Labor & Employment

Our Labor & Employment group provides the full range of legal counsel to employers nationwide in dealing with employee related issues. We represent publicly and privately held companies; not-for-profit organizations; financial services firms; governmental entities; health care providers; law firms and other professional service organizations; and insurance, manufacturing, real estate and development, and retail businesses.

Much of our practice is devoted to proactive counseling on employment and labor law matters, including affirmative action, discipline and discharge, human resources policies and practices, wage and hour audits and other matters, workplace safety, and managing multijurisdictional employment laws. We also draft and review employment, separation and non-competition agreements, employee handbooks, and employer policies and procedures.

Employee Benefits

Our employee benefits attorneys counsel clients on complex or adversarial employee benefits problems. We are particularly skilled at assisting businesses with:

• ESOPs
• executive compensation and employment agreements
• health and welfare plans
• qualified retirement plans
• other employee benefits

We are equally adept at representing commercial and non-profit businesses, individuals and local governmental entities in employee benefits-related litigation and before administrative agencies.

Employment Litigation

Our employment attorneys have extensive experience in defending employers in employment law litigation involving claims brought under:

• federal and state wage and hour laws
• Title VII
• the Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• the Americans with Disabilities Act
• other federal, state and local anti-discrimination legislation (including complex claims brought by individuals or as class actions)

We defend clients in multiple forums including federal, state or municipal agencies, and in federal and state trial and appellate courts. Our employment attorneys skillfully represent employers through all phases of litigation. One Hinshaw partner is regularly engaged by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to speak before and present educational seminars to employers as part of the EEOC's technical compliance initiative. Another is co-author of the BNA book, "Employment Termination," a valuable research tool used by many law firms and law schools.

Employers' Risk

We have a nationwide team of attorneys who have significant experience in defending self-insured employers in workers' compensation matters, including:

• providing comprehensive risk management programs and safety related legal advice,
• counseling clients on all areas of workers' compensation, including exposure claims and complex compensability disputes,
• handling the most complex and high-exposure workers' compensation, class action and third-party liability cases involving fatalities, catastrophic injuries and toxic tort exposures.

Labor Relations & Collective Bargaining

Several Hinshaw attorneys devote much of their practices to labor law issues. We regularly represent employers in matters before the National Labor Relations Board, in federal mediation and in arbitration. Working closely with our clients, we regularly:

• respond to union organizing drives and election campaigns;
• represent employers in secondary boycott issues;
• advise clients regarding strikes, picket line issues and violence; and
• represent management in all phases of collective bargaining negotiations.

News

Blog Posts

Employment Law Observer

• SCOTUS Will Decide Whether Title VII Protects LGBTQ Workers
• In a Win for Labor Unions, Illinois Governor Pritzker Signs Bill Prohibiting Municipalities from Establishing Right-to-Work Zones
• DOL Proposes Tweaks to FLSA Regular Rate Regulations, Changes Won't Impose New Regulatory Requirements
• Eleventh Circuit Clarifies Legal Standard in Evaluating Similarly Situated Individuals
• Employee Participation in an Employer-Sponsored Volunteer Program is Not Compensable, DOL Says
• Court Orders EEOC to Resume Collection of Pay Data
• Why the ADA Can Make it Difficult for a Direct Supervisor to Discharge an Employee
• The End of the Saga of DOL's Proposed Changes to FLSA Overtime Rules?
• It's Legal—Local Ordinances Can Raise Minimum Wage Above Minnesota State Statute
• Minimum Wage in Illinois Set to Nearly Double by 2025
• It's Risky Business for California Employers when Scheduling Employees On-Call
• EEOC Announces EEO-1 Survey Deadline Extension Due to Government Shutdown
• Applicants Not Protected by ADEA's Disparate Impact Theory, According to 7th Circuit
• Following Supreme Court Decision, It's High Time for Illinois Employers to Review Workplace Biometric Privacy Issues
• U.S. Supreme Court Puts the Brakes on Mandatory Arbitration, Holds Transportation Workers Exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act
• Wisconsin Court of Appeals Green Lights Right-to-Work Law
• Tilting The Battlefield: NLRB Makes it Easier for Unions to Challenge use of Permanent Replacements
• The Seventh Circuit Clarifies Evidentiary Standards in Employment Discrimination Cases
• Illinois Requires Child Bereavement Leave
• Court Dismisses Case Filed Under the Defend Trade Secrets Act
• Massachusetts Passes Radical Equal Pay Law
• Seventh Circuit Upholds Tip Credit Pay for Related, Non-Tipped Duties
• NLRB Makes it Easier to Unionize Temporary Workers
• General Acknowledgment of Receipt of Employer's Policies Sufficient to Compel Employee to Arbitrate
• Employee Allowed to Pursue Claim Despite Failure to Follow Rules
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