Public Act 098-0862
 
HB5622 EnrolledLRB098 19212 JLS 54364 b

    AN ACT concerning employment.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act is
amended by changing Sections 2 and 4 and by adding Section 14.5
as follows:
 
    (820 ILCS 115/2)  (from Ch. 48, par. 39m-2)
    Sec. 2. For all employees, other than separated employees,
"wages" shall be defined as any compensation owed an employee
by an employer pursuant to an employment contract or agreement
between the 2 parties, whether the amount is determined on a
time, task, piece, or any other basis of calculation. Payments
to separated employees shall be termed "final compensation" and
shall be defined as wages, salaries, earned commissions, earned
bonuses, and the monetary equivalent of earned vacation and
earned holidays, and any other compensation owed the employee
by the employer pursuant to an employment contract or agreement
between the 2 parties. Where an employer is legally committed
through a collective bargaining agreement or otherwise to make
contributions to an employee benefit, trust or fund on the
basis of a certain amount per hour, day, week or other period
of time, the amount due from the employer to such employee
benefit, trust, or fund shall be defined as "wage supplements",
subject to the wage collection provisions of this Act.
    As used in this Act, the term "employer" shall include any
individual, partnership, association, corporation, limited
liability company, business trust, employment and labor
placement agencies where wage payments are made directly or
indirectly by the agency or business for work undertaken by
employees under hire to a third party pursuant to a contract
between the business or agency with the third party, or any
person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the
interest of an employer in relation to an employee, for which
one or more persons is gainfully employed.
    As used in this Act, the term "employee" shall include any
individual permitted to work by an employer in an occupation,
but shall not include any individual:
        (1) who has been and will continue to be free from
    control and direction over the performance of his work,
    both under his contract of service with his employer and in
    fact; and
        (2) who performs work which is either outside the usual
    course of business or is performed outside all of the
    places of business of the employer unless the employer is
    in the business of contracting with third parties for the
    placement of employees; and
        (3) who is in an independently established trade,
    occupation, profession or business.
    The following terms apply to an employer's use of payroll
cards to pay wages to an employee under the requirements of
this Act:
    "Payroll card" means a card provided to an employee by an
employer or other payroll card issuer as a means of accessing
the employee's payroll card account.
    "Payroll card account" means an account that is directly or
indirectly established through an employer and to which
deposits of a participating employee's wages are made.
    "Payroll card issuer" means a bank, financial institution,
or other entity that issues a payroll card to an employee under
an employer payroll card program.
(Source: P.A. 94-1025, eff. 7-14-06.)
 
    (820 ILCS 115/4)  (from Ch. 48, par. 39m-4)
    Sec. 4. All wages earned by any employee during a
semi-monthly or bi-weekly pay period shall be paid to such
employee not later than 13 days after the end of the pay period
in which such wages were earned. All wages earned by any
employee during a weekly pay period shall be paid not later
than 7 days after the end of the weekly pay period in which the
wages were earned. All wages paid on a daily basis shall be
paid insofar as possible on the same day as the wages were
earned, or not later in any event than 24 hours after the day
on which the wages were earned. Wages of executive,
administrative and professional employees, as defined in the
Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, may be paid on or
before 21 calendar days after the period during which they are
earned.
    The terms of this Section shall not apply, if there exists
a valid collective bargaining agreement which provides for a
different date or for different arrangements for the payment of
wages.
    Employers shall pay to workers on strike or layoff, no
later than the next regular payday, all wages earned up to the
time of such strike or layoff.
    Any employee who is absent at the time fixed for payment,
or who for any other reason is not paid at that time, shall be
paid upon demand at any time within a period of 5 days after
the time fixed for payment; and after the expiration of the 5
day period, payment shall be made upon 5 days demand. Payment
to the absent employee shall be made by mail if the employee so
requests in writing.
    All wages and final compensation shall be paid in lawful
money of the United States, by check, redeemable upon demand
and without discount at a bank or other financial institution
readily available to the employee, or by deposit of funds in an
account in a bank or other financial institution designated by
the employee, or by a payroll card that meets the requirements
of Section 14.5. No employer may designate a particular
financial institution, bank, savings bank, savings and loan, or
currency exchange for the exclusive payment or deposit of a
check for wages. No financial institution, bank, savings bank,
savings and loan, or currency exchange shall refuse to honor a
check for wages that exclusively designates, in violation of
this Section, a particular bank, savings bank, savings and
loan, or currency exchange as the exclusive place of payment or
deposit except to the extent the bank, savings bank, savings
and loan, or currency exchange is otherwise excused from
honoring the check under Section 3-111 of the Uniform
Commercial Code because the bank, savings bank, savings and
loan, or currency exchange is not the drawee or the maker of
the check.
(Source: P.A. 89-364, eff. 8-18-95.)
 
    (820 ILCS 115/14.5 new)
    Sec. 14.5. Payroll cards. An employer using a payroll card
to pay an employee's wages shall meet the following
requirements:
        (1) The employer shall not make receipt of wages by
    payroll card a condition of employment or a condition for
    the receipt of any benefit or other form of remuneration
    for any employee.
        (2) The employer shall not initiate payment of wages to
    the employee by electronic fund transfer to a payroll card
    account unless:
            (A) the employer provides the employee with a clear
        and conspicuous written disclosure notifying the
        employee that payment by payroll card is voluntary,
        listing the other method or methods of payment offered
        by the employer in accordance with Section 4, and
        explaining the terms and conditions of the payroll card
        account option, including:
                (i) an itemized list of all fees that may be
            deducted from the employee's payroll card account
            by the employer or payroll card issuer;
                (ii) a notice that third parties may assess
            transaction fees in addition to the fees assessed
            by the employee's payroll card issuer; and
                (iii) an explanation of how the employee may
            obtain, at no cost, the employee's net wages, check
            the account balance, and request to receive paper
            or electronic transaction histories, as provided
            in item (3);
            (B) the employer also offers the employee another
        method or methods of payment in compliance with Section
        4; and
            (C) the employer obtains the employee's voluntary
        written or electronic consent to receive the wages by
        payroll card.
        (3) A payroll card program offered by the employer
    shall provide the employee with:
            (A) at least one method of withdrawing the
        employee's full net wages from the payroll card once
        per pay period, but not less than twice per month, at
        no cost to the employee, at a location readily
        available to the employee;
            (B) at the employee's request, one transaction
        history, which the employee may request to receive in
        paper or electronic form, each month that includes all
        deposits, withdrawals, deductions, or charges by any
        entity from or to the employee's payroll card account
        at no cost to the employee; and
            (C) unlimited telephone access to obtain the
        payroll card account balance on the payroll card at any
        time without incurring a fee.
        (4) An employer may not use a payroll card program that
    charges fees for point of sale transactions, the
    application, initiation, loading of wages by the employer,
    or participation in the payroll card program. Fees for
    account inactivity may be assessed following one year of
    inactivity. The payroll card program must offer the
    employee a declined transaction, at no cost to the
    employee, twice per month. Commercially reasonable fees,
    limited to cover the costs to process declined
    transactions, may be assessed on subsequent declined
    transactions within that particular month.
        (5) The payroll card or payroll card account may not be
    linked to any form of credit including, but not limited to,
    overdraft fees or overdraft service fees, a loan against
    future pay, or a cash advance on future pay or work not yet
    performed.
        (6) An employee paid wages by payroll card may request
    to be paid wages by another method of payment provided by
    the employer in accordance with Section 4. Following the
    request, the employer shall, within 2 pay periods, begin
    payment to the employee by the allowable method requested
    by the employee.
        (7) A payroll card program offered by an employer shall
    provide the employee with protections from unauthorized
    use of the payroll card in accordance with State and
    federal law concerning electronic fund transfers.
        (8) The employer's obligations under this Section
    shall cease 60 days after the employer-employee
    relationship has ended and the employee has been paid the
    employee's full and final wages.
        (9) Within 30 days of the termination of the
    employer-employee relationship, the employer shall notify
    the employee that the terms and conditions of the account
    may change if the employee chooses to continue a
    relationship with the payroll card issuer.
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
1, 2015.