Peter A. Steinmeyer and Julie Badel, Members of the Firm in the Employment, Labor, and Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Chicago office, authored an article in Actus Newsletter titled “Illinois Legislative Changes and a State Supreme Court Decision Substantially Help Employers Challenge Unemployment Claims.”
Following is an excerpt:
In Petrovic, the Illinois Supreme Court also provided useful advice on the type of evidentiary showing that employers must make in order to contest successfully an application for unemployment. While not insisting on evidentiary standards as high as those in a court of law, the Supreme Court nevertheless held that “[a]ny factual allegations set forth in the employer’s protest must be substantiated with competent evidence in the record.” Thus, for example, if the basis of the protest is that the termination was for a knowing violation of an express rule, the employer must identify the express rule or policy at issue and submit evidence of it and of the discharged employee’s awareness of it.
The “bottom line” for Illinois employers following Petrovic and the amended Act is that it is now much easier for employers to protest applications for unemployment, and the required evidentiary showing to do so is now clearer.
This article was first published as an Epstein Becker Green Act Now Advisory—read the full text here.
