If you’ve watched any of the Democratic presidential debates, you might have heard candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang – you know, the guy with the $1,000 per month guaranteed income plan – talk about something called the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” This is a recognition that technology is imploding and changing…
FLSA Changes Protecting Chicago Area Business Owners. The threshold for white-collar employees to be classifiable as “exempt” rose about 50% to $684 per week (about $35,568 per year) on January 1, 2020. Employers will need to make adjustments to ensure they’re compliant with this updated rule, under the Fair Labor…
The Illinois Freedom to Work Act, which prevents non-governmental employers from requiring that low-wage employees enter into non-compete agreements, has begun to impact case law in the past three years since it was enacted. Employers would be wise to take note. Chicago Business Lawyers The act, which defines “low-wage employees”…
We all get them … and we get them all the time … and we are all tired of them … and we all cuss them out! Many of those calls are illegal. Some of the robocalls you may have agreed to receive when you signed up for certain services…
Can a business ban guns from the business and workplace? If a customer walked into your retail business or professional office carrying a gun, would you be comfortable with that, or would it feel a little too much like the O.K. Corral? What if they were carrying their weapon openly?…
Non-competition agreements (“non-competes”) have long been viewed as viable means for Chicago area business owners to prohibit former employees from taking confidential information and using it to unfairly compete against the business. Non-competes are actually prohibited in some states, but not Illinois. Illinois allows the use of non-competes with some…
Illinois Cannabis Laws create new issues for Property Owners Cannabis may be legal in Illinois after January 1, but it is still illegal under federal laws. This will make for some interesting discrepancies in how the laws will be applied. Federal law remains in direct conflict with the new Illinois…
Lung injuries related to vaping began to appear on hospitals’ radar screens last summer, and the e-cigarette industry has been singed by criticism ever since. Chicago Business Lawyer George Bellas warns about health issues with vaping The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported 42 deaths based on…
The new Illinois laws legalizing cannabis has a benefit to old stoners – expungement of criminal records. Among the several provisions of the Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act which takes effect on January 1 are provisions that include some dramatic criminal justice reforms. The most important of these provisions…
Is Your Website ADA Compliant? UPDATED APRIL 14, 2021: A federal appeals court in California has held that the protections of the ADA do not apply to websites. Its ruling also finds that Title III applies to tangible, physical places. It does not apply to intangible places such as a website. …