Since July 1, 2015, all Chicago employees must be paid at least $10 per hour. The new minimum wage ordinance applies, with limited exceptions, to any business that maintains a facility within the City of Chicago and/or is required to obtain a business license, as well as any employees who work in Chicago for two hours or more during a two-week period (which includes making deliveries or sales calls).

The marketplace can be a relentless barrage of trademarks such as brand names, logos and taglines. How can a business distinguish itself in the melee? A well-developed trademark can give a business a competitive advantage. Businesses that develop their trademarks, register them and protect them can distinguish themselves in the marketplace, attract customers and build brand loyalty. The key, of course, is how to go about choosing and developing an effective trademark.

• NLRB Expands The Joint-Employer Standard
• Golan & Christie Welcomes New Attorneys
• City Of Chicago Minimum Wage Rate Now $10 Per Hour, Will Increase To $13 Per Hour
• Obligations Under The Illinois Pregnancy Accommodation Act
• How To Develop (And Keep!) An Effective Trademark

While many employers already provide employees with paid sick leave, not every employer does so and some employers provide it to only certain workers. Currently, there is no law in Illinois that requires employers to offer paid sick leave. However, there is a growing movement across the country - including in Illinois – supporting mandatory paid sick leave for all employees.

On July 28, 2015, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the Veterans Preference in Private Employment Act into law. The new law amends the Illinois Human Rights Act and allows private employers to establish a voluntary veterans’ preference policy.

Entrepreneur, realty show icon and presidential candidate, Donald Trump, usually wants everyone to know his name. But there’s an exception to every rule. Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 9, 2014. Trump Entertainment has a license from Trump’s licensing company to use Trump’s trademarks. Prior to the bankruptcy, Trump’s licensing company had filed suit to revoke the license because the alleged mismanagement of the Trump Entertainment’s casinos were reducing the value of the Trump trademarks. Trump’s licensing company asked the bankruptcy court to lift the automatic stay to allow it to proceed with the lawsuit. The parties eventually settled. The debtors were allowed to keep using Trump’s name on one of the casinos.

In honor of Ken Jensen, our former colleague and friend who passed away earlier this year, more than a dozen of his Golan & Christie coworkers participated in the ABC7 Gibbons 5K. The annual run and walk benefits the Leukemia Research Foundation.

• Golan & Christie Welcomes New Attorneys
• More Cities And States Requiring Paid Sick Leave
• Private Employers In Illinois May Give Employment Preference To Veterans
• Donald Trump Wants His Name To Be Disremembered
• Consumers Can’t Confuse A Fictional Product With A Real One
• Beastie Boys Slay Monster
• Running For Ken

Owners of businesses that are insolvent, regardless of whether the insolvency is determined using the balance sheet test (meaning their liabilities exceed their assets) or because they are unable to pay their debts as they come due, need to act responsibly to prevent creditors from imposing personal liability for business debts. Once a business is insolvent, the owners have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of their creditors to either turn the business around and make it profitable or to shut it down to prevent a deepening insolvency on the backs of the creditors.

On March 18, 2015, the Office of the General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (the NLRB is the federal agency tasked with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which, generally speaking, protects employees’ right to discuss the terms and conditions of their work and to organize unions), issued a detailed memo concerning certain common employment policies that it considers overly broad and potentially illegal. The following are examples of the types of policies addressed in the memo:

Your website is your organization’s face to the world. Too often, the website is taken for granted and some things can fall through the cracks. We recommend a “website checkup” at least once a year.

A client consulted Golan & Christie Partner, Andrew Williams, concerning a problem with its 401(k) plan. The plan, which had been amended by the financial institution providing services to the plan, mistakenly added a fixed rate of employer matching contributions, although the plan had previously contained a discretionary formula. The discretionary formula allowed the employer to determine the match (including the discretion to make no matching contribution) on a year-by-year basis. Unaware of the change, after the amendment, the employer elected to make no matching contributions as a result of declining revenues during a period of sluggish economic growth. A routine private audit of the plan disclosed the employer’s liability to fund the matching contribution at the higher fixed rate, in an amount of more than $200,000.

Golan and Christie is excited to support its clients recently nominated for the 2015 Moxie Awards. The Moxie Awards, presented by Built in Chicago, recognize Chicago’s most innovative digital entrepreneurs. Winners will be announced on June 11, 2015. Congratulations to the nominees!

• Chapter 11 As A Remedy For Businesses In Financial Crisis
• NLRB’s General Counsel Issues Guidelines For Employee Handbooks
• Your Website Needs A Checkup
• Google Announces A Marketplace To Buy And Sell Patents
• Golan & Christie Partner Convinces IRS To Approve Unusual Voluntary Compliance Program Proposal
• Golan & Christie Opens New Location In Northbrook
• Congratulations To Golan & Christie’s Clients!

Baby Boomers currently own 66 percent of all private businesses that have employees. Those Baby Boomers are now reaching retirement age at a rate of 10,000 per day. An estimated $10 trillion — that’s trillion with a “t” — worth of businesses will change hands in the next 10 years. For Baby Boomer entrepreneurs with no inheritance option (due to the fact that Boomers had fewer children than their parents), succession and the associated liquidity needs require a solution.

We are very pleased to announce that Golan & Christie attorneys have been named to the prestigious list of “Super Lawyers” and “Leading Lawyers.”

As of January 1, 2015, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”) has updated requirements regarding an employer’s responsibility to report any workplace injuries or deaths. While serious workplace injuries are rare, it is important that all employers are aware of their responsibilities under OSHA, should tragedy occur.

In December 2014, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a decision that narrows the burden on employers who are trying to defend against a claim of retaliatory discharge tort claims. The holding in Michael v. Precision Alliance Group, LLC, 2014 IL 117376 was that an employer is not required to provide a reason for an at-will employee’s discharge when facing a retaliatory discharge claim, but if an employer does provide a reason, and the judge or jury believes that reason, the employee’s case is over because the causation element of a retaliatory discharge claim cannot be met.

In January 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decided two cases involving who decides issues in Intellectual Property cases.

• ESOPs: The Ultimate Succession Solution
• G&C Attorneys Earn Spots on 2015 Illinois Super Lawyers List and 2015 Leading Lawyers List
• New OSHA Regulations Impose Immediate Reporting Obligations
• Illinois Supreme Court Sides With Employers In Defeating Alleged 'Whistleblower' Claim
• IP Law Alerts - Report On The U.S. Supreme Court’s Busy Intellectual Property Docket
• Golan & Christie Welcomes New Attorney

There is a noticeable increase in news reports about individuals who take advantage of elderly persons with whom they have a trusted relationship. In many cases, these individuals are caregivers who have developed a close, almost familial relationship. The situation can be complicated if the elderly person has a diminished ability to understand the motivation of the trusted individual.

Admit it: Your company, as a 401(k) sponsor, and the company decision makers who direct plan operations (including in-house trustees), are ERISA fiduciaries. Don’t quibble about this but take a step back and figure out what to do about it.