News

Municipal/Employment Law Update

The Illinois Supreme Court in Smith v. Waukegan Park District, 231 Ill. 2d 111, 896 N.E.2d 232 (2008), recently expressly held that public entities enjoy no immunity under the Tort Immunity Act when discharging an employee in retaliation for filing a worker’s compensation claim. In doing so, the court made clear that employers, not individual employees of the employer, actually cause the retaliatory discharge. The court also held that discretionary immunity will not protect an employer who retaliates against an employee for filing a worker’s compensation claim. In doing so, the court overruled Cross v. City of Chicago, 352 Ill. App. 3d 1 (1st Dist. 2004).