101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB5343

 

Introduced , by Rep. Marcus C. Evans, Jr.

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
820 ILCS 65/12 new

    Amends the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act. Provides that employers employing 100 or more full-time employees shall provide severance pay to employees. Provides that employers that employ 100 or more full-time workers must provide notice 90 days, rather than 60 days, before a layoff order takes effect. Effective immediately.


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A BILL FOR

 

HB5343LRB101 18777 JLS 68232 b

1    AN ACT concerning employment.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining
5Notification Act is amended by adding Section 12 as follows:
 
6    (820 ILCS 65/12 new)
7    Sec. 12. Mass layoff; severance pay.
8    (a) If an employer that employees more than 100 full-time
9employees conducts a mass layoff, the employer shall:
10        (1) provide not less than 90 days, or the period of
11    time required pursuant to the federal Worker Adjustment and
12    Retraining Notification Act, 29 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.,
13    whichever is longer, before the first termination of
14    employment occurs in connection with the termination or
15    transfer of operations or mass layoff, notification of the
16    termination or transfer of operations or mass layoff to the
17    Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the chief
18    elected officials of the municipality and county
19    governments within which the establishment is located,
20    each employee whose employment is to be terminated, and any
21    collective bargaining units of employees at the
22    establishment; and
23        (2) provide to each full-time employee whose

 

 

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1    employment is terminated and to whom the employer provides
2    less than the number of days of notification required under
3    item (1) severance pay equal to one week of pay for each
4    full year of employment. The rate of severance pay provided
5    by the employer under this Section shall be the average
6    regular rate of compensation received during the
7    employee's last 3 years of employment with the employer or
8    the final regular rate of compensation paid to the
9    employee, whichever rate is higher. Severance under this
10    Section shall be regarded as compensation due to an
11    employee for back pay and losses associated with the
12    termination of the employment relationship, and earned in
13    full upon the termination of the employment relationship,
14    notwithstanding the calculation of the amount of the
15    payment with reference to the employee's length of service.
16    The severance pay provided by the employer pursuant to this
17    Section shall be in addition to any severance pay provided
18    by the employer pursuant to a collective bargaining
19    agreement or for any other reason, except that any back pay
20    provided by the employer to the employee pursuant to
21    Section 5 of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining
22    Notification Act, 29 U.S.C. 2104, because of a violation of
23    Section 3 of that Act shall be credited toward meeting the
24    severance pay requirements of this Section.
25    (b) In determining whether a termination or transfer of
26operations or a mass layoff is subject to the notification

 

 

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1requirements of this Section, any terminations of employment
2for 2 or more groups at a single establishment occurring within
3any 90-day period, when each group has less than the number of
4terminations which would trigger the notification requirements
5of this Section, but the aggregate for all of the groups
6exceeds that number, shall be regarded as subject to the
7notification requirements unless the employer demonstrates
8that the cause of the terminations for each group is separate
9and distinct from the causes of the terminations for the other
10group or groups.
11    (c) As used in this Section, "employer" includes any
12individual, partnership, association, corporation, or any
13person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the
14interest of an employer in relation to an employee, and
15includes any person who, directly or indirectly, owns and
16operates the nominal employer, or owns a corporate subsidiary
17that, directly or indirectly, owns and operates the nominal
18employer.
 
19    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
20becoming law.