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Personnel and Labor Law
For additional information, Download the Labor Law Handbook for Smaller Governments.
The provision of public services is highly labor-intensive. As a result, employees are a local government's greatest investment, and public bodies' payrolls (including benefit costs) are often the largest components of their budgets. The number of unions representing Illinois' public employees is growing annually, thereby increasing the demands on over-stressed public funds and resources. Our labor attorneys have negotiated hundreds of collective bargaining agreements, thereby helping public employers to maintain fiscal stability. The firm provides the full spectrum of labor-related services, and its attorneys are frequently called upon to represent governmental entities before arbitrators, administrative agencies and the courts. In addition to the usual battery of laws governing employment (FLSA, FMLA, Title VII, etc.), public entities must also comply with constitutional limitations as they formulate and administer their personnel policies and practices. Our attorneys have significant expertise in defending public bodies against employment discrimination claims, as well as advising them on legislative developments and pro-active approaches designed to avoid costly litigation. We have also conducted many workshops on sexual harassment, employee handbooks and effective dealing with union organizing efforts. Our attorneys have appeared as advisors to, and sometimes as prosecutors for, Board of Fire and Police Commissioners and Pension Boards. We serve as authors of the Chapters on Labor Law in the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education Volumes on Municipal Law and Practice in Illinois and Illinois School Law.
Frequently Asked Questions About Labor and Employment Issues
1. Are all employees entitled to a hearing before they are suspended or discharged?
ANSWER: No. Loudermill rights, or due process rights to pre-disciplinary hearings, are afforded only to employees who have a constitutionally-protected property interest in the form of a "reasonable expectation of continued employment". This expectation must arise from a source such as an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement, which provides that the employee may only be discharged for "cause" or otherwise states that the his/her employment is other than "at-will" employment. not merely an "at-will" are triggered by:
2. Are all employees entitled to overtime premium pay (time and one-half) for working beyond their normal eight-hour day?
ANSWER: No. The Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 FLSA §201 et seq. ("FLSA") only requires that non-exempt employees are paid overtime premium, and only after they have worked more than 40 hours in a week. For example, if an eight-hour shift worker is absent on Tuesday, and works two hours extra on Thursday in the same week, the employee has only worked 34 hours in that week, regardless of whether the absence is covered by paid sick leave. Under the FLSA, there is no overtime premium due in that case. Any entitlement to premium pay beyond FLSA's standards must come from an employer's practices, a collective bargaining agreement, or the like.
3. Are there any types of employees who are not subject to federal overtime laws?
ANSWER: Yes. The FLSA expressly exempts salaried "white collar" positions. Professional, administrative and managerial staff are all exempt categories, as long as these types of workers receive the same pay check in each week in which they work, regardless of the actual number of hours they provide services. The FLSA also exempts volunteers, independent contractors and many recreational employees.
4. How many employees must a municipality have before its personnel can form a union?
ANSWER: 5. But note that the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act excludes supervisory, managerial, confidential and short-term personnel (e.g., seasonals who work less than six consecutive months) from the jurisdictional count of statutory "employees".
5. When parties reach a bargaining impasse, what can an employer do lawfully?
ANSWER: From time to time, negotiations may grind to a halt without a final deal being reached after both parties have exhausted their ability to make any further movement toward the other's position. With all types of public employees other than protective service personnel (fire and police), an employer elect to either (a) freeze the status quo, or (b) implement its last offer. At that point, the union may call a strike. Even if any/all of these things occur, the employer may not refuse to bargain further if the union invites further negotiations and signals that it is prepared to make new movement. For police and fire, there is no choice; the employer must maintain the status quo. These types of employees do not have a right to strike. Accordingly, a protective services union can demand that the disputes generating the impasse must be submitted to binding interest arbitration.
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