IL Tidal wave (or tsunami) of new laws for Illinois employers

August 15th, 2019

David Moore and Peter Gillespie at Laner Muchin

Look, I am not one to argue with attorneys because you never know when you might need one, so you decide for yourself the correct roaring-wall-of-water metaphor.

Regardless, any Illinois employer that either has or deals with:

• employee handbooks
• confidentiality
• cannabis
• policies
• salary (history, sharing info, pay equity)
• REQUIRED ANNUAL TRAINING (sexual harassment)
• employees (probably should have just lead with that)

would be well advised (attorney-speak for "just do it") to read what David Moore and Peter Gillespie have to say and then execute said prescribed actions elucidated (attorney-speak for "just do it") (attorneys have a rather extensive alternative vocabulary).

OR Non-competes and the (hula) hoops required

August 7th, 2019

Charlotte Hodde at Barran Liebman

So you think you need non-compete agreements to protect your really important and secret business stuff. Fair enough. Just be aware of the following hoop-jumping required:

• let the employee know about the non-compete two weeks before their first day
• pay them $30ish/hour
• except you probably can't pay them hourly
• give them a written copy of the non-compete within 30 days of termination or when they quit (starting January 1, 2020).

And probably something about being signed in blood and a ban on crossing your fingers behind your back. No changies.

Confused? Don't be. Charlotte Hodde is a championship-level hula-hoop jumper.

Non-competes for non-skilled – non-productive, non-legal, non-enforceable?

December 3rd, 2018

Evan Gibbs at Troutman Sanders

Non-competes, specifically for low-wage workers:

• seem to invite the attention of attorneys generals
• are becoming the target of more and more legislation
• are difficult to write so they do more than cost you money, either on the front end or the back
• is currently being considered as a possible name change by both the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals as they look to rebrand and embrace the futility. 

Evan Gibbs lays out the risks of using non-compete agreements with unspecialized workers en masse, and maybe the risk of pairing the name "Non-competes" with orange and brown or orange and black (actually, orange and brown is a little bit sad, right?).