ROBERT BANZULY
Attorney for Employees

Offices in Chicago and Skokie, IL   
312-953-4268   

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A Concise Summary of Employees' Rights

Employment Termination

If you are employed without an agreement that specifies the length of time of employment, you are probably an employee at will, which means that you can quit at any time without reason and your employer can fire you at any time without reason. Union employees are subject to different rules that are set forth in their collective bargaining agreement and usually must be represented by the union in matters of termination and benefits.

Eligibility for Unemployment Compensation

If you are fired without cause and have worked long enough you probably are eligible for unemployment compensation, provided you are able and available for work. But if you employer can prove you were fired because you willfully violated a reasonable rule you probably are not eligible for it.

Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

If you have worked for at least 1,250 hours over the twelve month period prior to the date you request Family Medical Leave, and your employer employees 50 or more employees within a 75 mile radius of your work site, your employer probably must allow you to take unpaid leave for up to twelve weeks because of your serious illness, the birth or adoption of a child, or to take care of a sick family member. This leave does not have to be taken all at once.

Discrimination/Harassment

If an employer refuses to hire you or if your employer refuses to promote you or fires you or otherwise treats you differently than others because of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability that does not interfere with your ability to perform or can be compensated for with a reasonable accommodation, parental status, sexual orientation, military discharge status, arrest record status, you may have been illegally discriminated against or harassed and you may be entitled to remedies and damages.

Defamation

If you employer falsely and recklessly, without reason to believe it is true, states that you have committed a crime, or that you lack the ability, or do not have the integrity, to perform your trade or profession, it has probably defamed you and given you the right to claim damages.

Restriction on Future Employment

If your employer attempts to prevent you from taking a job with another employer because you have signed a confidentiality or non-compete agreement, it probably will be able to enforce it if it can prove that it gave you consideration for agreeing to it and it is reasonable and necessary to protect its legitimate business interests.

Retaliation

If your employer refuses to promote you or fires you or otherwise treats you differently than others because you are engaged in certain legal non-workplace actions, because you have filed a workmen’s compensation or civil rights claim, or because you are protecting a clearly mandated public policy (i.e. whistle-blowing), you may have been illegally retaliated against and you may be entitled to remedies and damages.

COBRA

If your employer has been giving you health insurance, it may have to continue coverage for a period of 18 months after your termination, but you would be responsible for payment of the full premium.

ERISA

If your employer is giving benefits to its employees or severance benefits to its terminated employees, you are probably entitled to what others at your rank are receiving.

Non-payment of Wages, Commissions, etc.

If your employer does not pay you as it has agreed, fails to pay you required minimum wages or overtime, or forces you to work longer than you are legally required to, the Illinois Department of Labor may enforce your rights without a fee.

Right to Privacy

If your employer publishes information about you that the law considers to be confidential, for example, medical or credit information, it has probably violated the law and certain remedies may be available to you.

Dispute Resolution

Employment disputes, like other legal disputes, may be resolved through negotiation, mediation and/or litigation. Litigation is expensive and aggravating and its outcome is beyond control of the parties. Only through negotiation and/or mediation can the parties control the outcome and the costs of resolving the dispute.

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An Overview of the Common Law and Statutes That Affect Employees in Illinois

Common Law:

Rights and obligations created by court decisions. Examples are employment at will (no cause needed to resign or be fired), breach of restrictive covenant agreements (confidentiality and future employment restrictions) and defamation.

State and Federal Wage and Overtime Statutes

Federal, State, County and City Discrimination/Harassment Statutes and/or Ordinances:

Refusing to hire, refusing to promote or firing and individual because of their race, color religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, parental status, sexual orientation, military discharge status, arrest record status, citizenship status, or in retaliation for certain actions, may give to the employee statutory remedies and damages against the employer.

Federal Family and Medical Leave Act:

Terminating an employee while absent for serious illness, the birth or adoption of a child, or the care of a sick family member, may give to the employee a statutory remedy and damages against the employer.A pre-condition of this statute is that the employer must have 50 or more employees within a 75 mile radius of the work site and the employee must have been employed for at least one year and have worked at least 1250 hours over the twelve month period prior to the date leave commenced.The maximum term of this unpaid leave is 12 weeks.

ERISA:

Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 is a federal statute that sets minimum requirements with which your employer must comply with respect to its offered pension, welfare, benefit, retirement, and severance plans and health and disability insurance.

COBRA:

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.  This federal statute gives to terminated employees the right to continue health coverage at their expense, provided the elect to do so within the time limit provided by law, generally 60 days.Your employer is required to notify you in writing of this right.You have a right to request a civil court of law to enforce and protect your COBRA rights.

Illinois Unemployment Compensation Statute

You Must Start the Process

Upon discharge you have the right to immediately file a claim with your neighborhood Illinois Department of Employment Security office. At that time an investigator will require you to fill out forms and interview you.The answers you give will determine whether your claim will qualify for further process.

Conditions that must be met:

A. You must have worked long enough to qualify.

B. You were fired, quit for recognized cause, or were forced to resign.

C. The cause for discharge was not misconduct.

D. You are able and available for work.

(The term misconduct means the deliberate and willful violation of a reasonable rule or policy of the employer, governing the employee's behavior in the performance of his work, provided such violation has harmed the employer or other employees or has been repeated by the discharged employee despite a warning or other explicit instruction from the employer.)

Then

The employer will be given a notice of your claim, provided the investigator finds that your allegations make you eligible to receive benefits.

If your employer contests your claim by alleging that the cause for your discharge was misconduct, the investigator will interview you and your employer separately in telephone interviews and will make a finding of eligibility or non-eligibility.

Then

Either you or your employer can appeal the investigator's finding and a hearing before a hearing officer will be scheduled. The hearing officer will make a finding of eligibility or non-eligibility.You have the right to be represented by counsel at this hearing.

Then

Either you or your employer can appeal the hearing officer's finding. This appeal is a written one to the Board of Review.The Board will make a finding of eligibility or non-eligibility.

Then

Either you or your employer can ask the Illinois Court to review this finding and you both have the right of appeal to a higher Court.

Updated 26 May 2005