Chicago Business Attorney Blog

Guidelines for terminating an at will employee in Illinois

At will employment is one of the most common forms of employer-employee relationship in Illinois.  If an employee is at will, he or she can be fired on any reasonable grounds, and the employer is not required to give the employee any warning leading up to termination. At will employment is not as simple as it appears on its face, and below I have outlined some of the major protections offered to at will employees in Illinois.

Termination Can’t Be Discriminatory

A Limited Liability Company, LLC, is an entity created by state statute.  What makes LLCs so attractive is that LLC members have limited personal liability for all of the LLC’s debts.  A LLC can be taxed as a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietor, depending on elections made by the LLC and the number of members. A LLC is always classified under federal law as one of these types of taxable entities.

A multi-member LLC, that has at least two members, can either be a partnership or a corporation.  To be treated as a corporation, a LLC has to file Form 8832, Entity Classification Election, and elect to be taxed as a corporation.  A multi-member LLC that does not elect to be classified as a corporation under federal law will be classified as a partnership.

A single member LLC can be either a corporation or a single member “disregarded entity.”  Again, to be treated under federal law as a corporation, the single member LLC has to file Form 8832 and elect to be classified as a corporation.  A single member LLC that does not elect to be a corporation will be classified by existing federal guidelines as a “disregarded entity” which is taxed as a sole proprietor for income tax purposes.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in two recent cases clarify what is necessary in order for an employee or former employee to bring and be successful in a discrimination or retaliation case against a former employer, including small business owners.

In University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, the Supreme Court held that a “but for” standard applies to discrimination cases. A jury must find that “but for” a supervisor’s desire to retaliate against an employee or former employee the discriminatory conduct or action would not have occurred.

A key change from this case is the insertion of the word “supervisor” and the clarification of who is considered a supervisor in these types of cases. The Court held that for purposes of a discrimination case, a supervisor is an individual who has broad managerial authority such as the ability to hire employees and terminate employment.

About Me: I’m George “Geo” Bellas, a passionate business litigation attorney sharing my experience in trial law.  I am the Principal and Senior Partner of Bellas & Wachowski – Attorneys at Law, based in Park Ridge, Illinois. I fight for the rights of business owners.  All of my clients are small businesses and owners of small businesses.

Lawyers protect rights and freedoms.  That is what I do for a living, and I am proud of it.  A lawyer is just one piece to the trial process, and the entire trial process is important to our ordered society. The trial process seeks the truth, which is ultimately defined by 12 ordinary citizens who listen to both sides of the case and decide what is right and what is wrong.

Each time a jury awards compensation to an injured person, it is speaking for the individual person against interests which otherwise would not be held accountable.  It is lawyers, such as myself, who stand with the individual in court seeking to hold others accountable. The system as a whole is not perfect, but it does attempt to achieve justice through a process that has as its ultimate goal seeking of truth. I am proud to be a lawyer.