Belleville Illinois Legal Blog

Recreational marijuana use will become legal in Illinois on Jan. 1. Employers may, however, need to change their drug-screening policies for marijuana to avoid employment law problems.

The new law still permits employers to keep a drug-free workplace. Legislation amending the new recreational cannabis law allows employers to conduct reasonable, random and nondiscriminatory drug testing. Employers can also fire or discipline employees or withdraw a job offer for failing a drug test.

This year, Illinois residents have already experienced Arctic blasts from the north and there is a whole lot of wintry weather between us and Spring 2020.

As winter closes in and the weather worsens, car accidents become even more likely. If you have the misfortune to suffer injuries in a collision caused by another motorist, make sure that you make none of the four mistakes described below.

Living with a disability can be tough. It can affect one's ability to conduct even the most basic daily activities. Yet, many disabled individuals are able to function in society, including playing a part in the workforce. Although these men and women are capable of performing a wide range of workplace duties, they are often unfairly discriminated against, which can serve as an emotional and financial blow. This is wholly unacceptable, which is why disabled individuals who believe they have been discriminated against should consider whether legal action is justified.

One way to do so is to obtain a basic understanding of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This federal law makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against an individual in all aspects of employment simply because he or she has a disability. Those covered by the ADA, which are those with disabilities, must have a condition that substantially affects a mental or physical capability such that it impairs a major life activity, such as walking, thinking, seeing, hearing or breathing. With that in mind, a disabled individual must still be able to perform the job in question, whether with or without reasonable accommodation.

The administration of medical treatment is a delicate process. While medical professionals should be willing to do everything they can to help their patients, they also need to operate within the bounds specified by those patients. In other words, doctors and nurses shouldn't provide treatment that a patient hasn't authorized unless it is an emergency situation. Doing so could cause harm to a patient with long-term consequences.

This is why doctors typically must obtain informed consent before providing medical care. The process of obtaining informed consent requires that a doctor discuss the diagnosis in question, the types of treatments available, the risks of those treatments and the risks of receiving no treatment at all. This may sound like common sense, but the truth of the matter is that far too often medical professionals fail to take appropriate steps to ensure that they have truly obtained informed consent.