Chicago Commercial Litigation Law Firm

Posted on January 30, 2012 by D. Daxton White

Do you need an experienced Chicago commercial litigation attorney? If so, The White Law Group may be able to help.

The White Law Group has experience handling all types of commercial litigation matters, including business disputes, breach of contract, shareholder litigation, business fraud, real estate litigation, franchise litigation, consumer fraud, non-compete litigation, wrongful termination litigation, and construction litigation.

The firm handles commercial litigation matters throughout Chicago and the greater Chicagoland area, including handling business litigation matters in Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Northbrook, Skokie, Highland Park, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Buffalo Grove, Roscoe Village, and Glenview.

If you have questions about a commercial litigation matter, please contact The White Law Group at 312/238-9650.

For more information on The White Law Group, visit http://www.wlgattorneys.com.

Chicago Overtime Pay Attorney

Posted on January 23, 2012 by D. Daxton White

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that non-exempt employees receive overtime pay equal to 1.5 x their regular hourly pay for any hours worked over 40 in a week (overtime). This can happen if employees work more than eight hours a day, or more than five days a week. While an employer may require employees to work overtime hours, according to the FLSA the employer must give the employee overtime pay. The FLSA also provides that overtime pay that has not been paid can still be collected up to two years from the date the pay was earned (and up to three years if the employer was consciously violating the law).

(1) Covered Employers

The FLSA’s overtime provisions do not apply to every company. Only companies whose gross receivables exceed $500,000 per year are required to pay overtime.

2) Exempt v. Non-Exempt

Employees An employee is entitled to overtime pay in the first week that he works more than 40 hours. However, the FLSA differentiates between “exempt” employees – employees that are not covered by the law – and “non-exempt” employees who are covered by the law. An employee who is paid by the hour and not by salary, is automatically non-exempt and is entitled to overtime pay for working more than 40 hours in a week. But one must actually be an employee and not an independent contractor (that is you must actually be an employee of the company and not be your own business doing work for the employer).

Generally, high paying executive, professional, or managerial jobs are exempt and therefore cannot get overtime pay. Executives are people who are officers of corporations or have a very high degree of responsibility. Professionals are usually people who have to have special educational achievements like, lawyers, architects, doctors, and teachers.

If you believe you have a claim for unpaid overtime, the attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help. For a free consultation, please call 312/238-9650.

For more information on The White Law Group’s Chicago employment law practice, please visit http://www.wlgattorneys.com/areas-of-practice/labor-and-employment-law/.

Employment Claim Against The City Of Chicago?

Posted on January 20, 2012 by D. Daxton White

Are you a former or prospective employee of the City of Chicago who believes that you have employment claims against the City? If so, the attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help.

The Employment Litigation Division of the Department of Law defends the City of Chicago and its past and present officers and employees in lawsuits arising from the employment of past, present, or prospective employees of the City of Chicago. The majority of the employment lawsuits involving the City of Chicago are filed in Federal court; the remaining cases are filed in State court.

Employment cases against the City of Chicago can be very involved, and include extensive motion practice, intensive discovery, and challenging trial work. The hiring of an experienced and competent employment attorney is a must to protect your legal rights.

Whatever your employment case against the city involves, whether it is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, or the Family Medical Leave Act, The White Law Group can provide you with the legal experience that you need to prosecute your claim.

To speak with a Chicago employment attorney, please contact The White Law Group at 312/238-9650.

For more information on the Firm’s employment law practice, please visit http://wlgattorneys.com.

Brokerage Firm Protocol for Broker Recruiting

Posted on January 18, 2012 by D. Daxton White

In an effort to curb the litigation that occurs when financial advisors move from one broker-dealer to another, in 2004 three of the largest brokerage firms (Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and UBS Financial Services formed the Protocol for Broker Recruiting (the “Protocol”).

The Protocol is an agreement among a group of securities industry competitors to refrain from enforcing non-competes against brokers who move between signatory firms. Since its implementation, many small and medium sized broker-dealers have embraced the Protocol, smoothing brokers’ transition from firm to firm.

In fact, membership in the Protocol includes almost 550 firms, including the majority of the largest wire houses. Most surprising though is the trend of smaller broker-dealers joining the Protocol to obtain the secondary benefit that the Protocol provides – protection and predictability when hiring financial advisors.

The Protocol is an agreement that essentially eliminates costly litigation by and between its participants. If a financial advisor leaves a member firm to join another member firm and follows the provisions set forth in the Protocol, there should not be any litigation against the broker or hiring firm. The provisions of the Protocol establish a procedure for transitioning between firms that, when followed, saves the recruit and his new firm from legal fees, an injunction, a possible damages award, and the uncertainty inherent in litigation.

Under the Protocol, prior to resigning, the financial advisor should prepare two lists: the first containing his or her customers’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and account types; the second containing all the information in the first, plus client account numbers.

The financial advisor must resign in writing to someone in management. When the financial advisor resigns, the advisor should provide the customer list containing the account numbers to someone in management with their resignation letter. Again, the list provided to management should include account numbers even though the list being taken does not. The financial advisor can then take the other list to their new firm and use it to solicit customers to transfer their accounts. The Protocol provides that only the financial advisor is permitted to use the list taken from the old firm.

If a firm participates in the Protocol and counsels its recruits (who must also be coming from a Protocol firm) to follow these procedures, neither the firm nor its recruit will have to contend with any lawsuits or liability for claims such as breach of a non-solicitation agreement or misappropriation of trade secrets. In addition to limiting the likelihood of litigation, the Protocol is intended to eliminate an injunction prohibiting the recruit from contacting his or her clients, as well as any claim for damages associated with the old firms loss of business when clients.

As such, the primary benefit of the Protocol is that is saves firms the expense of litigation, it eliminates the uncertainty for a financial advisor regarding whether the recruit will be subject to an injunction and it allows the recruit to solicit their customers to transfer their accounts to his/her new firm.

Although the Protocol does eliminate certain litigation claims associated with broker movement, it does not eliminate all potential litigation. Litigation associated with one broker moving to a new firm includes: pre-resignation solicitation, claims for amounts due under promissory notes, claims for training costs, claims for violations of the Protocol, and raiding claims arising from group hires.

The onus is now on the hiring manager to make sure the financial advisor being recruited understands the Protocol and follows it to the letter.

If you are a financial advisor involved in litigation as a result of your alleged failure to follow the Protocol, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help.

The White Law Group, LLC is a employment and securities employment law firm based in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood. The firm represents financial advisors in various employment related matters throughout the Chicago area.

For more information on The White Law Group’s securities employment practice, please visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

Chicago Financial Advisors Affected?

Posted on January 10, 2012 by D. Daxton White

It is being reported that the latest compensation changes being made by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management to encourage brokers to go after wealthier clients will include the raising of the minimum account size to $250,000 per household, from $100,000.

Specifically, it appears that the firm will continue to pay advisers their retail compensation rates on existing accounts in that range, but advisers will only get a 20% payout on new clients with less than $250,000 in assets and if more than 20% of an adviser’s book is comprised of these smaller clients, the firm won’t pay at all for new clients below the threshold.

While this will not have any impact on many of the more experienced Merrill advisers, who typically have few clients with less than $250,000 in assets, this could have a significant impact on a few categories of advisors:

(1) Newer, less established advisors (generally called trainees). These advisors are usually just now starting to build their book of business and often focus on younger clients whose accounts will grow with the advisor over the course of the advisor’s career.
(2) Financial advisors that focus their business on smaller accounts.
(3) Advisors in smaller or less affluent areas that simply do not have a lot of individuals in their area that meet these requirements.

For each of these advisors, the changes will have a substantial impact. Additionally, if any of these advisors were recently recruited to Merrill Lynch and were not informed of this impending change, they may even have employment claims related to the representations made at the time or hiring to induce them to join the firm (i.e. the advisor may have been assured that he/she would continue to be permitted to focus on these smaller types of accounts).

Securities employment litigation is not uncommon in the recruiting context and can include claims for misrepresentation, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and breach of contract (usually an oral agreement).

It would not be surprising to see many of these advisors who are essentially being forced to switch firms to survive to look into their legal options.

While it does not appear that Merrill’s move on account minimums has yet to be followed by its large-firm competitors, such as Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and UBS, it would not be surprising to see the entire industry shift this way as a necessary means to increase profitability.

If you are a financial advisor feeling the squeeze by Merrill Lynch’s move to larger accounts and would like to speak to a securities attorney to discuss your legal options, The White Law Group may be able to help. To speak to a securities attorney, please contact the firm’s Chicago office at 312/238-9650.

The White Law Group, LLC is a full service litigation and employment law firm with an office in Chicago’s Roscoe Village.

For more information on The White Law Group’s securities employment practice, visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.