Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance

Illinois law prohibits job discrimination based on a person’s credit. Under this law, which was new this year, employers must stop running credit checks on job applicants (as well as employees), something that many of them were in the habit of doing. This means that an employer cannot make hiring, firing, promotion or benefit decisions based on a person’s credit history.

If you have had financial trouble, and as a result ruined your credit, an employer can’t hold it against you. In fact, they shouldn’t even be accessing that information at all. Supporters of the law say that it prevents people from getting caught in a vicious cycle of unemployment and bad credit.

As with any law, there are exceptions. For example, credit checks on bank employees are allowed, as well as other industries and positions where it’s considered relevant. But for most people – employees and applicants – credit history is off limits.

For more information on employment discrimination and related laws, click here.

You might think your boss is a jerk, but this story is a nightmare. A young CVS worker was held against his will in a back storage room and threatened and bullied into confessing to internal theft. A store manager and an imposing loss prevention officer interrogated him, saying that they had a video showing that he stole $15,000 worth of merchandise over two years. Of course he wasn’t allowed to see the video, nor was he allowed to call anyone, go to the bathroom or get a drink of water during the three-hour session.

Then the threats started. They said he would go to jail. And what’s worse, they told him that if he didn’t sign a confession, his U.S. citizenship (he is a Mexican immigrant) would be revoked, and so would his mother’s. Despite repeatedly and specifically denying he did this, he was eventually forced to sign the confession. And not surprisingly, with theft on his record, he had trouble finding another job.

I wish this was an isolated event. (Actually, I wish it hadn’t happened at all to this young man.) However, there are similar stories, in Chicago and throughout the country, of employees getting bullied into admitting theft or similar wrongdoing. It could happen to you, your spouse/partner, or your children.

With employment rates up, and jobs hard to find, there may be less of an incentive to treat workers fairly. After all, if they quit, you can easily find a replacement among the thousands of people looking for work. What’s different in this case is that this employee filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in Cook County, and the multiple claims include libel, forced imprisonment, defamation, intentional emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.

Most states have at-will employment laws, meaning that employees who don’t have a contract can be fired for any reason, or no reason at all. But just because that law favors employers, doesn’t mean they can bully employees in an illegal way. Hopefully, this lawsuit sends a message.

There are three relatively simple steps that everyone can take to help give themselves a voice when they become unable to speak for themselves.  While you are still able to make decisions for yourself, you can execute documents that give others power and instruction to carry out your wishes for your finances, your health care, and your medical end-of life decisions when you cannot.

A Power of Attorney for Property gives to someone else as your agent, the power to make decisions regarding your financial affairs.  The agent you choose will act on your behalf when you are incapacitated, and can’t act for yourself.  If you choose to leave it open, the power can last until your death.  But at any time, as long as you are still well enough to make decisions for yourself, the power of attorney can be amended.

When you’re filling out the power of attorney form, you can consider what and how much authority you want to give.  You can include the power over your bank accounts, real estate, stocks, retirement plans, and other personal property. You can give broad powers or limited powers with regard to your property.

However you choose to execute the power of attorney for property, by doing this your financial affairs will be taken care of according to your wishes, and by the person you trust the most to carry out those wishes, when you can’t act for yourself.

A Power of Attorney for Healthcare gives authority to an agent to make medical decisions on your behalf, when you are incapacitated and can’t exercise your own decision-making power.  By giving someone your power of attorney over your healthcare decisions, you are ensuring these important decisions won’t be decided by a battle among your loved ones or by the courts.

You can specify that you are giving the power to your agent to consent to or to withdraw treatment for any medical condition, and to admit or discharge you from hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

The person to whom you give your healthcare power of attorney should be someone very trusted by you who knows your wishes and desires, and who is not afraid to carry them out.  If left open, the power will last until your death, but can always be amended as long as you are capable of executing the change.

Along with the healthcare power of attorney is a Living Will.  This document is not a power given to a particular person, but rather a recording in a document of what your wishes are regarding end-of-life decisions.  These medical decisions can be the hardest for loved ones to face, and having a living will helps you to have power to choose, and helps them to know what your wishes are.

Typically the living will is used when someone is terminally ill and being sustained on life support.  If it is clear that death is imminent, and the patient does not want any extraordinary measures used to delay the inevitable, then having a living will directs the medical professionals to carry out those wishes.

In most cases these documents can be filled out without an attorney, and are fairly straightforward.  Though it’s not something anyone enjoys thinking about, it’s better to have a solid plan in place while you’re still physically and mentally able to do it.  You empower yourself in the future by granting others the power to act for you when you need it most.

After a lawsuit has been filed, there are procedures called “motions” that are available to help decide some or all of the issues in the case without going to trial.  Sometimes the issues can even be decided at the beginning, before others steps have been taken.  Once a motion has been brought, and the other side has a chance to respond in writing, both can make their arguments to the judge, who then makes a decision.

There are three major kinds of motions which resolve issues before trial.  Each has its own function and rules.  And for each, the result can range from ending the whole case permanently, to ending a part of the case temporarily until corrections can be made.

First, there is a motion to dismiss part or all of the complaint, based on some defect that is actually in the complaint itself.  The motion points out a legal problem with what has been alleged in the complaint, and asks the court to dismiss it as unwinnable.  Basically it is saying that even if all the facts in the complaint are assumed to be true, the law would not support this claim, and therefore it should be dismissed.

Sometimes such a motion points out problems with the case that cannot be fixed.  If there is no other way to set out the case that would solve the legal problem, then the case is dismissed permanently.  Otherwise, there is a chance to try to amend the complaint to cure the defect.

Another motion to dismiss at the early stages of the case looks at not just the complaint, but the facts surrounding the issues in the case as well.  This type of motions argues that even if the legal issues could seem fine with the complaint, there is another matter that warrants dismissing some or all of the complaint.  Written statements that are given under oath (affidavits) can be included with the motion to present to the court the full picture.

There are specific defects or defenses that these motions are directed at.  For example, if the complaint was filed too late, past the period allowed for filing a case, then it could be dismissed.  Also, if there is some other issue or defense that is recognized by law as defeating the claim, then the court can decide that the claim should be dismissed.  Sometimes, for example, it could look like a proper claim, until the court sees that there was an agreement between the two that would prevent that type of claim.

Just like the other motion to dismiss, sometimes there is a second chance to fix what is wrong, but sometimes there could be no other way to bring the claim that would fix the problem.

Lastly, either side can bring a motion for summary judgment, which asks the court to decide some or all of the claims in the lawsuit without a trial.  If you’re the plaintiff, you are arguing to the court that the facts of the case aren’t in question, and you should win on the law.  If you are the defendant, you are similarly saying that even with the facts that are there, there is no legal basis for the case.

Documents and affidavits that support your arguments can be included in your motion.  The judge will look at all of the pleadings, along with your arguments and other documents, and decide if there is any factual issue that needs a trial.  If not, then a decision can be made based on the law, without going to trial.

All of the case or just part of it can be decided by summary judgment.  Sometimes, for example, the issue of legal responsibility for an accident is decided, and only a trial is had to decide how much money in damages the plaintiff may be allowed.

These motions can be complicated, but a good lawyer can use them, or defend against them effectively, and save you time and money going through a long trial on all of the issues of the case.