Oppose racial profiling
Updated 1/27/2021 11:19 AM
HB0038 is currently in committee of the Illinois House of Representatives. This bill should concern Illinoisans who aspire for a community so beautifully described by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as one where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
In a departure from Dr. King s aspirations, HB0038 calls for consideration of race in the hiring process of public-school teachers. This would seem to violate several federal and state civil rights laws. Specifically, the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003 which explains that a unit of the state cannot subject a person to discrimination under any program or activity on the grounds of that person s race, color, national origin, or gender, as well as the language of the Illinois Human Rights Act which prohibits race-based discrimination in employment.
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Last year, several major employment laws were enacted in the State of Illinois, and specifically in the City of Chicago. Employers in Illinois and/or Chicago should be reminded of these laws for 2021. Here are just a few of the highlights:
The Illinois Human Rights Act (“IHRA”) was amended to cover “single-employee” employers and to require employers to report to the Illinois Department of Human Rights (“IDHR”) all adverse judgements and rulings relating to harassment and discrimination;
Employees covered by the Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance now have a private right of action against employers for violations of the law;
Mahoney
BELLEVILLE A former employee of an Eagle Flooring store in Swansea claims she was forced to quit because of alleged sexual harassment.
Dawn Crump-Clark filed a complaint Dec. 22 in the St. Clair County Circuit Court against Eagle Flooring Outlet Inc., doing business as Eagle Flooring, and Brian Rauk, alleging violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act, assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff began working for Eagle Flooring at its Swansea store in 2019. She claims that from Feb. 9, 2020, through March 17, Eagle Flooring president and owner, Rauk, made sexually suggestive comments and advances and pursued offensive touching. Specifically, the plaintiff alleges Rauk grabbed her breast, smacked her butt and made the comment wouldn t it be fun to be bad together?
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The beginning of 2021 saw the advent of new employment laws for employers with operations and employees located in the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago. Here are some of the new state and local laws that employers in Illinois and/or Chicago need to be aware of. Developments involving the Illinois Human Rights Act, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, the Chicago Anti-Retaliation Ordinance, and the Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance are discussed.
Illinois Law Expands Coverage of Employers and Reporting of Discrimination Judgments in 2021
Effective July 1, 2020, Illinois employers with one or more employees were covered by the Illinois Human Rights Act. Previously, only employers with 15 or more employees were subject to state discrimination/retaliation claims under the Illinois Human Rights Act. Illinois employers should keep this important change in mind in 2021 and moving forward.
The city of Springfield is again accused of discriminating against LGBTQ employees. Former city library employee Kate Holt, a transgender woman, claims the city violated state law by refusing to cover her medical expenses related to gender transition. Transgender people have a variety of ways to go about transitioning. Some, like Holt, regularly take hormonal treatments via shots or pills. Holt started a job at the city library in February 2020. My prescriptions were excluded from insurance, said Holt in a post on the website for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. They were excluded not because they were exotic or unreasonably expensive. My medications are common and covered for other medical conditions. I had already taken them under a physician s care for more than two years without any problem. And the medications are covered for transgender people by other insurance plans, including our statewide Medicaid system.