Employment Law Update for Chicago Employers

Employers within the city limits of Chicago should be aware of the following ordinances pertaining to employee protections that recently went into effect:

1. Chicago’s Anti-Retaliation Ordinance (the “ARO“) was amended to expand protections for employees who remain at home to comply with public health orders for COVID-19.

   In the previous version of the ARO, employers could not demote or terminate an employee who (1) stayed at home to minimize the transmission of COVID-19; (2) remained at home while experiencing COVID-19 symptoms; (3) obeyed a quarantine order; (4) obeyed an isolation order; (5) obeyed an order issued by the Commissioner of Health regarding the duties of hospitals and other congregate facilities; or (6) cared for an individual subject to items (1), (2) and (3) above. Significantly, the amended ARO is not limited to demotion or termination. Employers are prohibited from taking any adverse action. The Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection’s FAQ provides that “[r]etaliation can include being unjustly fired or let-go, unjustly denied a promotion, unjust negative evaluations, punitive schedule changes, punitive decreases in the desirability of work assignments, and other kinds of harassment as a result of the worker’s obeying a COVID-19 related order.”

   The full text of the ARO may be found here. Chicago employers should review their policies and procedures and consider the ARO when making employment decisions.

2. Chicago’s Fair Workweek Ordinance (the “FWO“) requires covered employers to provide certain employees with predictable work schedules and compensation for any subsequent changes.

   Covered employers are those that employ at least 100 employees globally (250 employees globally for not-for-profit organizations), at least 50 of whom qualify as covered employees under the FWO, and are primarily engaged in the following industries: (1) building services, (2) healthcare, (3) hotels, (4) manufacturing, (5) restaurants, (6) retail, and (7) warehouse services. To qualify, an employee must be employed by a covered employer, primarily work in Chicago, and earn less than $26/hour or $50,000/year.

   Qualifying employees must be provided 10 days of advance notice of the employee’s work schedule. If an employer modifies the work schedule within 10 days of the start of the work schedule, the employee must be compensated with one hour of pay for each shift affected. Similarly, if an employer reduces an employee’s scheduled hours within 24 hours of the start of the work schedule, the employee must be compensated. Further, an employee has the right to decline an employer’s request for unscheduled hours made within 10 days of the start of a work schedule. Likewise, an employee has a right to rest and may decline to work a shift scheduled to begin less than 10 hours after the end of the prior shift. Additionally, an employee that works within 10 hours of a prior shift must be paid 1.25 times the employee’s regular rate of pay.

   However, the FWO does provide exceptions to employers from the FWO’s scheduling and compensation obligations in certain circumstances, including when an employee self schedules or scheduling changes result from a pandemic like COVID-19.

   The full text of the FWO may be found here. Covered employers should review their policies and procedures and keep the FWO in mind when setting the schedule of a covered employee.