Dowd, Bloch, Bennett, Cervone, Auerbach & Yokich
Recent News About Dowd, Bloch, Bennett, Cervone, Auerbach & Yokich
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City Hall: No need for more court orders on COVID vax mandate; Arbitrator to rule on worker grievances by New Year
Chicago City Hall has told a Cook County judge it expects to have resolved its ongoing dispute with labor unions over its COVID vaccine mandates before the Dec. 31 deadline for city workers to get the vaccine or risk getting fired. -
SCOTUS refuses school workers' claims unions unconstitutionally took dues after they tried to leave
Two Chicago teachers and a Moline custodian claimed their unions ignored the Supreme Court and the Constitution by limiting their ability to leave the union only to one "escape period" each year. -
Appeals court says SCOTUS decision on union fees only applies to fees extracted from non-union workers, not dues paid by union members
A federal appeals panel has said an ex-union member has no claim for dues voluntarily paid while a member, because the U.S. Supreme Court's Janus ruling only pertained to fees forcibly paid to unions by nonunion workers for represention. -
Judge: Courts not going to intervene in school COVID reopening fight between Cicero district, teachers union
A Cook County judge refused the request from Cicero School District 99 to order about 500 elementary school teachers who have said they fear COVID-19, back into the classroom for in-person instruction. -
Appeals court: Company must honor agreement promising pensioners health care for life
CHICAGO -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that a pension agreement that promised retired steelworkers and their families health care for life must be honored, even though the underlying benefits agreement was terminated by a successor to the original employer. -
Pritzker, union say US high court should reject class action attempt vs SEIU over unconstitutional fees
Unions that used a state law which was later declared to be unconstitutional to take millions of dollars from non-union home caregivers who were not employed by the state should not be exposed to the risk of a class action lawsuit to force the union to refund those unconstitutional fees, Illinois’ governor and attorneys for a union said in briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court this week. -
Appeals panel: Despite Janus decision, still no class actions vs unions over illegally collected fees
A federal appeals panel in Chicago has again rejected an attempt by a group of home caregivers to bring a class action lawsuit against the labor union they say used an Illinois state law to unconstitutionally grab $32 million in fees from their pay, as the judges said the decision holds up even when reevaluated in light of a recent Supreme Court decision further restricting unions’ abilities to force non-union public workers to pay such fees. -
IL Supreme Court: Government workers can accrue pension benefits even if working for union while on leave
The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled the state can’t stop labor union members from accruing state pension benefits while working for private unions, if those benefits are promised under a contract. -
SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana challenges DHS rule over child care provider training
A union representing child and day care home providers participating in the Illinois Department of Human Services Child Care Assistant Program (CCAP) has filed a suit to stop the enforcement of a rule regarding CCAP providers and training. -
AFSCME: Cook Sheriff's Merit Board members terms' illegal; disciplinary decisions invalid since '05
A powerful public workers’ labor union has sued the Cook County Sheriff, saying members of the Cook County Sheriff’s Merit Board – whom the sheriff essentially appoints - aren’t spending enough time in office, potentially undermining all disciplinary cases the board has handled against deputies and correctional officers represented by the union since 2005. -
Supreme Court refuses to hear home care providers' lawsuit vs SEIU over compelled representation
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a group of Illinois child care providers and in-home care assistants for those with disabilities the chance to argue their constitutional rights were violated by an Illinois state law forcing the care providers to accept the Service Employees International Union as their bargaining representative. -
Appeals panel: ILRB must hear union's claims over threat to stick strikers with health insurance bill
For the second time in three days, a state appeals court in Southern Illinois has handed a win to a labor union representing state workers in disputes with a state agency that answers to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, this time finding a state labor board must hold hearings on whether the state improperly threatened to make striking workers pay the full cost of their health insurance. -
Appeals court: State must give union workers their pay raises while negotiating new contract
A state appeals court dealt Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner a setback Nov. 6 by ruling in favor of union employees on the question of stepped salary increases, saying whether or not there is a collective bargaining agreement in place, the union workers are owed the regular pay raises, which the state hasn't paid since a contract expired in 2015. -
Appeals panel nixes home care workers' class action vs union over unconstitutional forced fee payment
Non-union home care providers who for years had fees, worth an estimated $32 million, illegally and unconstitutionally taken by the state of Illinois and funneled to a union should not be allowed to bring a class action against that union to get their money back, because courts can’t determine how many of those caregivers may have actually supported the union, a federal appeals court has ruled. -
Ex-CPS teacher: Board of Ed fired her for publicly criticizing Chicago special ed cuts
A teacher who dramatically criticized special education cuts, by, among other things, presenting Chicago’s mayor with a mock arrest warrant, said Chicago Public Schools improperly fired her in retaliation. -
Class action OK'd vs Oakton Community College over decision to no longer hire SURS pensioners
An age discrimination class action against Oakton Community College after the college decided to no longer hire those collecting pensions through the State Universities Retirement System will be allowed to proceed, after a federal judge weighed in on the matter. -
Judge: SEIU can keep $20M in unconstitutional fees from daycares because it relied on IL law, precedent
Illinois home-based child care providers who refused to join a union designated by the state of Illinois to represent them, yet were compelled by the state for years to pay so-called “fair share” fees to that union to negotiate on their behalf, should not be able to force the union to pay them their money back, even after the state government and union agreed the law that forced them to pay the fair share fees should be considered unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled. -
Judge dismisses 'fair share' fee suit vs state worker unions; SCOTUS deadlock means precedent stands
In the wake of a deadlock at the U.S. Supreme Court, letting stand a federal appeals court’s ruling that public unions can compel workers not represented by unions to pay so-called “fair share” fees in lieu of union dues, a Chicago federal judge has tossed a lawsuit brought by several Illinois state workers, similarly challenging the union’s payroll deductions.