorney General Madigan today issued guidance to address the specific impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, on public sector unions in Illinois and clarify the law for Illinois public bodies, school districts and other public employers. Click Here to read the full article via the Illinois Attorney General‘s website.
UPS reached a tentative five-year contract with the Teamsters union that includes pay increases and could pave the way for Sunday delivery.
The Teamsters confirmed negotiators reached an agreement that would raise the minimum wage for….click here to read the full article via USA TODAY!
Among those in the healthcare industry, it is common knowledge that threats of violence ranging from verbal to physical to sexual abuse come with the territory. In fact, violence in the healthcare industry “accounts for almost a quarter of all violence at work………” click here to view the full article from the Illinois Nurses’ Association
The Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education is presenting its 5th Annual Workers’ Compensation Institute program featuring Appellate Court Justice William Holdridge, Honorable retired Judge Keith Brown, Workers Compensation Chair Joann Fratianni, Commissioner Michael Brennan, Arbitrator Stephen Friedman, Katz Friedman Attorneys Philip Bareck, Frank Bertuca and David Barish along with other leading lawyers in the Workers Compensation Community.
Please consider attending this seminar on March 1st or watching the live webcast. Click here for more details.
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