Public Act 102-0705
 
HB4604 EnrolledLRB102 23341 SPS 32507 b

    AN ACT concerning employment.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 3. The Equal Pay Act of 2003 is amended by changing
Section 11 as follows:
 
    (820 ILCS 112/11)
    Sec. 11. Equal pay registration certificate requirements;
application. For the purposes of this Section 11 only,
"business" means any private employer who has 100 or more more
than 100 employees in the State of Illinois and is required to
file an Annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but does not include
the State of Illinois or any political subdivision, municipal
corporation, or other governmental unit or agency.
    (a) A business must obtain an equal pay registration
certificate from the Department.
    (b) Any business subject to the requirements of this
Section that is authorized to transact business in this State
on March 23, 2021 shall submit an application to obtain an
equal pay registration certificate, between March 24, 2022 and
March 23, 2024, and must recertify every 2 years thereafter.
Any business subject to the requirements of this Section that
is authorized to transact business in this State after March
23, 2021 must submit an application to obtain an equal pay
registration certificate within 3 years of commencing business
operations, but not before January 1, 2024, and must recertify
every 2 years thereafter. The Department shall collect contact
information from each business subject to this Section. The
Department shall assign each business a date by which it must
submit an application to obtain an equal pay registration
certificate. The business shall recertify every 2 years at a
date to be determined by the Department. When a business
receives a notice from the Department to recertify for its
equal pay registration certificate, if the business has fewer
than 100 employees, the business must certify in writing to
the Department that it is exempt from this Section. Any new
business that is subject to this Section and authorized to
conduct business in this State, after the effective date of
this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, shall
submit its contact information to the Department by January 1
of the following year and shall be assigned a date by which it
must submit an application to obtain an equal pay registration
certificate. The Department's failure to assign a business a
registration date does not exempt the business from compliance
with this Section. The failure of the Department to notify a
business of its recertification deadline may be a mitigating
factor when making a determination of a violation of this
Section.
    (c) Application.
        (1) A business shall apply for an equal pay
    registration certificate by paying a $150 filing fee and
    submitting wage records and an equal pay compliance
    statement to the Director as follows:
            (A) Wage Records. Any business that is required to
        file an annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with
        the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must also
        submit to the Director a copy of the business's most
        recently filed Employer Information Report EEO-1. The
        business shall also compile a list of all employees
        during the past calendar year, separated by gender and
        the race and ethnicity categories as reported in the
        business's most recently filed Employer Information
        Report EEO-1, and the county in which the employee
        works, the date the employee started working for the
        business, any other information the Department deems
        necessary to determine if pay equity exists among
        employees, and report the total wages as defined by
        Section 2 of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection
        Act paid to each employee during the past calendar
        year, rounded to the nearest $100, to the Director.
            (B) Equal Pay Compliance Statement. The business
        must submit a statement signed by a corporate officer,
        legal counsel, or authorized agent of the business
        certifying:
                (i) that the business is in compliance with
            this Act and other relevant laws, including but
            not limited to: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
            of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Illinois
            Human Rights Act, and the Equal Wage Act;
                (ii) that the average compensation for its
            female and minority employees is not consistently
            below the average compensation, as determined by
            rule by the United States Department of Labor, for
            its male and non-minority employees within each of
            the major job categories in the Employer
            Information Report EEO-1 for which an employee is
            expected to perform work, taking into account
            factors such as length of service, requirements of
            specific jobs, experience, skill, effort,
            responsibility, working conditions of the job,
            education or training, job location, use of a
            collective bargaining agreement, or other
            mitigating factors; as used in this subparagraph,
            "minority" has the meaning ascribed to that term
            in paragraph (1) of subsection (A) of Section 2 of
            the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and
            Persons with Disabilities Act;
                (iii) that the business does not restrict
            employees of one sex to certain job
            classifications, and makes retention and promotion
            decisions without regard to sex;
                (iv) that wage and benefit disparities are
            corrected when identified to ensure compliance
            with the Acts cited in item (i);
                (v) how often wages and benefits are
            evaluated; and
                (vi) the approach the business takes in
            determining what level of wages and benefits to
            pay its employees; acceptable approaches include,
            but are not limited to, a wage and salary survey.
            (C) Filing fee. The business shall pay to the
        Department a filing fee of $150. Proceeds from the
        fees collected under this Section shall be deposited
        into the Equal Pay Registration Fund, a special fund
        created in the State treasury. Moneys in the Fund
        shall be appropriated to the Department for the
        purposes of this Section.
        (2) Receipt of the equal pay compliance application
    and statement by the Director does not establish
    compliance with the Acts set forth in item (i) of
    subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection (c).
        (3) A business that has employees in multiple
    locations or facilities in Illinois shall submit a single
    application to the Department regarding all of its
    operations in Illinois.
    (d) Issuance or rejection of registration certificate.
After January 1, 2022, the Director must issue an equal pay
registration certificate, or a statement of why the
application was rejected, within 45 calendar days of receipt
of the application. Applicants shall have the opportunity to
cure any deficiencies in its application that led to the
rejection, and re-submit the revised application to the
Department within 30 calendar days of receiving a rejection.
Applicants shall have the ability to appeal rejected
applications. An application may be rejected only if it does
not comply with the requirements of subsection (c), or the
business is otherwise found to be in violation of this Act. The
receipt of an application by the Department, or the issuance
of a registration certificate by the Department, shall not
establish compliance with the Equal Pay Act of 2003 as to all
Sections except Section 11. The issuance of a registration
certificate shall not be a defense against any Equal Pay Act
violation found by the Department, nor a basis for mitigation
of damages.
    (e) Revocation of registration certificate. An equal pay
registration certificate for a business may be suspended or
revoked by the Director when the business fails to make a good
faith effort to comply with the Acts identified in item (i) of
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c), fails to
make a good faith effort to comply with this Section, or has
multiple violations of this Section or the Acts identified in
item (i) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subsection
(c). Prior to suspending or revoking a registration
certificate, the Director must first have sought to conciliate
with the business regarding wages and benefits due to
employees.
    Consistent with Section 25, prior to or in connection with
the suspension or revocation of an equal pay registration
certificate, the Director, or his or her authorized
representative, may interview workers, administer oaths, take
or cause to be taken the depositions of witnesses, and require
by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses, and the
production of personnel and compensation information relative
to the matter under investigation, hearing or a
department-initiated audit.
    Neither the Department nor the Director shall be held
liable for good faith errors in issuing, denying, suspending
or revoking certificates.
    (f) Administrative review. A business may obtain an
administrative hearing in accordance with the Illinois
Administrative Procedure Act before the suspension or
revocation of its certificate or imposition of civil penalties
as provided by subsection (i) is effective by filing a written
request for hearing within 20 calendar days after service of
notice by the Director.
    (g) Technical assistance. The Director must provide
technical assistance to any business that requests assistance
regarding this Section.
    (h) Access to data.
        (1) Any individually identifiable information
    submitted to the Director within or related to an equal
    pay registration application or otherwise provided by an
    employer in its equal pay compliance statement under
    subsection (c) shall be considered confidential
    information and not subject to disclosure pursuant to the
    Illinois Freedom of Information Act. As used in this
    Section, "individually identifiable information" means
    data submitted pursuant to this Section that is associated
    with a specific person or business. Aggregate data or
    reports that are reasonably calculated to prevent the
    association of any data with any individual business or
    person are not confidential information. Aggregate data
    shall include the job category and the average hourly wage
    by county for each gender, race, and ethnicity category on
    the registration certificate applications. The Department
    of Labor may compile aggregate data from registration
    certificate applications.
        (2) The Director's decision to issue, not issue,
    revoke, or suspend an equal pay registration certificate
    is public information.
        (3) Notwithstanding this subsection (h), a current
    employee of a covered business may request anonymized data
    regarding their job classification or title and the pay
    for that classification. No individually identifiable
    information may be provided to an employee making a
    request under this paragraph.
        (4) Notwithstanding this subsection (h), the
    Department may share data and identifiable information
    with the Department of Human Rights, pursuant to its
    enforcement of Article 2 of the Illinois Human Rights Act,
    or the Office of the Attorney General, pursuant to its
    enforcement of Section 10-104 of the Illinois Human Rights
    Act.
        (5) Any Department employee who willfully and
    knowingly divulges, except in accordance with a proper
    judicial order or otherwise provided by law, confidential
    information received by the Department from any business
    pursuant to this Act shall be deemed to have violated the
    State Officials and Employees Ethics Act and be subject to
    the penalties established under subsections (e) and (f) of
    Section 50-5 of that Act after investigation and
    opportunity for hearing before the Executive Ethics
    Commission in accordance with Section 20-50 of that Act.
    (i) Penalty. Falsification or misrepresentation of
information on an application submitted to the Department
shall constitute a violation of this Act and the Department
may seek to suspend or revoke an equal pay registration
certificate or impose civil penalties as provided under
subsection (c) of Section 30.
(Source: P.A. 101-656, eff. 3-23-21; 102-36, eff. 6-25-21.)
 
    Section 5. The Occupational Safety and Health Act is
amended by changing Sections 25, 60, 65, 80, 85, 90, 100, and
110 as follows:
 
    (820 ILCS 219/25)
    Sec. 25. Occupational safety and health standards.
    (a) All federal occupational safety and health standards
which the United States Secretary of Labor has promulgated or
modified in accordance with the federal Occupational Safety
and Health Act of 1970 and which are in effect on the effective
date of this Act shall be and are hereby made rules of the
Department unless the Director promulgates an alternate
standard that is at least as effective in providing safe and
healthful employment and places of employment as a federal
standard. Before developing and adopting an alternate standard
or modifying or revoking an existing standard, the Director
must consider factual information that includes:
        (1) Expert technical knowledge.
        (2) Input from interested persons, including
    employers, employees, recognized standards-producing
    organizations, and the public.
    (b) All federal occupational safety and health standards
which the United States Secretary of Labor promulgates or
modifies in accordance with the federal Occupational Safety
and Health Act of 1970 on or after the effective date of this
Act, unless revoked by the Secretary of Labor, shall become
rules of the Department within 6 months after their federal
promulgation date, unless there has been in effect in this
State at the time of the promulgation or modification of the
federal standard an alternate State standard that is at least
as effective in providing safe and healthful employment and
places of employment as a federal standard. The alternate
State standard, if not currently contained in the Department's
rules, shall not become effective, however, unless the
Department, within 45 days after the federal promulgation
date, files with the office of the Secretary of State in
Springfield, Illinois, a certified copy of the rule as
provided in the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act.
(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15.)
 
    (820 ILCS 219/60)
    Sec. 60. Employers' records.
    (a) The Director shall adopt rules requiring public
employers to maintain accurate records of, and to make reports
on, work-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses, other than
minor injuries requiring only first aid treatment and which do
not involve medical treatment, loss of consciousness,
restriction of work or motion, or transfer to another job. The
rules shall specifically include all of the reporting
provisions of Section 6 of the Workers' Compensation Act and
Section 6 of the Workers' Occupational Diseases Act. The
records shall be available to any State agency requiring such
information.
    (b) The Director shall adopt rules requiring public
employers to maintain accurate records of employee exposures
to potentially toxic materials or harmful physical agents
which are required to be monitored or measured under this Act.
The rules shall provide employees or their authorized
representative with an opportunity to observe the monitoring
or measuring, and to have access to the records of the
monitoring or measuring. The rules shall provide appropriate
means by which each employee or former employee may have
access to such records as will indicate his or her exposure to
toxic materials or harmful physical agents.
    (c) A public employer shall promptly notify any employee
who has been or is being exposed to toxic materials or harmful
physical agents in concentrations or at levels which exceed
those prescribed by an occupational safety and health standard
and shall inform the employee who is being thus exposed of the
action being taken by the employer to correct such exposure.
(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15.)
 
    (820 ILCS 219/65)
    Sec. 65. Periodic inspection of workplaces.
    (a) The Director shall enforce the occupational safety and
health standards and rules promulgated under this Act and any
occupational health and safety regulations relating to
inspection of places of employment, and shall visit and
inspect, as often as practicable, the places of employment
covered by this Act.
    (b) The Director or his or her authorized representative,
upon presenting appropriate credentials to a public employer's
agent in charge, has the right to enter and inspect all places
of employment covered by this Act as follows:
        (1) An inspector may enter without delay and at
    reasonable times any establishment, construction site, or
    other area, workplace, or environment where work is
    performed by an employee of a public employer in order to
    enforce the occupational safety and health standards
    adopted under this Act.
        (2) If a public employer refuses entry to an inspector
    upon being presented with proper credentials or allows
    entry but then refuses to permit or hinders the inspection
    in any way, the inspector shall leave the premises and
    immediately report the refusal to authorized management
    within the Division. Authorized management shall notify
    the Director to initiate the compulsory legal process to
    obtain entry or obtain a warrant for entry, or both.
        (3) An inspector may inspect and investigate during
    regular working hours and at other reasonable times, and
    within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner, any
    workplace described in paragraph (1) and all pertinent
    conditions, structures, machines, apparatus, devices,
    equipment, and materials therein, and to question
    privately the employer or any agent or employee of the
    employer.
        (4) The owner, operator, manager, or lessee of any
    workplace covered by this Act, and his or her agent or
    employee, and any employer affected by this Act shall,
    when requested by the Division of Occupational Safety and
    Health or any duly authorized agent of that Division: (i)
    furnish any information in his or her possession or under
    his or her control which the Department is authorized to
    require, (ii) answer truthfully all questions required to
    be put to him or her, and (iii) cooperate in the making of
    a proper inspection.
    (c) In making his or her inspection and investigations
under this Act, the Director of Labor has the power to require
the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production
of evidence under oath.
(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15; 99-336, eff. 8-10-15.)
 
    (820 ILCS 219/80)
    Sec. 80. Violation of Act or standard; citation.
    (a) Upon inspection or investigation of a workplace, if
the Director or his or her authorized representative believes
that a public employer has violated a requirement of this Act
or a standard, rule, or regulation promulgated under this Act,
he or she shall with reasonable promptness issue a citation to
the employer. A citation shall: (i) be in writing, (ii)
describe with particularity the nature of the violation and
include a reference to the provision of the Act, standard,
rule, or regulation alleged to have been violated, and (iii)
fix a reasonable time for the abatement of the violation.
    (b) Each citation issued under this Section, or a copy or
copies thereof, shall be prominently posted at or near the
place at which the violation occurred as prescribed in rules
adopted by the Director.
    (c) A citation shall be served on the employer or the
employer's agent by delivering a copy to the person upon whom
the service is to be had, or by leaving a copy at his or her
usual place of business or abode, or by sending a copy by
certified mail to his or her place of business, or by sending a
copy by email to an email address previously designated by the
employer for purposes of receiving notice under this Act.
    (d) A citation may not be issued under this Section after
the expiration of 6 months following the occurrence of any
violation.
(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15.)
 
    (820 ILCS 219/85)
    Sec. 85. Civil penalties.
    (a) After an inspection of a workplace under this Act, if
the Director issues a citation, he or she shall, within 5 days
after issuing the citation, notify the employer by certified
mail, or by email to an email address previously designated by
the employer for purposes of receiving notice under this Act,
of any civil penalty proposed to be assessed for the violation
set forth in the citation.
    (b) If the Director has reason to believe that an employer
has failed to correct a violation for which a citation has been
issued within the period permitted for its correction, the
Director shall notify the employer by certified mail, or by
email to an email address previously designated by the
employer for purposes of receiving notice under this Act, of
that failure and of the civil penalty proposed to be assessed
for that failure.
    (c) Civil penalties authorized under this Section are as
follows:
        (1) A public employer that repeatedly violates this
    Act, the Safety Inspection and Education Act, or the
    Health and Safety Act, or any combination of those Acts,
    or any standard, rule, regulation, or order under any of
    those Acts, may be assessed a civil penalty of not more
    than $10,000 per violation.
        (2) A public employer that intentionally violates this
    Act, the Safety Inspection and Education Act, or the
    Health and Safety Act, or any standard, rule, regulation,
    or order under any of those Acts, or who demonstrates
    plain indifference to any provision of any of those Acts
    or any such standard, rule, regulation, or order, may be
    assessed a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 per
    violation.
        (3) A public employer that has received a citation for
    a serious violation of this Act, the Safety Inspection and
    Education Act, or the Health and Safety Act, or any
    standard, rule, regulation, or order under any of those
    Acts, may be assessed a civil penalty up to $1,000 for each
    such violation.
        (4) A public employer that has received a citation for
    a violation of this Act, the Safety Inspection and
    Education Act, or the Health and Safety Act, or any
    standard, rule, regulation, or order under any of those
    Acts, which is not a serious violation, may be assessed a
    civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each such violation.
        (5) A public employer that violates a posting
    requirement is subject to the following citations and
    proposed penalty structure:
            (A) Job Safety and Health Poster: an other than
        serious citation and a proposed penalty of $1,000.
            (B) Annual Summary of Work-Related Injuries and
        Illnesses (OSHA Form 300A): an other than serious
        citation and a proposed penalty of $1,000, even if
        there are no recordable injuries or illnesses.
            (C) Citation: an other than serious citation and a
        proposed penalty of $1,000.
        (6) A public employer that fails to correct a
    violation for which a citation has been issued within the
    time period permitted may be assessed a civil penalty of
    up to $1,000 for each day the violation continues.
    (d) For purposes of this Section, a "serious violation"
shall be deemed to exist in a workplace if there is a
substantial probability that death or serious physical harm
could result from (i) a condition which exists or (ii) one or
more practices, means, methods, operations, or processes which
have been adopted or are in use in the workplace, unless the
employer did not know and could not, with the exercise of
reasonable diligence, have known of the presence of the
violation.
    (e) The Director may assess civil penalties as provided in
this Section, giving due consideration to the appropriateness
of the penalty. A penalty may be reduced by the Director or the
Director's authorized representative based on the public
employer's good faith, size of business, and history of
previous violations.
    (f) The Attorney General may bring an action in the
circuit court to enforce the collection of any civil penalty
assessed under this Act.
    (g) All civil penalties collected under this Act shall be
deposited into the General Revenue Fund of the State of
Illinois.
(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15.)
 
    (820 ILCS 219/90)
    Sec. 90. Informal review.
    (a) A public employer may submit in writing data relating
to the abatement of a hazard to be considered by an authorized
representative of the Director. The authorized representative
shall notify the interested parties if such data will be used
to modify an abatement order.
    (b) Within 15 business working days after receiving a
citation, proposed assessment of a civil penalty, or notice of
failure to correct a violation, a public employer or the
employer's agent may request that an authorized representative
of the Director review abatement dates, reclassify violations
(such as willful to serious, serious to other than serious),
or modify or withdraw a penalty, a citation, or a citation
item, or any combination of those, if the employer presents
evidence during the informal conference which convinces the
authorized representative that the changes are justified.
(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15.)
 
    (820 ILCS 219/100)
    Sec. 100. Hearing.
    (a) If a public employer or the employer's representative
notifies the Director that the employer intends to contest a
citation and notice of penalty or if, within 15 business
working days after the issuance of the citation, an employee
or representative of employees files a notice with the
Director alleging that the period of time fixed in the
citation for the abatement of the violation is unreasonable,
the Director shall afford an opportunity for a hearing before
an Administrative Law Judge designated by the Director.
    (b) At the hearing, the employer or employee shall state
his or her objections to the citation and provide evidence why
the citation should not stand as issued. The Director or his or
her representative shall be given the opportunity to state his
or her reasons for issuing the citation. Affected employees
shall be provided an opportunity to participate as parties to
hearings under the rules of procedure prescribed by the
Director (56 Ill. Admin. Code, Part 120).
    (c) The Director, or the Administrative Law Judge on
behalf of the Director, has the power to do the following:
        (1) Issue subpoenas for and compel the attendance of
    witnesses.
        (2) Hear testimony and receive evidence.
        (3) Order testimony of a witness residing within or
    without this State to be taken by deposition in the manner
    prescribed by law for depositions in civil cases in the
    circuit court in any proceeding pending before him or her
    at any stage of such proceeding.
    (d) Subpoenas and commissions to take testimony shall be
issued by under seal of the Director. Service of subpoenas may
be made by a sheriff or any other person.
    (e) The circuit court for the county where any hearing is
pending may compel the attendance of witnesses, the production
of pertinent books, papers, records, or documents, and the
giving of testimony before the Director or an Administrative
Law Judge by an attachment proceeding, as for contempt, in the
same manner as the production of evidence may be compelled
before the court.
    (f) The Administrative Law Judge on behalf of the
Director, after considering the evidence presented at the
formal hearing, in accordance with the Director's rules, shall
enter a final decision and order within a reasonable time
affirming, modifying, or vacating the citation or proposed
assessment of a civil penalty, or directing other appropriate
relief.
(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15.)
 
    (820 ILCS 219/110)
    Sec. 110. Discrimination against employee prohibited.
    (a) A person may not discharge or in any way discriminate
against an employee because the employee has: (i) filed a
complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted any
proceeding under this Act, (ii) testified or is about to
testify in any such proceeding, or (iii) exercised, on his or
her own behalf or on behalf of another person, any right
afforded by this Act, including reporting potential violations
of this Act to a member of management with authority to address
the concerns.
    (b) An employee who believes that he or she has been
discharged or otherwise discriminated against by an employer
in violation of this Section may, within 30 calendar days
after the violation occurs, file a complaint with the Director
alleging the discrimination.
    (c) Upon receipt of the complaint, the Director shall
cause an investigation to be made as the Director deems
appropriate. After the investigation, if the Director
determines that the employer has violated this Section, the
Director shall bring an action in the circuit court for
appropriate relief, including rehiring or reinstatement of the
employee to his or her former position with back pay, after
taking into account any interim earnings of the employee. In
such matters the Director shall be represented by the Attorney
General.
(Source: P.A. 98-874, eff. 1-1-15.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Section and Section 3
takes effect immediately.

Effective Date: 4/22/2022