Last week a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by a group of seven Cook County taxpayers challenging the time it has taken to adjudicate their claims in the Cook County Circuit […]
Category: Publications
Records Containing Only Facts Are Not Subject to Section 7(1)(f) Predecisional Exemption
July 16, 2018
Recently, an Illinois Court of Appeals issued a decision mandating disclosure of assessment records from the Cook County Assessor’s Office to the Chicago Tribune under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). In this case, Chicago Tribune Company v. Cook County Assessor’s Office, […]
A Review of the Supreme Court’s 2017-2018 Term
July 12, 2018
The United States Supreme Court concluded its 2017—2018 term with a bang, issuing decisions in several highly publicized cases impacting labor and employment, including Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis and Janus v. AFSCME. This term marked the first full term for Justice […]
An Illinois appellate court recently held that certain employee discipline records are exempt from FOIA disclosure under the Illinois Personnel Record Review Act (“Review Act”). In Johnson v. The Joliet Police Department, the city of Joliet received an FOIA request seeking […]
As widely anticipated, the U.S. Supreme Court just held by a 5-4 vote that fair share agreements are unconstitutional. (Janus v. AFSCME). The decision is effective immediately and requires all public bodies to cease deductions from their fair share members. Janus addresses […]
EEOC Flexes Its Muscle on Anti-Harassment Litigation
June 20, 2018
In an unusual, coordinated litigation strategy, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last week filed seven lawsuits alleging workplace harassment. The lawsuits – which followed a reconvening of an EEOC task force on harassment – suggest that the EEOC […]
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel issued a memorandum to NLRB regional offices interpreting the Board’s recent Boeing decision. In Boeing, the Board overturned that part of its Lutheran Heritagetest pursuant to which the Board invalidated facially-neutral work rules if they could be interpreted […]
Public Officials Cannot Block Critics on Social Media
June 11, 2018
This case requires us to consider whether a public official may, consistent with the First Amendment, ‘block’ a person from his Twitter account in response to the political views that person has expressed, and whether the analysis differs because that […]