by Ericka J. Thomas and Brian Johnston Illinois recently enacted a sweeping paid leave law that experts call the nation’s strongest state policy yet. The Paid Leave for All Workers Act (“PLAWA”) entitles all employees in Illinois (with limited exceptions) to accrue up to 40 hours of paid time off annually for any purpose. The Act became effective on January …

by Adam Hudoba A federal district court in the Northern District of Illinois recently ruled that COVID screening activities were not compensable work time. This decision provides clarification on whether employers need to compensate for COVID screenings. In Johnson v. Amazon.com Services, LLC, Amazon’s warehouse employees’ job duties ordinarily included moving boxes, stacking packages, and loading boxes. No. 23 C …

by Michael Castaldo III It is standard practice for public bodies to keep written minutes of all their closed session meetings, along with verbatim recording. But what is the appropriate procedure once closed session minutes are created? The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (“PAC”) recently took up that question in a binding opinion. In that case, a Village Trustee …

by Maureen Anichini Lemon Public Act 103-0473 recently revised Article 13A of the School Code to allow schools to “immediately” transfer students determined to be subject to suspension or expulsion to an alternative school program. Nevertheless, students remain entitled to the same due process rights (including a hearing before the school board) that they receive prior to an expulsion. Beginning …

by Maureen Anichini Lemon The Illinois General Assembly recently made several changes to the Illinois Bullying Prevention Law. 105 ILCS 5/27-23.7. In a nutshell, the Law prohibits bullying on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, military status, sexual orientation, gender-related identity or expression, unfavorable discharge from …

by Hayley Loufek On January 19, 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court issued its decision declaring constitutional Public Act 101-610 (the “Act”), which consolidated the assets of downstate local police and firefighter pension funds into two statewide investment funds. The purpose of the Act is “to streamline investments and eliminate unnecessary and redundant administrative costs, thereby ensuring more money is available …