Insights

A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court held that, in certain circumstances, discharges from “point sources” (e.g. wells, containers, pipes, ditches, channels, tunnels, conduits, etc.) into groundwater may require a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s newest executive order in response to COVID-19 includes a new restriction on evictions, and, this time around, commercial evictions are impacted. Executive Order 2020-30, issued on April 23, 2020, partially bans the enforcement of commercial evictions by directing all state, county, and local law enforcement officers to cease enforcement of orders of eviction for non-residential premises unless unusual circumstances require otherwise. A prior ban applied only to evictions of residential tenants.

As the nation continues to struggle with the spread of the novel coronavirus, the construction industry has often been designated as an essential sector of the economy and encouraged to continue operations while shelter-in-place orders have temporarily shuttered many other businesses (a summary of these various state orders can be found here).

UPDATE: A challenge to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission’s emergency amendment, described below, has resulted in a temporary hold on the rule. On April 22, 2020, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA) and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) filed a complaint in Sangamon County against the IWCC and its Commissioner, Michael J. Brennan, seeking an injunction prohibiting the IWCC from enforcing the April 16, 2020 emergency amendment and a finding that the amendment is void.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released an alert advising employers on safety tips to help protect manufacturing workers from exposure to COVID-19. OSHA advises employers to implement the following:

Current guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provides that employers may lawfully take an employee’s temperature upon entering the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. In taking this step, however, employers must consider that the time an employee spends waiting to and actually having their temperature taken may need to be paid out.