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Uche O. Asonye, CPA, JD, founded the Chicago law firm of Asonye & Associates in 1993. His firm concentrates on workplace issues, immigration law, employment, and civil litigation. His practice includes employment contracts, discrimination, workplace harassment issues as well as immigration, with special focus on physicians, health care workers and medical institutions. The firm relies on advanced technology to provide competent and cost effective representation for clients.

Federal Judge Sustains Whistleblower Lawsuit Against Garrett Popcorn Alleging Extensive Food Safety Violations by the Popcorn Maker

Our law firm filed this lawsuit on behalf of our client, Aisha Putnam, the former Associate Director of Research promoted to Director of Research and Development for Garrett, who provided her services for five years. The lawsuit alleges that the famous popcorn merchant routinely engaged in a myriad of food safety violations that endangered the health and safety of customers and public at large. The claimed violations include using unrefrigerated butter for popcorn transported in 80 to 90 degree temperatures and served to O'Hare Airport customers, altering expiration dates to sell expired and returned products back to customers, repackaging and reselling returned products from vendors, making popcorn in various highly unsanitary conditions including rodent and cockroach infestation, water leaking into products, and mold. Her lawsuit further alleges that when she and other employees complained about and resisted these egregious food safety violations to protect customers and consumers at large, she was harassed, slandered, and terminated in retaliation along with her coworkers who also complained about these unsafe and unhealthy practices.

At the close of the discovery phase of the case and extensive court battles, Garrett Popcorn filed a motion urging the judge to dismiss the case. Upon consideration and review of the extensive evidence tendered by Putnam and her witnesses who provided sworn statements, emails, pictures and video evidence, the judge rejected and denied Garrett's motion entirely and affirmed that the former Quality Control manager had supplied sufficient evidence for her case to proceed to a jury trial. The trial is set for February 2025. The full decision by the Honorable Judge LaShonda Hunt is attached here.

SB3310 - IHRA amendment

On August 9, 2024, Governor Pritzker signed into law SB3310, amending the statute of limitations for filing charges with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. Under the current version of the Illinois Human Rights Act, claims based upon employment discrimination, harassment or retaliation must be brought within 300 calendar days of the last alleged unlawful action. The amendment, which goes into effect on January 1, 2025, extends the filing period to two years after the date the last alleged discrimination occurred. Importantly, any equivalent claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 must still be filed within 300 calendar days after the last discriminatory act occurs.

New 2023 Employment and Workplace Laws that Illinois Employees Need to Know

The Illinois Legislature has passed a series of bills that work to improve the working conditions and rights of all employees. The bills became effective on January 1, 2023 and are summarized below.

Illinois Senate Bill 3146 contains amendments to meal and rest breaks. The bill states that employers must provide a 24 hour break period for every 7 consecutive days worked. The bill also states that after 7.5 hours of work, employees must be provided with a 20-minute break every additional 4.5 hours worked during that shift.

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Congress Officially Passes SPEAK OUT Act

On November 16, 2022, Congress officially passed the Speak Out Act. This act nullifies pre-dispute nondisclosure agreements (NDA) and non-disparaging clauses as it pertains to allegations of sexual harrassment or assault. However, the bill does not prohibit post-dispute NDAs in sexual harrassment cases, but provides tax incentives to employers who do not seek confidentiality. The bill is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden. This bill will allow employees who have faced sexual harrassment to speak openly about their experiences in the workplace.

Senate Judiciary Committee Supports Bill to Ban NDA’s in Sexual Harassment Cases

On September 15th, 2022 the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously supported a bill that aims to invalidate Non-Disclosure Agreements that prohibit the discussion of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) are common in the private sector where they are often intended to protect company trade secrets, but can contain provisions that prevent employees from discussing cases of sexual harassment.

This bill is similar to laws in states like California, Illinois, and New York. The SPEAK Out Act (S.4524) and may allow more employees to hold perpetrators accountable for their sexual misconduct. The SPEAK Out Act's bipartisan support represents a victory for workers and a step towards creating safer work environments for employees.

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