Employment Law

Employment law sets forth the responsibilities and rights of employers and their employees and covers potential conflicts that arise between existing, previous, and prospective employment relationships.

Existing jobs and new employment opportunities should be meaningful achievements in your professional journey and can offer potential of new exciting challenging work, better pay and benefits and opportunities for further advancement. But it can also bring uncertainty and conflict. Though these professional relationships begin with assurance and positivity, circumstances and relationships may change and elements beyond your control could lead to uncomfortable and unlawful circumstances and even lead to your termination.

Our key focus areas in the field of employment law are discrimination, accommodations, harassment, retaliation, fair labor and wages, and privacy. We have experience representing clients in discrimination cases related to actual or perceived age, disability, race, ethnicity, sex, gender expression, religion, sexual orientation, parental status, and veteran’s status among other protected statuses. We are passionate about defending employee rights and preventing potential violations. Some of the federal laws governing employment relationships include:

The FLSA establishes minimum wage, break, recordkeeping standards and overtime requirements.

It violates the ADEA for an employer to take an adverse action against a worker over 40 because of their age or in favor of someone substantially younger.

Employers are prohibited from discriminating against existing employees or prospective future employees due to any type of mental or physical disability or impairment. The ADA requires employers to reasonably accommodate qualified employees with disabilities assuming they are able to perform the job’s essential functions.

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is unlawful to discriminate in terms of hiring, conditions of employment, compensation, promotion and termination on the basis of national origin, sex, religion, color or race. Title VII further prohibits harassment based on an employee’s actual or perceived protected status by managers, other coworkers, and third parties, or retaliation by for complaining of potential discrimination or harassment.

The Equal Pay Act ensures women are warranted equal compensation to men for substantially equal work.

Covered employers are required to provide qualifying employees up to twelve weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave necessitated by their own or a family member’s serious medical condition. This law also requires the employer reinstate the employee to the same or an “equivalent job.”

Other areas of employment law we represent clients in include:

• Employment Contracts
• Non-Compete Agreements
• Confidentiality Agreements
• Executive Compensation
• Severance Package Negotiations
• Continuation of Health Coverage (COBRA)
• Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act)
• Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA)
• Wrongful Termination
• Unlawful Retaliation
• Whistleblower Protection
• Religious Discrimination
• Illinois Employment Law
• Employee privacy
• Sexual Harassment and Hostile Work Environment

At Loftus and Eisenberg, our compassionate and determined employment contract attorneys regularly advise clients of their employment contract rights, before, during, and after their employment. Our firm has successfully resolved through settlement or litigation, literally hundreds of employment-related claims. Let us help protect your interests in what you worked so hard to secure.

Just for reference:
The first step in preparing for these very real possibilities of conflict between employers and their employees is through a solid employment contract which clearly outlines employment terms and defines each party’s responsibilities and rights. Often times these may be long-winded and drawn out and often written in the company’s favor with the expectation that many prospective employees will do their best to understand or simply skim it, instead of consulting with a lawyer. Working with the employment lawyers at Loftus and Eisenberg as you enter into these agreements or are forced to deal with a termination will ensure you are covering yourself, your career and your livelihood.