Publications

The United Nations recently described climate change as “the defining crisis of our time.” Further, a flagship UN report on climate change declared that the world is on a fast track to disaster because of rising carbon emissions. As we are all aware, soaring temperatures, more severe and frequent storms, rising sea levels and increased wildfires are among the parade of threats with costly consequences resulting from decades of ignoring climate change. According to Thomson Reuters, insured losses from natural catastrophes such as wildfires and storms have increased by 250% in the last 30 years.

Gould & Ratner presents the next installment of our Construction Interview Series. As a continued effort to keep our clients informed of new building techniques and processes, we will continue to periodically sit down with leaders at some of the most influential companies in the construction industry to discuss their insights on relevant and pressing topics of interest in the industry.

Chicago continues to be at the forefront of combatting sexual harassment in the workplace by further expanding the existing training requirements. Chicago employers have previously been required to provide annual sexual harassment training for employees and supervisors. However, recently, Chicago has increased these requirements by adding an additional hour of “bystander intervention” training.

In the iconic scene from the classic movie "Cool Hand Luke", the role played by character actor Strother Martin famously complains to the character played by Paul Newman: “What we’ve got here, is failure to communicate.” Just like the consequences faced by Newman’s character for that failure, the consequences of a failure to communicate on a construction project can also be severe.

The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) issued new rules last week regarding the statutory change to the Illinois Minimum Wage Law, which extends its protections to domestic workers.

The Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance went into effect in 2020. In a previous article, we discussed how the ordinance brought predictability to employee scheduling by requiring employers to provide 10 days’ notice of an employee’s schedule.

Despite rising inflation, escalating material and construction costs, supply chain delays and general market uncertainty, the high-end residential construction market continues to experience record growth.

The IRS has proposed regulations interpreting significant changes made by the SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act to how inherited IRAs and other retirement accounts can be treated by their beneficiaries, mostly relating to rules governing required minimum distributions (RMDs).

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses across the country filed claims for business interruption coverage with their insurance carriers, most, if not all of which, were denied.

With the COVID pandemic seemingly winding down, and with much of the world starting to reopen to pre-pandemic levels, owners and contractors are eager, now more than ever, to complete their current projects and start new ones.