by Joseph Miller III and Hayley Loufek On August 6, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed into law the PFAS Reduction Act (Public Act 102-0290, formerly Senate Bill 561). The Act puts some restrictions on the use of Class B firefighting foam containing intentionally added “PFAS” (perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances) for training and testing purposes. PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals …
by Carolyn Welch Clifford The consolidation of downstate police and fire pension fund investment assets continues in earnest. Recently, the Firefighter Pension Investment Fund of Illinois (“FPIF”) started the first wave of transfers from firefighters’ pension funds on October 1, 2021, despite pending litigation. Meanwhile, the Illinois Police Officer Pension Investment Fund (“IPOPIF”) continued to hire professional consultants and advisors …
by Maureen A. Lemon Ten years ago, Illinois was the first state to pass Erin’s Law. See 105 ILCS 5/10-23.13. The law is named after Erin Merryn, a child sexual abuse survivor, activist, and author whose life mission is to combat child sexual abuse. Erin grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, where her school taught about “Stranger Danger.” Yet, …
by Michael Castaldo III 2021 has been quite the year for the Illinois Equal Pay Act (820 ILCS 112/1 et seq.). Generally speaking, the Act prohibits employers with four or more employees from paying unequal wages to men and women for doing the same or substantially similar work, except if the wage difference is based upon a seniority system, a …
by John E. Motylinski On September 24, 2021, the Illinois Department of Public Health (“IDPH”) issued emergency rules aimed at implementing Governor Pritzker’s vaccination mandate for EMS personnel. Largely, the rules are duplicative of the Governor’s September 3, 2021, order: Fire protection districts and municipalities must require their EMS personnel to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or to submit to …
By Maureen A. Lemon On Friday, September 17, 2021, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and Governor Pritzker each took emergency action to address several pandemic-related topics facing Illinois school districts. Late in the day, ISBE filed proposed Emergency Rules regarding Mandatory Vaccinations for School Personnel, https://www.isbe.net/Documents/18389_23-6RG-E.pdf. Later in the day, Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2021-24, https://coronavirus.illinois.gov/resources/executive-orders/display.executive-order-number-24.2021.html. requiring …
by Maureen A. Lemon On Thursday, August 26, 2021, Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2021-20 (COVID-19 Executive Order 87) mandating that all school district personnel are vaccinated against the virus. All school personnel are expected to have the first dose of a two-dose vaccine series or a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine by September 5, 2021 — 10 days after the Executive …
by Douglas S. Dorando The COVID-19 pandemic has placed fire & EMS personnel on the front lines of the response in providing care to patients impacted with the virus, resulting in thousands of documented cases among fire personnel around the country and directly resulted in the deaths of more than 200 fire personnel. Over the last several months, individual fire …
By Maureen A. Lemon Welcome, August! While your focus continues to be on public health guidance to reopen schools in the fall, several recent pieces of legislation out of Springfield, Illinois, will also affect your upcoming school year. Below, we have summarized several bills that became law in July and are effective immediately. On September 14, 2021, we will review …
by Craig D. Hasenbalg and Michael Castaldo III Whenever a taxpayer sells business or investment property at a price that is higher than the taxpayer’s basis in the property, capital gain tax must be paid on the difference. However, Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) provides an exception to this rule and allows a taxpayer to postpone paying …
