Insights

The United Nations recently described climate change as “the defining crisis of our time.”  Further, a flagship UN report on climate change declared that the world is on a fast track to disaster because of rising carbon emissions. As we are all aware, soaring temperatures, more severe and frequent storms, rising sea levels and increased wildfires are among the parade of threats with costly consequences resulting from decades of ignoring climate change. According to Thomson Reuters, insured losses from natural catastrophes such as wildfires and storms have increased by 250% in the last 30 years.

Gould & Ratner presents the next installment of our Construction Interview Series. As a continued effort to keep our clients informed of new building techniques and processes, we will continue to periodically sit down with leaders at some of the most influential companies in the construction industry to discuss their insights on relevant and pressing topics of interest in the industry.

In the iconic scene from the classic movie Cool Hand Luke, the role played by character actor Strother Martin famously complains to the character played by Paul Newman: “What we’ve got here, is failure to communicate.” Just like the consequences faced by Newman’s character for that failure, the consequences of a failure to communicate on a construction project can also be severe. Ineffective project communication can lead to project delays, poor work, increased costs, misunderstandings and general unhappiness. On the other hand, clear and concise communications on a project will lead to a collaborative team effort all while reducing the chances for errors and problems.

Chicago continues to be at the forefront of combatting sexual harassment in the workplace by further expanding the existing training requirements. Chicago employers have previously been required to provide annual sexual harassment training for employees and supervisors. However, recently, Chicago has increased these requirements by adding an additional hour of “bystander intervention” training. 

The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) issued new rules last week regarding the statutory change to the Illinois Minimum Wage Law, which extends its protections to domestic workers.  In a press release, the IDOL’s Acting Director Jane Flanagan was quoted saying, “The General Assembly has established that domestic workers deserve the same core labor protections as workers in other industries. With these rules, we hope to make domestic workers’ rights on-the-job clearer and help domestic employers understand their obligations under the law.”

The Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance went into effect in 2020. In a previous article, we discussed how the ordinance brought predictability to employee scheduling by requiring employers to provide 10 days’ notice of an employee’s schedule. As of July 1, 2022, covered Chicago employers will be required to either give employees 14 days advance notice of their calendar workweek schedule, or make a “predictability payment.” Below are several FAQs for employers ahead of the July 1 deadline.