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Illinois Limits the Enforceability of Restrictive Covenants

by Nicole Young On January 1, 2022, an employee-leaning amendment to the Illinois Freedom to Work Act (IFWA) took effect. In response to a growing national concern over lower-paid employees being burdened with post-employment restrictive covenants, the IFWA was amended to determine the enforceability of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements based on employee compensation. Specifically, non-compete agreements with employees earning less than $75,000 annually are now unenforceable, and employers are prohibited from entering into non-solicitation agreements with employees who earn less...

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One of the Many Lessons Learned from the Pandemic: This Country is in Need of Guaranteed Paid Leave for Workers

By Katherine E. Stryker In a country that has historically provided minimal legal protections for workers, the pandemic has certainly exposed how vulnerable our workforce truly is and the need for reform going forward. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), which went into effect in April of last year, was a step in the right direction. The FFCRA provided workers two main benefits: two weeks of paid sick leave due to COVID-19 related reasons and expanded paid leave under...

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Pragmatic Changes Arrive for Illinois Practitioners

By Alexis D. Martin When it comes time for briefing, Illinois practitioners will find a dearth of State case law as compared with federal decisions. In part, this is due to the fact that federal trial courts may have their opinions published whereas Illinois trial courts rarely issue written opinions, let alone have them easily accessible online. Considering that the Circuit Court of Cook County – the nation’s second largest unified court system – still uses handwritten orders and carbon...

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Employment Policy Goals under the Biden Administration

By Madeline K. Engel During his presidential campaign and since his election in November 2020, President Biden has stressed his commitment to strengthening workers’ rights and improving work conditions in the U.S. He identified three primary focus areas to that end: Tamping down corporate abuses of power in the employment context; incentivizing workforce organization and collective bargaining; and improving the standards for pay, benefits, and protections at all workplaces. Chief among these, he has voiced support for increasing the federal...

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President Biden Confronts a Packed Judiciary, Frozen in Time

By Lorrie T. Peeters In our 2017 newsletter, we observed that there were then 130 judicial vacancies to fill on the federal courts. We noted that the unusually high number was largely due to the Republican-controlled senate blocking dozens of President Obama’s appointees in the final years of his administration. Unsurprisingly, former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans were busy over the past four years, pushing a steady stream of predominantly young, White, male judges through to lifetime appointments...

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