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“Can you see me?” at Weinberg/Newton Gallery intentionally gives a platform to individuals affected by incarceration and to communities that have been deeply cut by the prison industrial complex. What does it mean to listen to a person’s experience while simultaneously considering the depth of change it has on a group, a community, a generation? How can artistic collaboration center the collective voices of incarcerated folks while maintaining their humanity as individuals? 

“Can you see me?”Through 12/21: Thu-Sun 11 AM-5 PM, Weinberg/Newton Gallery, 688 N. Milwaukee, weinbergnewtongallery.com

This sentiment is put into practice with collaborative pieces by the youth in SkyART’s programming. Large and mural-like, these works, filled with symbols of youth, hold the spirit of street art and notebook doodles. Compelling images on their own, they are layered with powerful words and drawings—together often creating an abstracted body. These works are the sum of their parts, but are also powerful when viewed together, reminding us that incarceration doesn’t just affect the individual—each person is part of a family, a community; it reaches out like a web to change all it touches.

Still from A Letter to the City: “jail is not my home” by Kirsten Leenaars and Circles & Ciphers. Credit: Evan Jenkins

Along with this exhibition, concurrent shows were organized by Arts + Public Life and SkyART, which offers accessible arts programming to youth on Chicago’s south side. Several other organizations that serve youth and/or incarcerated communities are also represented here, including ConTextos, Arte Pro, and Circles & Ciphers. A unique aspect of the show is the presence of artwork created by youth involved with these organizations, as well as well-known artists such as Ebony G. Patterson and Cheryl Pope, whose piece WHEN I GET OUT I NOT NEVER COMING BACK greets you with haunting words as you enter the space, leaving you to wonder if this use of the double negative is a precursor to the fact that perhaps “I” may be “coming back” after all. This raw and intimate first-person voice is present throughout in letters that line the wall from currently incarcerated folks writing what freedom means to them and again in text written in public spaces throughout Chicago in the video, A Letter to the City: “jail is not my home” by Kirsten Leenaars and Circles & Ciphers.

“Can you see me?” is rich with content and, like most exhibitions tackling large, looming issues, it is marked by the amount of necessary (and important!) reading involved—but it is worth it. It is worth it to read the letters, sit with the material, and spend time with the words of folks spending time inside the walls, fighting against a system that has continued to fail them.

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When news broke over a week ago that Danny Goldring had died at 76, there was (as is often the case these days) an immediate outpouring of tributes on social media. I learned the news from Chicago actor Gary Houston; I sometimes met Goldring and his wife, actor Diane Dorsey, over the years at parties hosted by Houston and his wife, artist Hedda Lubin. 

I never knew Goldring beyond nodding acquaintance, but it’s nearly impossible not to recognize his face. During his long career, he appeared in several movies, including shot-in-Chicago features such as The Fugitive, The Dark Knight, and Chain Reaction,and television series such as Six Feet Under and three Star Trek franchises (Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and Enterprise). He had a memorable turn in the two-season Starz series Boss, starring Kelsey Grammer as a terminally ill Chicago mayor desperately hanging onto power. Goldring played Ryan Kavanaugh, a retired cop-turned-barkeep and an old friend and sounding board to Grammer’s Tom Kane. In a 2012 Tribune profile of Goldring by Rick Kogan, the actor said, “The character is almost a perfect fit. I know this guy.” 

Making us feel like we knew the guys he played was one of the great gifts Goldring brought to roles large and small. In addition to his handsome craggy face and (for most of his life) red hair, he had a memorably gruff voice that could seem at odds with what Dorsey describes as a man with boundless curiosity about—and kindness toward—other living creatures.

“He had a heart bigger than I realized,” she says. “He looked out for the Streetwise guys. He wanted to help the lost dogs find where their homes were. He’d walk out of our house with a cigarette behind his ear and he’d pull out another pack of cigarettes and put one in his mouth, light it, take a puff, go down the stairs, walk to the bus to start auditioning, to start looking for work. That was his ritual for leaving home. And on that bus ride downtown? He talked to the bus drivers, he looked at the people on the buses. He made friends where you just don’t think about making friends.”

Dorsey and Goldring met while working together on a commercial shoot. Goldring had just returned to Chicago after several years in New York, where he appeared in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow until his character was killed off. 

Dorsey recalls the moment she met Goldring after the day’s shooting was done. “There were like maybe 20 of us at a bar on Halsted Street, and there was this guy I had never seen. I was ready to fall in love. I had already put a list [of what I wanted in a relationship] on the refrigerator according to Shakti Gawain’s creative visualization. I put five things on it, and a month later this gentleman happens to appear that I don’t know who he is.”

But she soon discovered Goldring checked all the boxes on her refrigerator wish list: He was over six feet tall; ruggedly handsome; had a great sense of humor (“I didn’t know it was going to be puns for 30 years, though,” Dorsey says with a laugh); respected the arts; and was financially responsible. Dorsey says she went over to introduce herself to Goldring, and when they shook hands, “I felt a zap go right through my arm.”

For a brief time, the two lived in LA, but they bought a house in Lakeview, and Chicago was home for most of their marriage. That house is where Goldring died on Friday, December 2. Dorsey says that, though he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015, kidney failure is what caused his death. With a catch in her throat, Dorsey says, “This is his house that he bought with an actor’s money. This is the cute little house that we’ve lived in for 30 years, 32 years. I wanted him to be in his home when he passed.”

Working steadily as a character actor (a problematic phrase, insofar as all actors are playing characters) did provide a decent living for Goldring, if not star status. Dorsey says, “He viewed himself as wanting to try everything. And it wasn’t about lead roles, it was about unique roles, well-written scripts. He really didn’t like a couple of things he did because he felt it was poorly written, poorly produced, or poorly directed, mishandled by somebody. But that was very seldom. He just respected the work, he respected the people he worked with.”

That respect was very much returned. Edward Blatchford, who directed Goldring in American Blues Theater՚s 2015 revival of N. Richard Nash’s The Rainmaker (one of the last times Goldring appeared onstage), says, “To direct him was fabulous. Because he was the pro, he was totally responsible and showed up prepared without any of the drama. It wasn’t about the gossip. It wasn’t about all the drama surrounding relationships that were happening offstage. He was all about the work, and it shows in his work.”

Goldring was born in Woodstock, Illinois, the son of a U.S. Navy officer, and his family lived in many places while he was growing up, including (as Kogan noted) Japan, Hawaii, and Maryland. He attended Trinity University in San Antonio for a year, did a stint in the U.S. Army in the Signal Corps branch in Vietnam, and then returned to Maryland to work construction. He made his stage debut there in a production of The Thurber Carnival, then took a job touring with the Cole Marionettes, a Chicago-based outfit that eventually brought him back to Chicago, where he studied at what was then the Goodman School of Drama (now the Theatre School at DePaul). 

He performed in several small theaters around the city and suburbs in the 1970s and got his local break with the long-running comedy Lunching by Alan Gross at the Drury Lane Theater in Water Tower Place (now the Broadway Playhouse). As he told the late Tribune theater critic Richard Christiansen in 1978, “If I hadn’t gotten the part, I was going to quit forever, maybe go back to construction work or become a carpet salesman, I don’t know.”

Playwright Brett Neveu got to know Goldring when the actor played the title role in Neveu’s late-night show The Earl at A Red Orchid Theatre in 2006, which ran for six months. In Neveu’s play, an aging Hollywood action star, Lawrence Stevens (aka The Earl) joins a trio of brothers in their vicious backyard beatdown games. It was scheduled for the Saturday Reading Series at Chicago Dramatists, and the late Dramatists artistic director Russ Tutterow suggested that Goldring would be perfect for the part of the Earl. 

Danny Goldring (third from left) and the cast of The Earl at A Red Orchid Theatre in 2006. Courtesy A Red Orchid Theatre

In an email, Neveu tells me, “Danny played the role with the perfect amount of silver-screen bravado, unequaled cowboy strength, and viciously focused calm that would whip up jam-packed audiences into a frenzy . . . I’d watch Danny enter the stage with a careful whisper and leave with a blood-soaked grin, turning his performance into one now permanently logged into the annals of Chicago theater lore. Danny was hilarious, amazing, kind, smart, cool, and full of the kind of stories you want to listen to all night long. Being around Danny was like being bathed in the light of a God, and that’s not exactly hyperbole. He had that kind of power. His hair, his eyes, and that goddamn voice.”

Kirsten Fitzgerald, artistic director of A Red Orchid, also wrote in an email, “Whenever Danny called and left a message, or purchased tickets at A Red Orchid, he did so using the name Lawrence Stevens (or The Earl). It made my day to pick up the phone to his rich, deeply kind, and somehow mischievous voice, or to run into his big hug, sly grin, and razor-sharp sense of humor in our agent’s office or on the softball field with Diane and Brett.” She adds, “I think of Danny this way: as an icon of sorts, at times endearingly corny, holding all he loved sacred, and kicking serious ass.”

Dorsey also saw the introspective side of her husband. “Danny wouldn’t walk through the door and say, ‘Let me tell you what I did today.’ That’s something I would do,” she says with a laugh. “Danny would come in and walk back and sit on the deck and have a cigarette and look at the bird feeders. And I would say, ‘Well, what happened today?’ He’d say, ‘Well, the guy driving the bus wished everybody a merry Christmas. And it just cheered everybody up.’ He was that way. He had his stories inside, but he didn’t have a need to tell them except as an artist. And he fulfilled that beautifully.”

She adds, “Danny, he always wanted to know where the hole in the fence was. He told me that as a kid growing up, he was almost like an only child because his siblings were much older and he grew up in the Navy. So they moved around a lot and he would sneak out of the house, and he would sneak into [base] quarters where there were pool tables. But it was dark at night, and he would click the pool balls against each other and listen to the sounds. He wanted to be able to get in and out of places easily. He wanted to know where the hole in the fence was, symbolically.” 

Dorsey says that there will be a public gathering to honor Goldring sometime later in 2023. “We wouldn’t do anything formal because he wasn’t that kind of guy. In the spring, we’re going to have a get-together in a public place so that as many people that want to come can come, order a drink, order food, tell their stories on a mike if they want to share how they knew Danny.” 

Based on the longevity of his career and the huge number of tributes posted on social media, it may need to be a big bar. Meantime, Dorsey suggests showing kindness to random strangers, making a donation to PAWS Chicago, or perhaps making and sharing the starter for Amish friendship bread (something he loved and gifted to friends over the years, as Hedda Lubin told me last week) would be a good way to remember a one-of-a-kind Chicago actor.

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Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. 

Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.

Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.

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During 2020, my running joke was that, although there weren’t any plays happening, there was always plenty of drama to report on in Chicago theater. In fall of 2021, we started seeing some theater return, though the season was cut short by last December’s COVID surge. (Not to be confused with the one we’re currently in, which apparently we’ve decided collectively to just pretend isn’t happening.) This year, most theaters returned to full seasons, even if they sometimes focused on fewer productions in the season, smaller casts, and shorter runs to hedge their financial bets. (The Jeff Committee recognized the reality of the latter by creating awards for short-run productions—nine to 17 performances. No word on whether the Jeffs will keep that category for next year, but it was nice to see shows like About Face Theatre’s The Magnolia Balletand Congo Square’s What to Send Up When It Goes Downget their due.)

This year was filled with several profound experiences onstage: I missed the initial run of Congo Square’s production of Aleshea Harris’s ritual/play about confronting racism and police violence (among other urgent topics) last spring, so was glad when Lookingglass brought it back this fall. I’d say the best pieces I saw this year all somehow addressed the need for community, healing, and listening, which is perhaps unsurprising after the long isolation of the pandemic. 

Theatre Y and Marvin Tate brought us the immersive walking performance of Laughing Song in North Lawndale , which combined Tate’s own stories about growing up in the neighborhood with the biography of George W. Johnson, the first Black American recording artist. Steppenwolf Theatre finally opened its long-awaited, new Ensemble Theater (an in-the-round space upstairs in the company’s Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center) with Chekhov’s Seagull. But they really blew off the doors with J. Nicole Brooks’s galvanizing 1919, a Steppenwolf for Young Adults production adapted from Eve L. Ewing’s collection of poems on the Red Summer race riots that tied history into contemporary struggles against white supremacy. Youth-created theater was also pretty damn inspiring this year, with both Free Street’s 57 Blocksand Albany Park Theater Project’s Homecominginstilling joy and gratitude in my soul for the younger generation of artists and activists.

1919 was codirected by Gabrielle Randle-Bent and Tasia A. Jones. Randle-Bent also took the reins as associate artistic director at Court Theatre—one of several promotions and changes in leadership that continued to ripple through the scene. Susan V. Booth took over as artistic director at the Goodman after the 35-year tenure of Robert Falls. Braden Abraham, formerly the AD of Seattle Rep, will be the new artistic director for Writers Theatre in February. Cody Estle moved on from Raven to Milwaukee, and Redtwist announced new leadership as well, including new AD Dusty Brown. Meanwhile, Redtwist’s fellow Edgewater theater Steep moved into a new building and got a huge grant from the city, which undoubtedly can be credited in large part to departing executive director Kate Piatt-Eckert’s efforts. Mica Cole returned to Chicago as TimeLine Theatre’s new executive director just as the company moves forward with their new space in Uptown, slated to open in early 2024. (TimeLine’s current production of Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind was one of my favorites this fall. It closes this weekend, and if you can get a ticket, go!)

Karla Estela Rivera, the executive director for Free Street, moved on to become the first executive director for Arts Administrators of Color, while Marissa Lynn Ford took charge at the League of Chicago Theatres. But it wasn’t all rosy for Black theater leaders: Lanise Antoine Shelley, who was named artistic director for House Theatre in March of 2021, lost that job when the company’s board decided they couldn’t continue operations. Shelley only got to stage two productions before House folded, ending its 21-year run. 

Speaking solely for myself, it seems to me that there should have been more support given to the first Black artistic director in House history to take the company in a new direction after the pandemic. The biggest story of the year was the upheaval at Victory Gardens, which marked the end of the Tony-winning theater and longtime incubator of new work as a presenting organization. (We’ll have a lot more on that tangled story in next week’s issue.) But there again, Black artistic director Ken-Matt Martin was let go by the board (followed by the firing of all the remaining staff) without being allowed to finish a full season after the pandemic shutdown. 

The final countdown: Demetra Dee in Ericka Dickerson-Despenza’s cullud wattah, the last show produced at Victory Gardens. Credit Liz Lauren

The Victory Gardens situation was made even worse because the last show on its mainstage, cullud wattah by Ericka Dickerson-Despenza (directed by Lili-Anne Brown, whose national profile seems to be growing deservedly larger every year), was an absolutely gutting and gorgeous piece about a family of Black women in Flint, Michigan during the water crisis. Dickerson-Despenza’s play was a reminder of how urgently we need theaters like Victory Gardens that foster and nurture new voices. 

Some other theaters that said goodbye this year (though with less conflict than the VG situation) were Underscore, Eclipse, and Berwyn’s 16th Street Theater. First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook is also ceasing operations later in 2023. But other companies moved forward with plans for new buildings; in addition to TimeLine and Steep, American Blues Theater and Northlight are in the process of establishing new addresses (in the case of the latter, moving from Skokie back to their original hometown of Evanston). Rhapsody Theatre opened in the space formerly occupied by the Mayne Stage in Rogers Park, with an emphasis on magic, comedy, and music. And iO, presumed dead for good in 2020, reopened with new owners, new management, and new promises to do better at creating a supportive space for improv and sketch artists.

Losing companies can be sad, but the biggest losses we saw this year were of people. In 2022, we said goodbye to Marshall Bean, David Lee Bradke, Richard Christiansen, Michael Jeffrey Cohen, Danny Goldring, Mike Hagerty, Lois Hall, John Harrold, Anne V. McGravie, Edward Murray McKay, Tony Mockus Sr., Larry Neumann Jr., Nichelle Nichols (the Star Trek legend got her start in Chicago), Susan Nussbaum, Lindsey Pearlman, Sharon Phillips, Hollis Resnik, Elizabeth Rich, Myrna Salazar, Estelle Goodman Spector, Angie Schoofs Stemberg, and Mary Ann Thebus. 

You can read more about their lives at the Chicago Theater Bike Ride website. This annual event began in 2015 after a numbing wave of deaths struck the community. The ride raises funds for theater artists facing hardship, and it too encourages the spirit of community and healing. In my view, 2022 was a year both onstage and off that tried to be normal but really was anything but. (At the risk of being a broken record, please consider getting your boosters if you haven’t, and wear masks at shows if you can; this thing isn’t over yet.)

But going into 2023, I can’t think of any better New Year’s resolution than the motto adopted by the Theater Bike Ride organizers: Love hard.

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This article was originally published by City Bureau, a nonprofit civic media organization based on the south side.

Temp jobs are on the rise. Employers have increasingly turned to temp workers because of the flexibility a temporary workforce provides, meaning companies can ramp up or scale down their workforce as needed.  So far this year, the industry has employed an average of more than three million people nationwide—already surpassing 2021 figures, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The trend holds in Illinois. Last year, the number of temp workers in the state rose by more than 10 percent from 2020 to nearly 170,000 workers. While those figures include office workers, the majority of temp jobs in the state are in industrial facilities. The jobs are filled by staffing agencies, which are concentrated in Cook County and the surrounding collar counties, according to a City Bureau analysis of Illinois Department of Labor staffing agency registration data.

Chicago-area worker advocates said many of the temp workers they interact with have complained about wage theft, retaliation, and workplace safety issues. They are not alone. Nearly a quarter of temp workers interviewed as part of a national survey published earlier this year said they’ve experienced wage theft, meaning they were paid less than the minimum wage, not paid overtime rates, or not paid for all the hours worked. Nearly 20 percent said they hadn’t received safety training, and the majority of workers interviewed said they had experienced some form of employer retaliation for raising workplace issues. 

In the Chicago area, worker advocates said people who gravitate toward the industry are undocumented immigrants or were formerly incarcerated, which makes them less likely to report abuse, including discrimination.

A 2021 report on industrial temp hiring found that staffing agencies in the Chicago area routinely engage in racial discrimination. The report revealed that when workers of similar gender, age, and employment history were paired and sent to look for jobs at staffing agencies, more than a third of the agencies tested favored Latinx applicants over Black applicants. Some only allowed Latinx workers to apply or, when both applied, offered Latinx workers more or better jobs. 

Dan Shomon, a spokesperson for Staffing Services Association of Illinois, which represents about 20 companies in the state, disputed the report’s findings and said that association members are committed to good quality jobs and report similar numbers among Black and Latinx hires to the association.

City Bureau reporters surveyed more than a dozen workers in North Lawndale and neighboring Little Village, which is home to several industrial staffing agencies, about their experiences in the industry. Workers said they had experienced or suspected wage theft and discrimination, and wanted to know how to transition to permanent employment and more information about their rights. Below, we answer common questions from workers. 

What can I do if I suspect wage theft? 

Keep good records.

Gather evidence stating the promised wages, such as flyers, contracts, or screenshots of online ads, and documents showing a worker’s actual pay, like pay stubs, text messages, or emails. Worker advocates said workers should also track their hours and pay. 

“Don’t talk to management or employers alone because then they can deny whatever transpired in that conversation,” said Jannelle White, the director of Temp Worker Union Alliance Project. “So, first steps: document, document, document. Take notes, and take a witness whenever possible.” 

Tommy Carden, an organizer with Warehouse Workers for Justice, which organizes warehouse and transportation industry workers in Illinois, said that if a paycheck seems short, workers can talk with their coworkers to assess whether it is a one-time error or an issue they are all experiencing. 

Worker advocates stress that temp workers have a better shot at forcing their employer to pay up if they band together and collectively organize at worksites. Some workers have used the courts to collect what’s owed. “One single worker trying to make a legal claim and having a legal case will be less successful than having many coworkers coming together and applying pressure around the same issue,” Carden said.

Can I report wage theft to the city or state?

Yes, workers who live in Chicago can file a complaint with the city or the state. 

Under the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act, staffing agencies are required to provide workers a detailed statement including the number of hours worked, the places where they worked, the pay rate, and any deductions. The Illinois Department of Labor handles complaints about unpaid wages and illegal deductions. To do so, workers can fill out a form and include photocopies of their evidence. 

In Chicago, temp workers earning no more than $29.35 per hour, working for companies with at least 100 employees and employed in industries including manufacturing, retail, or warehouse services are covered by the Fair Workweek Ordinance. Workers can submit an anonymous complaint with the Office of Labor Standards, said Andrew Fox, its director.

Are companies required to offer me a full-time job? 

So-called client companies, the firms contracting staffing agencies to provide workers, are not required to permanently hire temp workers. However, workers can apply for permanent positions when they become available. Under state law, a temp agency should attempt to place workers in a permanent position when client companies have openings.

The lack of regulation on how long a temp worker can stay a temp creates a class of what local worker advocates call “perma-temps.” Client companies can keep a temp worker employed for an indefinite period of time without offering an opportunity for permanent employment.

“It’s a contradiction, but it’s a reality that you have people who are temporary workers forever,” said Carden, of Warehouse Workers for Justice. Labor experts said some companies have union contracts or other collective bargaining agreements that limit the temporary employment status of a worker, but those still do not guarantee permanent employment.

What if my workplace is unionized? 

Workers can review the union contract to see if there is any language that creates a pathway for permanent employment of temp workers. If there is no union, the employee handbook from the client company may have information on temp-to-hire practices. 

“There could be a limitation in the contract that says that a temp has to become a direct hire,” said Tim Bell, executive director of the Chicago Workers Collaborative. “If there is no contract, there is no collective bargaining agreement in that shop, then the period is unlimited.” 

Bell said temp workers should build a relationship with their union steward and coworkers to learn if and how they can transition to a permanent role. 

Do I have to join a union to organize?

No. Federal labor law protects private-sector workers who want to organize with coworkers with or without a union. Workers can bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. In Chicago, worker centers, like Arise Chicago, have supported workers who have formed a worker committee, which can represent workers in conversations with employers without a union. 

However, retaliation against workers who form worker committees can and does happen. Workers fired or disciplined for organizing their workplace can file unfair labor charges against their employer with the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that protects private-sector workers’ right to organize.

I was fired. Now what?

Illinois is an “at-will” employment state, meaning that nonunion workers can be terminated for any reason. However, if workers feel they were discriminated against and are part of a protected class, their firing might have been illegal.

First, do you believe you were fired because you are a part of a protected class? 

The Illinois Human Rights Act forbids discrimination based on “age (40+), ancestry, arrest record, citizenship status, color, conviction record, disability (physical and mental), familial status (with respect to real estate transactions), gender identity, marital status, military status, national origin, orders of protection, pregnancy, race, religion, retaliation, sex, sexual harassment, sexual orientation, and unfavorable military discharge.” 

Federal laws also make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the agency enforcing the federal laws while the Illinois Department of Human Rights handles complaints under the Illinois Human Rights Act. 

Document all communication

Similar to suspected wage theft, worker advocates said workers should document everything that would support their discrimination case and reach out to coworkers for support.    

“If there’s community support, there’s potential for protests and direct actions, and those things sometimes can get better results than going through the legal system,” said Bell, of the Chicago Workers Collaborative. “It’s very hard to win discrimination cases.”

Betsey Madden, chief legal counsel and ethics officer at the Illinois Department of Human Rights, said any evidence of what happened, including a letter of termination or email, is helpful for the department when investigating claims. 

Workers can also check with a local worker center for additional support. 

Consider filing a discrimination charge

Workers can file a complaint against their employer with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. Separately, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division handles civil rights violations and also enforces federal laws that protect people from discrimination based on race, color, national origin, disability status, sex, religion, familial status, or loss of other constitutional rights. Workers can report a civil rights violation against their employer on the department’s website. 

What if I’m undocumented or have been arrested?

Anyone, regardless of their immigration status or whether they have been accused or convicted of a criminal offense, can submit a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights or a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Find a lawyer. Workers can reach out to a legal aid provider or private attorney familiar with workers’ rights cases, said Jane Flanagan, acting director of the Illinois Department of Labor.  

However, temp workers should know that discrimination cases can be difficult to prove and win because of all the documentation that’s needed. 

Carden, of Warehouse Workers for Justice, said that often workers who approach the worker center are interested in the legal route. He added that “a lot of the time you have to be real honest with workers and say, ‘OK, it’s going to be really hard for you to win this unless you have a very specific set of documented facts.’”

His advice: Use every tool in the workers’ rights toolbox to organize and apply pressure while the case is working its way through the courts. 

Government entities and organizations that support workers

Illinois Department of Human Rights administers the Illinois Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment, financial credit, public accommodations, real estate transactions, housing, and sexual harassment. Workers can fill out an employment charge of discrimination online and submit the form by email to [email protected], by mail to 555 West Monroe, 7th Floor, Attn. Intake Unit, Chicago, IL 60661, or by fax to 312-814-6251.
Illinois Department of Labor enforces the state labor laws. Workers can file employment-related complaints, including minimum wage violations, overtime unpaid wages, and violations of the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act. To file a complaint visit the department’s complaint website.
Illinois Department of Labor, Division of Occupational Safety and Healthenforces occupational safety and health standards. Employers are required to report a fatality within eight hours, and inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours. Workers can make a report to the 24-hour number (217) 782-7860. Public-sector employees can make a complaint about unsafe working conditions on its website, by email at [email protected], or by mail to 524 South 2nd Street, Suite 400, Springfield, IL 62701. Private-sector workers can make a complaint to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a worker or a job applicant. A charge of discrimination can be completed on the commission’s website. 
Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission resolves disputes between workers and employers regarding work-related injuries and illnesses. The commission can be reached by email [email protected], or by phone Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at (312) 814-6500. 
Illinois Attorney General’s Workplace Rights Bureau protects the employment rights of Illinois residents. The bureau takes complaints on unpaid wages, wages, hours and overtime, health and safety issues, discrimination, sexual harassment, and other workplace-related issues. Workers can submit a complaint by email to [email protected] or by mail to 100 West Randolph, 11th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601. Call the Workplace Rights Hotline at (844) 740-5076 for more information.
The Office of Labor Standards promotes and enforces Chicago’s labor laws. Workers can submit a complaint on wage theft, minimum wage, paid sick leave, fair workweek scheduling, retaliation related to COVID-19, paid sick leave, or domestic work via the 311 online portal or by calling 311. Complaints can also be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail to 2350 West Ogden, Chicago, IL 60608. 

Worker Centers in Chicago 

Arise Chicago supports workers in learning about their rights. Members learn how to educate and organize coworkers, keep records, and set goals. They can also build strategic planning, negotiation and leadership skills, and more. (773) 769-6000; 1700 W. Hubbard, 2E, Chicago, IL 60622 
Centro de Trabajadores Unidos (United Workers’ Center) builds power among low-wage, immigrant, and Latino community members on the Southeast Side of Chicago and in the south suburbs. They provide free and low-cost immigration legal assistance, build worker power through organizing and cooperatives and support parent mentors. (773) 720-7111; 10638 S. Ewing, Chicago, IL 60617
Chicago Community and Workers’ Rights (CCWR) supports working-class community members regardless of color, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation to learn about their rights and how to organize more effectively in their workplaces. CCWR offers information sessions and even emergency services for workers experiencing a crisis. (773) 827-2490; 1801 S. Ashland, Chicago, IL 60608. 
Chicago Workers Collaborative (CWC) supports low-wage workers through “know your rights” workshops, legal services (including citizenship applications), and by promoting public health and safety in workplaces in the Chicago area. (847) 596-7491; 1914 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL 60608; 783 Highland Ave., Elgin, IL 60123; 300 Grand, Waukegan, IL 60085
Latino Union Of Chicago supports low-income immigrant and U.S.-born workers, particularly day laborers and household workers. Latino Union of Chicago runs the Albany Park Workers Center, a hiring hub for day laborers and workers who clean homes and offices. Workers can participate in an array of trainings and classes at the center. (312) 491-9044; 4811 N. Central Park, Chicago, IL 60625  
Raise the Floor Alliance provides free and direct legal assistance to low-wage workers in the Chicago area. The organization also conducts research, supports local worker centers, informs policy, and supports low-wage workers in Illinois. To request legal assistance, workers can use the online form on their website. (312) 795-9115; 1 N. LaSalle, Suite 1275 L Chicago, IL 60602.
Warehouse Workers For Justice organizes manufacturing, food production, and warehouse workers, and trains workers on basic labor rights and how to come together to hold their employers accountable. The organization also works with government agencies at the local, state, and federal levels to identify and target abusive employers.
Chicago office: (815) 722-5003; 37 S. Ashland, First Floor, Chicago, IL 60607
Joliet office: (815) 722-5003; 114 E. Jefferson, Joliet, IL 60432

Workers Center For Racial Justice organizes Black workers and their families to address the root causes of high rates of unemployment, low-wage work, and overcriminalization. (312) 361-1161; 2243-2245 E. 71st St., Chicago, IL 60649

Siri Chilukuri, Maia McDonald, Cristal Ramírez, and Daniela Tovar-Miranda are 2022 Fall Civic Reporting Fellows. Sarah Conway, City Bureau’s senior reporter covering jobs and the economy of survival in Chicago, also contributed. You can reach her with tips at [email protected]. 

If you or someone you know experienced racial discrimination in temp hiring, connect with City Bureau reporting fellows at [email protected].

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When news broke over a week ago that Danny Goldring had died at 76, there was (as is often the case these days) an immediate outpouring of tributes on social media. I learned the news from Chicago actor Gary Houston; I sometimes met Goldring and his wife, actor Diane Dorsey, over the years at parties hosted by Houston and his wife, artist Hedda Lubin. 

I never knew Goldring beyond nodding acquaintance, but it’s nearly impossible not to recognize his face. During his long career, he appeared in several movies, including shot-in-Chicago features such as The Fugitive, The Dark Knight, and Chain Reaction,and television series such as Six Feet Under and three Star Trek franchises (Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and Enterprise). He had a memorable turn in the two-season Starz series Boss, starring Kelsey Grammer as a terminally ill Chicago mayor desperately hanging onto power. Goldring played Ryan Kavanaugh, a retired cop-turned-barkeep and an old friend and sounding board to Grammer’s Tom Kane. In a 2012 Tribune profile of Goldring by Rick Kogan, the actor said, “The character is almost a perfect fit. I know this guy.” 

Making us feel like we knew the guys he played was one of the great gifts Goldring brought to roles large and small. In addition to his handsome craggy face and (for most of his life) red hair, he had a memorably gruff voice that could seem at odds with what Dorsey describes as a man with boundless curiosity about—and kindness toward—other living creatures.

“He had a heart bigger than I realized,” she says. “He looked out for the Streetwise guys. He wanted to help the lost dogs find where their homes were. He’d walk out of our house with a cigarette behind his ear and he’d pull out another pack of cigarettes and put one in his mouth, light it, take a puff, go down the stairs, walk to the bus to start auditioning, to start looking for work. That was his ritual for leaving home. And on that bus ride downtown? He talked to the bus drivers, he looked at the people on the buses. He made friends where you just don’t think about making friends.”

Dorsey and Goldring met while working together on a commercial shoot. Goldring had just returned to Chicago after several years in New York, where he appeared in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow until his character was killed off. 

Dorsey recalls the moment she met Goldring after the day’s shooting was done. “There were like maybe 20 of us at a bar on Halsted Street, and there was this guy I had never seen. I was ready to fall in love. I had already put a list [of what I wanted in a relationship] on the refrigerator according to Shakti Gawain’s creative visualization. I put five things on it, and a month later this gentleman happens to appear that I don’t know who he is.”

But she soon discovered Goldring checked all the boxes on her refrigerator wish list: He was over six feet tall; ruggedly handsome; had a great sense of humor (“I didn’t know it was going to be puns for 30 years, though,” Dorsey says with a laugh); respected the arts; and was financially responsible. Dorsey says she went over to introduce herself to Goldring, and when they shook hands, “I felt a zap go right through my arm.”

For a brief time, the two lived in LA, but they bought a house in Lakeview, and Chicago was home for most of their marriage. That house is where Goldring died on Friday, December 2. Dorsey says that, though he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015, kidney failure is what caused his death. With a catch in her throat, Dorsey says, “This is his house that he bought with an actor’s money. This is the cute little house that we’ve lived in for 30 years, 32 years. I wanted him to be in his home when he passed.”

Working steadily as a character actor (a problematic phrase, insofar as all actors are playing characters) did provide a decent living for Goldring, if not star status. Dorsey says, “He viewed himself as wanting to try everything. And it wasn’t about lead roles, it was about unique roles, well-written scripts. He really didn’t like a couple of things he did because he felt it was poorly written, poorly produced, or poorly directed, mishandled by somebody. But that was very seldom. He just respected the work, he respected the people he worked with.”

That respect was very much returned. Edward Blatchford, who directed Goldring in American Blues Theater՚s 2015 revival of N. Richard Nash’s The Rainmaker (one of the last times Goldring appeared onstage), says, “To direct him was fabulous. Because he was the pro, he was totally responsible and showed up prepared without any of the drama. It wasn’t about the gossip. It wasn’t about all the drama surrounding relationships that were happening offstage. He was all about the work, and it shows in his work.”

Goldring was born in Woodstock, Illinois, the son of a U.S. Navy officer, and his family lived in many places while he was growing up, including (as Kogan noted) Japan, Hawaii, and Maryland. He attended Trinity University in San Antonio for a year, did a stint in the U.S. Army in the Signal Corps branch in Vietnam, and then returned to Maryland to work construction. He made his stage debut there in a production of The Thurber Carnival, then took a job touring with the Cole Marionettes, a Chicago-based outfit that eventually brought him back to Chicago, where he studied at what was then the Goodman School of Drama (now the Theatre School at DePaul). 

He performed in several small theaters around the city and suburbs in the 1970s and got his local break with the long-running comedy Lunching by Alan Gross at the Drury Lane Theater in Water Tower Place (now the Broadway Playhouse). As he told the late Tribune theater critic Richard Christiansen in 1978, “If I hadn’t gotten the part, I was going to quit forever, maybe go back to construction work or become a carpet salesman, I don’t know.”

Playwright Brett Neveu got to know Goldring when the actor played the title role in Neveu’s late-night show The Earl at A Red Orchid Theatre in 2006, which ran for six months. In Neveu’s play, an aging Hollywood action star, Lawrence Stevens (aka The Earl) joins a trio of brothers in their vicious backyard beatdown games. It was scheduled for the Saturday Reading Series at Chicago Dramatists, and the late Dramatists artistic director Russ Tutterow suggested that Goldring would be perfect for the part of the Earl. 

Danny Goldring (third from left) and the cast of The Earl at A Red Orchid Theatre in 2006. Courtesy A Red Orchid Theatre

In an email, Neveu tells me, “Danny played the role with the perfect amount of silver-screen bravado, unequaled cowboy strength, and viciously focused calm that would whip up jam-packed audiences into a frenzy . . . I’d watch Danny enter the stage with a careful whisper and leave with a blood-soaked grin, turning his performance into one now permanently logged into the annals of Chicago theater lore. Danny was hilarious, amazing, kind, smart, cool, and full of the kind of stories you want to listen to all night long. Being around Danny was like being bathed in the light of a God, and that’s not exactly hyperbole. He had that kind of power. His hair, his eyes, and that goddamn voice.”

Kirsten Fitzgerald, artistic director of A Red Orchid, also wrote in an email, “Whenever Danny called and left a message, or purchased tickets at A Red Orchid, he did so using the name Lawrence Stevens (or The Earl). It made my day to pick up the phone to his rich, deeply kind, and somehow mischievous voice, or to run into his big hug, sly grin, and razor-sharp sense of humor in our agent’s office or on the softball field with Diane and Brett.” She adds, “I think of Danny this way: as an icon of sorts, at times endearingly corny, holding all he loved sacred, and kicking serious ass.”

Dorsey also saw the introspective side of her husband. “Danny wouldn’t walk through the door and say, ‘Let me tell you what I did today.’ That’s something I would do,” she says with a laugh. “Danny would come in and walk back and sit on the deck and have a cigarette and look at the bird feeders. And I would say, ‘Well, what happened today?’ He’d say, ‘Well, the guy driving the bus wished everybody a merry Christmas. And it just cheered everybody up.’ He was that way. He had his stories inside, but he didn’t have a need to tell them except as an artist. And he fulfilled that beautifully.”

She adds, “Danny, he always wanted to know where the hole in the fence was. He told me that as a kid growing up, he was almost like an only child because his siblings were much older and he grew up in the Navy. So they moved around a lot and he would sneak out of the house, and he would sneak into [base] quarters where there were pool tables. But it was dark at night, and he would click the pool balls against each other and listen to the sounds. He wanted to be able to get in and out of places easily. He wanted to know where the hole in the fence was, symbolically.” 

Dorsey says that there will be a public gathering to honor Goldring sometime later in 2023. “We wouldn’t do anything formal because he wasn’t that kind of guy. In the spring, we’re going to have a get-together in a public place so that as many people that want to come can come, order a drink, order food, tell their stories on a mike if they want to share how they knew Danny.” 

Based on the longevity of his career and the huge number of tributes posted on social media, it may need to be a big bar. Meantime, Dorsey suggests showing kindness to random strangers, making a donation to PAWS Chicago, or perhaps making and sharing the starter for Amish friendship bread (something he loved and gifted to friends over the years, as Hedda Lubin told me last week) would be a good way to remember a one-of-a-kind Chicago actor.

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Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. 

Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.

Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.

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During 2020, my running joke was that, although there weren’t any plays happening, there was always plenty of drama to report on in Chicago theater. In fall of 2021, we started seeing some theater return, though the season was cut short by last December’s COVID surge. (Not to be confused with the one we’re currently in, which apparently we’ve decided collectively to just pretend isn’t happening.) This year, most theaters returned to full seasons, even if they sometimes focused on fewer productions in the season, smaller casts, and shorter runs to hedge their financial bets. (The Jeff Committee recognized the reality of the latter by creating awards for short-run productions—nine to 17 performances. No word on whether the Jeffs will keep that category for next year, but it was nice to see shows like About Face Theatre’s The Magnolia Balletand Congo Square’s What to Send Up When It Goes Downget their due.)

This year was filled with several profound experiences onstage: I missed the initial run of Congo Square’s production of Aleshea Harris’s ritual/play about confronting racism and police violence (among other urgent topics) last spring, so was glad when Lookingglass brought it back this fall. I’d say the best pieces I saw this year all somehow addressed the need for community, healing, and listening, which is perhaps unsurprising after the long isolation of the pandemic. 

Theatre Y and Marvin Tate brought us the immersive walking performance of Laughing Song in North Lawndale , which combined Tate’s own stories about growing up in the neighborhood with the biography of George W. Johnson, the first Black American recording artist. Steppenwolf Theatre finally opened its long-awaited, new Ensemble Theater (an in-the-round space upstairs in the company’s Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Arts and Education Center) with Chekhov’s Seagull. But they really blew off the doors with J. Nicole Brooks’s galvanizing 1919, a Steppenwolf for Young Adults production adapted from Eve L. Ewing’s collection of poems on the Red Summer race riots that tied history into contemporary struggles against white supremacy. Youth-created theater was also pretty damn inspiring this year, with both Free Street’s 57 Blocksand Albany Park Theater Project’s Homecominginstilling joy and gratitude in my soul for the younger generation of artists and activists.

1919 was codirected by Gabrielle Randle-Bent and Tasia A. Jones. Randle-Bent also took the reins as associate artistic director at Court Theatre—one of several promotions and changes in leadership that continued to ripple through the scene. Susan V. Booth took over as artistic director at the Goodman after the 35-year tenure of Robert Falls. Braden Abraham, formerly the AD of Seattle Rep, will be the new artistic director for Writers Theatre in February. Cody Estle moved on from Raven to Milwaukee, and Redtwist announced new leadership as well, including new AD Dusty Brown. Meanwhile, Redtwist’s fellow Edgewater theater Steep moved into a new building and got a huge grant from the city, which undoubtedly can be credited in large part to departing executive director Kate Piatt-Eckert’s efforts. Mica Cole returned to Chicago as TimeLine Theatre’s new executive director just as the company moves forward with their new space in Uptown, slated to open in early 2024. (TimeLine’s current production of Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind was one of my favorites this fall. It closes this weekend, and if you can get a ticket, go!)

Karla Estela Rivera, the executive director for Free Street, moved on to become the first executive director for Arts Administrators of Color, while Marissa Lynn Ford took charge at the League of Chicago Theatres. But it wasn’t all rosy for Black theater leaders: Lanise Antoine Shelley, who was named artistic director for House Theatre in March of 2021, lost that job when the company’s board decided they couldn’t continue operations. Shelley only got to stage two productions before House folded, ending its 21-year run. 

Speaking solely for myself, it seems to me that there should have been more support given to the first Black artistic director in House history to take the company in a new direction after the pandemic. The biggest story of the year was the upheaval at Victory Gardens, which marked the end of the Tony-winning theater and longtime incubator of new work as a presenting organization. (We’ll have a lot more on that tangled story in next week’s issue.) But there again, Black artistic director Ken-Matt Martin was let go by the board (followed by the firing of all the remaining staff) without being allowed to finish a full season after the pandemic shutdown. 

The final countdown: Demetra Dee in Ericka Dickerson-Despenza’s cullud wattah, the last show produced at Victory Gardens. Credit Liz Lauren

The Victory Gardens situation was made even worse because the last show on its mainstage, cullud wattah by Ericka Dickerson-Despenza (directed by Lili-Anne Brown, whose national profile seems to be growing deservedly larger every year), was an absolutely gutting and gorgeous piece about a family of Black women in Flint, Michigan during the water crisis. Dickerson-Despenza’s play was a reminder of how urgently we need theaters like Victory Gardens that foster and nurture new voices. 

Some other theaters that said goodbye this year (though with less conflict than the VG situation) were Underscore, Eclipse, and Berwyn’s 16th Street Theater. First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook is also ceasing operations later in 2023. But other companies moved forward with plans for new buildings; in addition to TimeLine and Steep, American Blues Theater and Northlight are in the process of establishing new addresses (in the case of the latter, moving from Skokie back to their original hometown of Evanston). Rhapsody Theatre opened in the space formerly occupied by the Mayne Stage in Rogers Park, with an emphasis on magic, comedy, and music. And iO, presumed dead for good in 2020, reopened with new owners, new management, and new promises to do better at creating a supportive space for improv and sketch artists.

Losing companies can be sad, but the biggest losses we saw this year were of people. In 2022, we said goodbye to Marshall Bean, David Lee Bradke, Richard Christiansen, Michael Jeffrey Cohen, Danny Goldring, Mike Hagerty, Lois Hall, John Harrold, Anne V. McGravie, Edward Murray McKay, Tony Mockus Sr., Larry Neumann Jr., Nichelle Nichols (the Star Trek legend got her start in Chicago), Susan Nussbaum, Lindsey Pearlman, Sharon Phillips, Hollis Resnik, Elizabeth Rich, Myrna Salazar, Estelle Goodman Spector, Angie Schoofs Stemberg, and Mary Ann Thebus. 

You can read more about their lives at the Chicago Theater Bike Ride website. This annual event began in 2015 after a numbing wave of deaths struck the community. The ride raises funds for theater artists facing hardship, and it too encourages the spirit of community and healing. In my view, 2022 was a year both onstage and off that tried to be normal but really was anything but. (At the risk of being a broken record, please consider getting your boosters if you haven’t, and wear masks at shows if you can; this thing isn’t over yet.)

But going into 2023, I can’t think of any better New Year’s resolution than the motto adopted by the Theater Bike Ride organizers: Love hard.

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This article was originally published by City Bureau, a nonprofit civic media organization based on the south side.

Temp jobs are on the rise. Employers have increasingly turned to temp workers because of the flexibility a temporary workforce provides, meaning companies can ramp up or scale down their workforce as needed.  So far this year, the industry has employed an average of more than three million people nationwide—already surpassing 2021 figures, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The trend holds in Illinois. Last year, the number of temp workers in the state rose by more than 10 percent from 2020 to nearly 170,000 workers. While those figures include office workers, the majority of temp jobs in the state are in industrial facilities. The jobs are filled by staffing agencies, which are concentrated in Cook County and the surrounding collar counties, according to a City Bureau analysis of Illinois Department of Labor staffing agency registration data.

Chicago-area worker advocates said many of the temp workers they interact with have complained about wage theft, retaliation, and workplace safety issues. They are not alone. Nearly a quarter of temp workers interviewed as part of a national survey published earlier this year said they’ve experienced wage theft, meaning they were paid less than the minimum wage, not paid overtime rates, or not paid for all the hours worked. Nearly 20 percent said they hadn’t received safety training, and the majority of workers interviewed said they had experienced some form of employer retaliation for raising workplace issues. 

In the Chicago area, worker advocates said people who gravitate toward the industry are undocumented immigrants or were formerly incarcerated, which makes them less likely to report abuse, including discrimination.

A 2021 report on industrial temp hiring found that staffing agencies in the Chicago area routinely engage in racial discrimination. The report revealed that when workers of similar gender, age, and employment history were paired and sent to look for jobs at staffing agencies, more than a third of the agencies tested favored Latinx applicants over Black applicants. Some only allowed Latinx workers to apply or, when both applied, offered Latinx workers more or better jobs. 

Dan Shomon, a spokesperson for Staffing Services Association of Illinois, which represents about 20 companies in the state, disputed the report’s findings and said that association members are committed to good quality jobs and report similar numbers among Black and Latinx hires to the association.

City Bureau reporters surveyed more than a dozen workers in North Lawndale and neighboring Little Village, which is home to several industrial staffing agencies, about their experiences in the industry. Workers said they had experienced or suspected wage theft and discrimination, and wanted to know how to transition to permanent employment and more information about their rights. Below, we answer common questions from workers. 

What can I do if I suspect wage theft? 

Keep good records.

Gather evidence stating the promised wages, such as flyers, contracts, or screenshots of online ads, and documents showing a worker’s actual pay, like pay stubs, text messages, or emails. Worker advocates said workers should also track their hours and pay. 

“Don’t talk to management or employers alone because then they can deny whatever transpired in that conversation,” said Jannelle White, the director of Temp Worker Union Alliance Project. “So, first steps: document, document, document. Take notes, and take a witness whenever possible.” 

Tommy Carden, an organizer with Warehouse Workers for Justice, which organizes warehouse and transportation industry workers in Illinois, said that if a paycheck seems short, workers can talk with their coworkers to assess whether it is a one-time error or an issue they are all experiencing. 

Worker advocates stress that temp workers have a better shot at forcing their employer to pay up if they band together and collectively organize at worksites. Some workers have used the courts to collect what’s owed. “One single worker trying to make a legal claim and having a legal case will be less successful than having many coworkers coming together and applying pressure around the same issue,” Carden said.

Can I report wage theft to the city or state?

Yes, workers who live in Chicago can file a complaint with the city or the state. 

Under the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act, staffing agencies are required to provide workers a detailed statement including the number of hours worked, the places where they worked, the pay rate, and any deductions. The Illinois Department of Labor handles complaints about unpaid wages and illegal deductions. To do so, workers can fill out a form and include photocopies of their evidence. 

In Chicago, temp workers earning no more than $29.35 per hour, working for companies with at least 100 employees and employed in industries including manufacturing, retail, or warehouse services are covered by the Fair Workweek Ordinance. Workers can submit an anonymous complaint with the Office of Labor Standards, said Andrew Fox, its director.

Are companies required to offer me a full-time job? 

So-called client companies, the firms contracting staffing agencies to provide workers, are not required to permanently hire temp workers. However, workers can apply for permanent positions when they become available. Under state law, a temp agency should attempt to place workers in a permanent position when client companies have openings.

The lack of regulation on how long a temp worker can stay a temp creates a class of what local worker advocates call “perma-temps.” Client companies can keep a temp worker employed for an indefinite period of time without offering an opportunity for permanent employment.

“It’s a contradiction, but it’s a reality that you have people who are temporary workers forever,” said Carden, of Warehouse Workers for Justice. Labor experts said some companies have union contracts or other collective bargaining agreements that limit the temporary employment status of a worker, but those still do not guarantee permanent employment.

What if my workplace is unionized? 

Workers can review the union contract to see if there is any language that creates a pathway for permanent employment of temp workers. If there is no union, the employee handbook from the client company may have information on temp-to-hire practices. 

“There could be a limitation in the contract that says that a temp has to become a direct hire,” said Tim Bell, executive director of the Chicago Workers Collaborative. “If there is no contract, there is no collective bargaining agreement in that shop, then the period is unlimited.” 

Bell said temp workers should build a relationship with their union steward and coworkers to learn if and how they can transition to a permanent role. 

Do I have to join a union to organize?

No. Federal labor law protects private-sector workers who want to organize with coworkers with or without a union. Workers can bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. In Chicago, worker centers, like Arise Chicago, have supported workers who have formed a worker committee, which can represent workers in conversations with employers without a union. 

However, retaliation against workers who form worker committees can and does happen. Workers fired or disciplined for organizing their workplace can file unfair labor charges against their employer with the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that protects private-sector workers’ right to organize.

I was fired. Now what?

Illinois is an “at-will” employment state, meaning that nonunion workers can be terminated for any reason. However, if workers feel they were discriminated against and are part of a protected class, their firing might have been illegal.

First, do you believe you were fired because you are a part of a protected class? 

The Illinois Human Rights Act forbids discrimination based on “age (40+), ancestry, arrest record, citizenship status, color, conviction record, disability (physical and mental), familial status (with respect to real estate transactions), gender identity, marital status, military status, national origin, orders of protection, pregnancy, race, religion, retaliation, sex, sexual harassment, sexual orientation, and unfavorable military discharge.” 

Federal laws also make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the agency enforcing the federal laws while the Illinois Department of Human Rights handles complaints under the Illinois Human Rights Act. 

Document all communication

Similar to suspected wage theft, worker advocates said workers should document everything that would support their discrimination case and reach out to coworkers for support.    

“If there’s community support, there’s potential for protests and direct actions, and those things sometimes can get better results than going through the legal system,” said Bell, of the Chicago Workers Collaborative. “It’s very hard to win discrimination cases.”

Betsey Madden, chief legal counsel and ethics officer at the Illinois Department of Human Rights, said any evidence of what happened, including a letter of termination or email, is helpful for the department when investigating claims. 

Workers can also check with a local worker center for additional support. 

Consider filing a discrimination charge

Workers can file a complaint against their employer with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. Separately, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division handles civil rights violations and also enforces federal laws that protect people from discrimination based on race, color, national origin, disability status, sex, religion, familial status, or loss of other constitutional rights. Workers can report a civil rights violation against their employer on the department’s website. 

What if I’m undocumented or have been arrested?

Anyone, regardless of their immigration status or whether they have been accused or convicted of a criminal offense, can submit a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights or a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Find a lawyer. Workers can reach out to a legal aid provider or private attorney familiar with workers’ rights cases, said Jane Flanagan, acting director of the Illinois Department of Labor.  

However, temp workers should know that discrimination cases can be difficult to prove and win because of all the documentation that’s needed. 

Carden, of Warehouse Workers for Justice, said that often workers who approach the worker center are interested in the legal route. He added that “a lot of the time you have to be real honest with workers and say, ‘OK, it’s going to be really hard for you to win this unless you have a very specific set of documented facts.’”

His advice: Use every tool in the workers’ rights toolbox to organize and apply pressure while the case is working its way through the courts. 

Government entities and organizations that support workers

Illinois Department of Human Rights administers the Illinois Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment, financial credit, public accommodations, real estate transactions, housing, and sexual harassment. Workers can fill out an employment charge of discrimination online and submit the form by email to [email protected], by mail to 555 West Monroe, 7th Floor, Attn. Intake Unit, Chicago, IL 60661, or by fax to 312-814-6251.
Illinois Department of Labor enforces the state labor laws. Workers can file employment-related complaints, including minimum wage violations, overtime unpaid wages, and violations of the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act. To file a complaint visit the department’s complaint website.
Illinois Department of Labor, Division of Occupational Safety and Healthenforces occupational safety and health standards. Employers are required to report a fatality within eight hours, and inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours. Workers can make a report to the 24-hour number (217) 782-7860. Public-sector employees can make a complaint about unsafe working conditions on its website, by email at [email protected], or by mail to 524 South 2nd Street, Suite 400, Springfield, IL 62701. Private-sector workers can make a complaint to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a worker or a job applicant. A charge of discrimination can be completed on the commission’s website. 
Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission resolves disputes between workers and employers regarding work-related injuries and illnesses. The commission can be reached by email [email protected], or by phone Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at (312) 814-6500. 
Illinois Attorney General’s Workplace Rights Bureau protects the employment rights of Illinois residents. The bureau takes complaints on unpaid wages, wages, hours and overtime, health and safety issues, discrimination, sexual harassment, and other workplace-related issues. Workers can submit a complaint by email to [email protected] or by mail to 100 West Randolph, 11th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601. Call the Workplace Rights Hotline at (844) 740-5076 for more information.
The Office of Labor Standards promotes and enforces Chicago’s labor laws. Workers can submit a complaint on wage theft, minimum wage, paid sick leave, fair workweek scheduling, retaliation related to COVID-19, paid sick leave, or domestic work via the 311 online portal or by calling 311. Complaints can also be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail to 2350 West Ogden, Chicago, IL 60608. 

Worker Centers in Chicago 

Arise Chicago supports workers in learning about their rights. Members learn how to educate and organize coworkers, keep records, and set goals. They can also build strategic planning, negotiation and leadership skills, and more. (773) 769-6000; 1700 W. Hubbard, 2E, Chicago, IL 60622 
Centro de Trabajadores Unidos (United Workers’ Center) builds power among low-wage, immigrant, and Latino community members on the Southeast Side of Chicago and in the south suburbs. They provide free and low-cost immigration legal assistance, build worker power through organizing and cooperatives and support parent mentors. (773) 720-7111; 10638 S. Ewing, Chicago, IL 60617
Chicago Community and Workers’ Rights (CCWR) supports working-class community members regardless of color, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation to learn about their rights and how to organize more effectively in their workplaces. CCWR offers information sessions and even emergency services for workers experiencing a crisis. (773) 827-2490; 1801 S. Ashland, Chicago, IL 60608. 
Chicago Workers Collaborative (CWC) supports low-wage workers through “know your rights” workshops, legal services (including citizenship applications), and by promoting public health and safety in workplaces in the Chicago area. (847) 596-7491; 1914 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL 60608; 783 Highland Ave., Elgin, IL 60123; 300 Grand, Waukegan, IL 60085
Latino Union Of Chicago supports low-income immigrant and U.S.-born workers, particularly day laborers and household workers. Latino Union of Chicago runs the Albany Park Workers Center, a hiring hub for day laborers and workers who clean homes and offices. Workers can participate in an array of trainings and classes at the center. (312) 491-9044; 4811 N. Central Park, Chicago, IL 60625  
Raise the Floor Alliance provides free and direct legal assistance to low-wage workers in the Chicago area. The organization also conducts research, supports local worker centers, informs policy, and supports low-wage workers in Illinois. To request legal assistance, workers can use the online form on their website. (312) 795-9115; 1 N. LaSalle, Suite 1275 L Chicago, IL 60602.
Warehouse Workers For Justice organizes manufacturing, food production, and warehouse workers, and trains workers on basic labor rights and how to come together to hold their employers accountable. The organization also works with government agencies at the local, state, and federal levels to identify and target abusive employers.
Chicago office: (815) 722-5003; 37 S. Ashland, First Floor, Chicago, IL 60607
Joliet office: (815) 722-5003; 114 E. Jefferson, Joliet, IL 60432

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Siri Chilukuri, Maia McDonald, Cristal Ramírez, and Daniela Tovar-Miranda are 2022 Fall Civic Reporting Fellows. Sarah Conway, City Bureau’s senior reporter covering jobs and the economy of survival in Chicago, also contributed. You can reach her with tips at [email protected]. 

If you or someone you know experienced racial discrimination in temp hiring, connect with City Bureau reporting fellows at [email protected].

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When Week 14 began, it appeared the Chicago Bears were going to get a little bit more help when it comes to 2023 NFL Draft positioning.

Thursday Night Football featured a matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Rams. The Raiders, for one, had been victors in three straight. The Rams, on the other hand, have been decimated with injuries and were going to roll out a quarterback they had acquired just 48 hours earlier in Baker Mayfield.

The Rams’ first-round pick is going to the Detroit Lions, which makes things even more interesting as an NFC North squad. As the game progressed, the Rams ended up pulling off a miraculous comeback win and improved to 4-9 on the season, which kept them firmly beneath the Bears in draft order.

Chicago was sitting at the no. 2 overall pick after Week 13, and without a game this past weekend, looked to stay put. However, due to some intricate tie-breaking scenarios, they ended up falling down to pick no. 3.

Without stepping on the field, the Chicago Bears were losers, in a way, during their bye week.

Because the Denver Broncos lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, they actually leapfrogged the Bears in draft positioning, jumping up to the no. 2 pick. Now, that Broncos pick actually goes to the Seattle Seahawks, which is a whole different, hilarious story in and of itself.

The Bears and Broncos have the same record at 3-10, but there are some detailed tie-breakers that go into giving Denver the higher pick. The tie is broken via strength of victory and record in similar games.

The remaining schedule for the Bears features two heavyweights in the next couple of weeks, with Chicago taking on the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills in back-to-back weeks. Those are surely to equal a pair of losses for Chicago, dropping them to 3-12.

From there, they play two divisional games between the red-hot Detroit Lions and the North-leading Minnesota Vikings.

One could argue that the Bears will finish 3-14 on the year.

Denver, meanwhile, finishes with games against the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers. Of those games, the Rams seems to be the most winnable matchup for Denver.

Although, the Broncos will be without quarterback Russell Wilson for the immediate future due to a concussion. We’ll see if Brett Rypien can manage any better than Wilson has done thus far.

What we know, at the moment, is that the Bears did drop a draft spot though. For the fans clamoring for the highest possible draft pick so that Ryan Poles can get on the phones, this was a highly-valuable drop, albeit just one spot.

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