Labor & Employment
Clients rely on Ancel Glink’s labor team for the best advice in managing their biggest assets – their employees.
Ancel Glink labor attorneys have experience, both as corporate and special counsel, in all types of labor and employment matters, from contract negotiations, including interest arbitration, to discrimination claims and other employment litigation.
We represent employers in union recognition and unfair labor practice proceedings before the State and Federal Labor Relations and Educational Relations Boards, discrimination claims before the Illinois Department of Human Rights, including the Human Rights Commission and Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, grievance arbitrations, and constitutional, statutory, and tort claims in the state and federal courts. As importantly, we advise our clients on contract enforcement and guide them through the myriad state and federal employment laws to assist them in addressing day to day issues related to hiring, leave obligations, discipline and discharge, grievance consultation and other human resource or personnel matters.
Ancel Glink attorneys are also skilled in risk management of employment claims. We believe that litigation is often avoided or risk is reduced when employment matters are addressed effectively and timely at their start. We bring creative and practical solutions to the day to day human resource issues that confront our clients’ organizations, including developing policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the law and enforcement of work rules and designing and implementing personnel downsizing and restructuring.
The following are a few examples of our recent labor and employment projects:
- Negotiated to agreement initial collective bargaining agreements for municipal police departments and park district units.
- Negotiated to agreement numerous successor collective bargaining agreements for police, fire, public works, park district, teacher and school personnel.
- Successfully represented municipalities in interest arbitrations.
- Successfully defended numerous school districts and municipalities in grievance arbitration regarding various alleged contract violations.
- Successfully defended numerous employers in IDHR and EEOC charges.
- Represented various units of local government in union representation cases, achieving appropriate exclusions from proposed bargaining units.
- Assisted various employers in information initiatives during unionization campaigns.
- Conducted supervisor and manager training for public and private employers on labor and employment and best practices in workplace procedures.
- Successfully represented numerous municipal employers in PEDA and PSEBA claims.
Assist employers in policy development and proper application of FMLA, ADA and other related leave entitlements.
Ancel Glink attorneys have written books, articles, and chapters on a wide variety of labor and employment topics, including chapters in the informative and relied upon IICLE series. Our labor and employment attorneys remain current with the myriad of laws that affect the workplace through active participation in numerous organizations, including local bar association committees, and participation in various local educational programs.
Labor Relations
Ancel Glink’s representation in labor relations matters spans the state, as well as the myriad of issues that arise in unionized workplaces. Our attorneys are ready to assist in providing informational publications to educate employees during organizing campaigns, as well as representing employers through the union petition process with special attention given to ensure that employees who are ineligible for representation are appropriately excluded from representation. Our goals in collective bargaining are to achieve a contract that meets the employer’s needs and provides the most flexibility possible for managers without destroying the sometimes delicate workplace atmosphere among both union and non-union staff. We advise on both the employer’s legal obligations as well as practical solutions in bargaining, including consideration of agreements of comparable workplaces as well as proven successful contract provisions. Our representation continues once a contract is in place with advice on contract enforcement and interpretation, including training of supervisors and department heads on managing with a collective bargaining agreement. When grievances arise, we work closely with our clients to either resolve the dispute or prevail in the grievance process to achieve the correct decision on contract interpretation. If the labor practices of our clients receive a union challenge, we vigorously defend these unfair labor practices before the State, Educational and National Labor Relations Boards.
The following are a few examples of our practice in labor relations:
- Provide educational information and led discussions with employees on the impact of a unionized workplace, including information of the bargaining process.
- Successfully excluded ineligible employees from representation petitions thereby ensuring greatest flexibility to clients.
- Advise clients on department organization and duty assignments to ensure managerial, supervisory and confidential status of employees.
- Conduct collective bargaining for initial and successor agreements, including advising clients on legal obligations in the process as well as creative solutions in negotiations.
- Successfully advocated employers’ positions in interest arbitration.
- Successfully represented employers in grievances on a wide variety of issues ranging from subcontracting, to discipline and discharge.
- Advised employers on layoff of union employees and elimination of union work.
Employment
We believe that litigation is often avoided or risk is reduced when employment matters are addressed effectively and timely at their start. We bring creative and practical solutions to the day to day human resource issues that confront our clients’ organizations, including developing policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the law and enforcement of work rules and designing and implementing personnel downsizing and restructuring.
We have written or reviewed numerous employee handbooks and individual policy updates, and we have helped our clients to achieve compliance with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Paid Leave For All Workers Act, and other State and Federal statutes and regulations which affect employment decisions. Lawyers in our firm have authored many of the chapters on labor and employment law in published municipal, school and park district legal handbooks.
We very often advise our clients through the discipline and discharge process, including representation before grievance arbitrators, Boards of Fire and Police Commissioners, Civil Service Boards and the State Board of Education. We regularly advise our clients via “white papers” or “client alerts” on changes in employment laws which affect the workplace. Most importantly for some of our clients, we serve as outside human resource advisors for the variety of day to day employment issues that arise.
Some recent projects on which we have worked include:
- Advised and assisted clients in application and implementation of the Paid Leave for All Workers Act and other new employment laws enacted in the State. Successfully represented school districts in tenure teacher discharges.
- Drafted and revised numerous personnel manuals and policies.
- Conducted reviews of job descriptions and duties to ascertain FLSA compliance.
- Advised on resolution of overtime issues.
- Consulted and advised on delicate issues surrounding the interplay between FMLA, ADA, Workers Compensation and employer policy.
- Trained staff and supervisors on rights and responsibilities in the workplace.
Employment Litigation
We handle cases based on race, sex, national origin, age, and disability discrimination, as well as harassment, retaliation, and hate crimes.
We are highly successful in defending claims involving:
- wage classifications
- wage payment practices
- leaves of absence
- union-management relationships
- wrongful discharge
- breach of employment contracts
- defamation
- sexual harassment
- discrimination
- disability
- whistle blowers
- employment contracts
- pension and benefits
Our litigators practice before the State and federal courts, the Human Rights Commission and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as well as other administrative bodies. We are happy to share examples of our success upon request.
Training
When employers provide training for supervisors, as well as staff, it results in smoother operations, better administration and enforcement of work rules, fewer claims, and better defenses to those claims. We offer a number of specialized training programs for supervisors and staff to help you meet those goals.
We recognize that every workplace is different and the most effective supervisor and staff training is that which addresses the specific needs of the workplace. Ancel Glink offers training that is tailor made for your workplace needs. We will work with you to customize your training program to include any of the various topics on which we train, to create a program that targets the needs of your workplace. The workplace issues for which we offer training include the following:
- Sexual Harassment
- FLSA and Avoiding Overtime Claims
- Discipline and Discharge
- Conducting Valuable Performance Evaluations
- Proper Enforcement of Work Rules
- Handling the Difficult Employee
- What to Keep in Personnel Files
- Avoiding Discrimination in the Workplace
- Conducting Defensible Internal Investigations
- Do’s and Don’ts During a Union Campaign
- Special Workplace Issues for Police and Fire Personnel
- How to Keep Job Candidates from Becoming Future Litigants
- Coordinating FMLA, Workers Compensation and Other Leave Benefits
- ADA Compliance in the Workplace
- Privacy Issues in the Workplace
In addition to the above programs we will also develop training to meet an employer’s special needs.
Our Recent Case Studies
Municipalities
Park Districts
Townships
Libraries
School Districts
Special Districts
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