HR Specialist: Illinois Employment Law

Compared to other states, Illinois makes it easier for employers to get sued. Aggressive attorneys don’t stop with federal laws like FMLA, ADA and FLSA: they use state and local living-wage statutes, rural codes, plus discrimination and other laws to sue employers for sky’s-the-limit damages. This Illinois-specific newsletter arrives monthly to help sue-proof every aspect of HR. Written in plain English, it’s your insurance policy for staying in step with current interpretations of state and local laws – and staying out of court. Learn more about HR Specialist: Illinois Employment Law and the free report you’ll get when you subscribe...

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a long-running case that a jury acted properly when it concluded an employer’s retroactive termination of health insurance violated the FMLA.

Advice: Always think about how a jury will view your decisions.

Recent case: Kathleen Ryl-Kuchar learned she was pregnant with triplets and began working from home. After giving birth, she went back to work.

Later, she asked for FMLA leave. That’s when her employer canceled her health insurance retroactively, ostensibly because it discovered she had fallen below full-time status when she worked from home. That left her with unpaid medical bills.

A sympathetic jury determined the employer had punished her for taking FMLA leave, and the 7th Circuit agreed. It said the jury’s conclusion was reasonable. (Ryl-Kuchar v. Care Centers, No. 08-2688, 7th Cir., 2009)