This past week I represented a corporate client (CC) in a hearing before the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL). The hearing arose from an unpaid wage claim made against CC by a disgruntled agent of a former independent contractor to CC (the independent contractor was fired for stealing from CC). The claimant submitted no proof of employment, and could not meet the statutory definition of an "employee" under the Act, and admitted several times that he worked for someone other than CC. Nevertheless, the hearing officer (HO) found that the claimant was an employee because he had a tee shirt with the CC logo on it. I presented sworn affidavits from claimant's actual employer, which the HO seemed unable to comprehend. The HO was a classic incompetent and bumbling career bureaucrat of the worst sort. She was inclined to accept the claimant's position that he was an employee of CC because he had a tee shirt with the CC logo on it.
The worst part of this situation is that the Illinois legislature has now amended the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act to criminalize employers who defend their companies against these bogus claims. It should come as no surprise that businesses are running from Illinois in droves to avoid being squeezed by political extortion.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
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