100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
SB2546

 

Introduced 2/6/2018, by Sen. Daniel Biss

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
115 ILCS 5/2  from Ch. 48, par. 1702

    Amends the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. Provides that the term "student" within the definition of "educational employee" or "employee" as used in the Act includes (rather than excludes) graduate students who are teaching assistants primarily performing duties that involve the delivery and support of instruction and all other graduate students. Effective immediately.


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A BILL FOR

 

SB2546LRB100 15995 AXK 31113 b

1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act is
5amended by changing Section 2 as follows:
 
6    (115 ILCS 5/2)  (from Ch. 48, par. 1702)
7    Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:
8    (a) "Educational employer" or "employer" means the
9governing body of a public school district, including the
10governing body of a charter school established under Article
1127A of the School Code or of a contract school or contract
12turnaround school established under paragraph 30 of Section
1334-18 of the School Code, combination of public school
14districts, including the governing body of joint agreements of
15any type formed by 2 or more school districts, public community
16college district or State college or university, a
17subcontractor of instructional services of a school district
18(other than a school district organized under Article 34 of the
19School Code), combination of school districts, charter school
20established under Article 27A of the School Code, or contract
21school or contract turnaround school established under
22paragraph 30 of Section 34-18 of the School Code, an
23Independent Authority created under Section 2-3.25f-5 of the

 

 

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1School Code, and any State agency whose major function is
2providing educational services. "Educational employer" or
3"employer" does not include (1) a Financial Oversight Panel
4created pursuant to Section 1A-8 of the School Code due to a
5district violating a financial plan or (2) an approved
6nonpublic special education facility that contracts with a
7school district or combination of school districts to provide
8special education services pursuant to Section 14-7.02 of the
9School Code, but does include a School Finance Authority
10created under Article 1E or 1F of the School Code and a
11Financial Oversight Panel created under Article 1B or 1H of the
12School Code. The change made by this amendatory Act of the 96th
13General Assembly to this paragraph (a) to make clear that the
14governing body of a charter school is an "educational employer"
15is declaratory of existing law.
16    (b) "Educational employee" or "employee" means any
17individual, excluding supervisors, managerial, confidential,
18short term employees, student, and part-time academic
19employees of community colleges employed full or part time by
20an educational employer, but shall not include elected
21officials and appointees of the Governor with the advice and
22consent of the Senate, firefighters as defined by subsection
23(g-1) of Section 3 of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act,
24and peace officers employed by a State university. For the
25purposes of this Act, part-time academic employees of community
26colleges shall be defined as those employees who provide less

 

 

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1than 3 credit hours of instruction per academic semester. In
2this subsection (b), the term "student" includes graduate
3students who are research assistants primarily performing
4duties that involve research, or graduate assistants primarily
5performing duties that are pre-professional, but excludes
6graduate students who are teaching assistants primarily
7performing duties that involve the delivery and support of
8instruction, and all other graduate assistants.
9    (c) "Employee organization" or "labor organization" means
10an organization of any kind in which membership includes
11educational employees, and which exists for the purpose, in
12whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning
13grievances, employee-employer disputes, wages, rates of pay,
14hours of employment, or conditions of work, but shall not
15include any organization which practices discrimination in
16membership because of race, color, creed, age, gender, national
17origin or political affiliation.
18    (d) "Exclusive representative" means the labor
19organization which has been designated by the Illinois
20Educational Labor Relations Board as the representative of the
21majority of educational employees in an appropriate unit, or
22recognized by an educational employer prior to January 1, 1984
23as the exclusive representative of the employees in an
24appropriate unit or, after January 1, 1984, recognized by an
25employer upon evidence that the employee organization has been
26designated as the exclusive representative by a majority of the

 

 

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1employees in an appropriate unit.
2    (e) "Board" means the Illinois Educational Labor Relations
3Board.
4    (f) "Regional Superintendent" means the regional
5superintendent of schools provided for in Articles 3 and 3A of
6The School Code.
7    (g) "Supervisor" means any individual having authority in
8the interests of the employer to hire, transfer, suspend, lay
9off, recall, promote, discharge, reward or discipline other
10employees within the appropriate bargaining unit and adjust
11their grievances, or to effectively recommend such action if
12the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or
13clerical nature but requires the use of independent judgment.
14The term "supervisor" includes only those individuals who
15devote a preponderance of their employment time to such
16exercising authority.
17    (h) "Unfair labor practice" or "unfair practice" means any
18practice prohibited by Section 14 of this Act.
19    (i) "Person" includes an individual, educational employee,
20educational employer, legal representative, or employee
21organization.
22    (j) "Wages" means salaries or other forms of compensation
23for services rendered.
24    (k) "Professional employee" means, in the case of a public
25community college, State college or university, State agency
26whose major function is providing educational services, the

 

 

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1Illinois School for the Deaf, and the Illinois School for the
2Visually Impaired, (1) any employee engaged in work (i)
3predominantly intellectual and varied in character as opposed
4to routine mental, manual, mechanical, or physical work; (ii)
5involving the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment in
6its performance; (iii) of such character that the output
7produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in
8relation to a given period of time; and (iv) requiring
9knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning
10customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized
11intellectual instruction and study in an institution of higher
12learning or a hospital, as distinguished from a general
13academic education or from an apprenticeship or from training
14in the performance of routine mental, manual, or physical
15processes; or (2) any employee, who (i) has completed the
16courses of specialized intellectual instruction and study
17described in clause (iv) of paragraph (1) of this subsection,
18and (ii) is performing related work under the supervision of a
19professional person to qualify himself or herself to become a
20professional as defined in paragraph (l).
21    (l) "Professional employee" means, in the case of any
22public school district, or combination of school districts
23pursuant to joint agreement, any employee who has a certificate
24issued under Article 21 or Section 34-83 of the School Code, as
25now or hereafter amended.
26    (m) "Unit" or "bargaining unit" means any group of

 

 

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1employees for which an exclusive representative is selected.
2    (n) "Confidential employee" means an employee, who (i) in
3the regular course of his or her duties, assists and acts in a
4confidential capacity to persons who formulate, determine and
5effectuate management policies with regard to labor relations
6or who (ii) in the regular course of his or her duties has
7access to information relating to the effectuation or review of
8the employer's collective bargaining policies.
9    (o) "Managerial employee" means an individual who is
10engaged predominantly in executive and management functions
11and is charged with the responsibility of directing the
12effectuation of such management policies and practices.
13    (p) "Craft employee" means a skilled journeyman, craft
14person, and his or her apprentice or helper.
15    (q) "Short-term employee" is an employee who is employed
16for less than 2 consecutive calendar quarters during a calendar
17year and who does not have a reasonable expectation that he or
18she will be rehired by the same employer for the same service
19in a subsequent calendar year. Nothing in this subsection shall
20affect the employee status of individuals who were covered by a
21collective bargaining agreement on the effective date of this
22amendatory Act of 1991.
23(Source: P.A. 97-429, eff. 8-16-11; 98-1155, eff. 1-9-15.)
 
24    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
25becoming law.