FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3.1.08 Miller and Haarlow publish "Departing Executives and the Wage Payment Act"

Novack and Macey LLP attorneys Richard L. Miller II and John Haarlow, Jr. have authored an article featured in the March 2008 issue of the Illinois Bar Journal entitled "Departing Executives and the Wage Payment Act."

The Wage Payment Act requires employers to pay employees all agreed upon wages and other compensation due to them upon their departure. The article explores the application of the Act to executives and other professionals who feel they were not properly compensated by their employers after leaving their positions.

Miller and Haarlow argue that an understanding of the Wage Payment Act is essential to departing executive employees, employers of such individuals, and attorneys for both for the following reasons:

• Departing employees may use the Act to collect virtually any form of compensation,including salary, bonus, commissions and vacation pay;
• The Act requires no written contract for the compensation being sought, making the relief offered by the Act broader than that offered by traditional contract law;
• The rights afforded to departing employees by the Act are difficult to waive;
• Corporate officers who knowingly permit an employer to violate the Act may be held jointly and severally liable with the employer for a violation of the Act; and
• A related act can be used to force employers to pay the attorneys fees of successful Wage Payment Act claimants.

You may download a PDF of Miller and Haarlow’s article here. It is reprinted with the permission of the Illinois Bar Journal, Vol. 96 # 3, March 2008. Copyright by the Illinois State Bar Association, on the Web at www.isba.org.

For further information on the article, please contact Don Tarkington, Managing Partner at 312.419.6900.