Public Act 0017 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB2488 Enrolled LRB104 06524 SPS 16560 b

Public Act 104-0017

AN ACT concerning employment.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. 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 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 subject to this Section required to file an annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must submit to the Director 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 for its male and non-minority employees within each job category 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, "job category" means one of the following job categories: executive/senior-level officials and managers, first/mid-level officials and managers, professionals, technicians, sales workers, administrative support workers, craft workers, operatives, laborers and helpers, and service workers; 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; and as used in this subparagraph, "compensation" means remuneration or compensation an employee receives in return for services rendered to an employer, including hourly wages, overtime wages, commissions, piece rate work, salary, bonuses, or any other basis of calculation for services performed;

(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 Fund, a special fund created in the State treasury.

(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. 102-36, eff. 6-25-21; 102-705, eff. 4-22-22; 103-201, eff. 1-1-24.)

Section 10. The Prevailing Wage Act is amended by changing Section 2 as follows:

(820 ILCS 130/2)

Sec. 2. This Act applies to the wages of laborers, mechanics and other workers employed in any public works, as hereinafter defined, by any public body and to anyone under contracts for public works. This includes any maintenance, repair, assembly, or disassembly work performed on equipment whether owned, leased, or rented.

As used in this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise:

"Public works" means all fixed works constructed or demolished by any public body, or paid for wholly or in part out of public funds. "Public works" as defined herein includes all projects financed in whole or in part with bonds, grants, loans, or other funds made available by or through the State or any of its political subdivisions, including but not limited to: bonds issued under the Industrial Project Revenue Bond Act (Article 11, Division 74 of the Illinois Municipal Code), the Industrial Building Revenue Bond Act, the Illinois Finance Authority Act, the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority Act, or the Build Illinois Bond Act; loans or other funds made available pursuant to the Build Illinois Act; loans or other funds made available pursuant to the Riverfront Development Fund under Section 10-15 of the River Edge Redevelopment Zone Act; or funds from the Fund for Illinois' Future under Section 6z-47 of the State Finance Act, funds for school construction under Section 5 of the General Obligation Bond Act, funds authorized under Section 3 of the School Construction Bond Act, funds for school infrastructure under Section 6z-45 of the State Finance Act, and funds for transportation purposes under Section 4 of the General Obligation Bond Act. "Public works" also includes (i) all projects financed in whole or in part with funds from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Illinois Renewable Fuels Development Program Act for which there is no project labor agreement; (ii) all work performed pursuant to a public private agreement under the Public Private Agreements for the Illiana Expressway Act or the Public-Private Agreements for the South Suburban Airport Act; (iii) all projects undertaken under a public-private agreement under the Public-Private Partnerships for Transportation Act or the Department of Natural Resources World Shooting and Recreational Complex Act; and (iv) all transportation facilities undertaken under a design-build contract or a Construction Manager/General Contractor contract under the Innovations for Transportation Infrastructure Act. "Public works" also includes all projects at leased facility property used for airport purposes under Section 35 of the Local Government Facility Lease Act. "Public works" also includes the construction of a new wind power facility by a business designated as a High Impact Business under Section 5.5(a)(3)(E) of the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act, the construction of a new utility-scale solar power facility by a business designated as a High Impact Business under Section 5.5(a)(3)(E-5) of the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act, the construction of a new battery energy storage solution facility by a business designated as a High Impact Business under Section 5.5(a)(3)(I) of the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act, and the construction of a high voltage direct current converter station by a business designated as a High Impact Business under Section 5.5(a)(3)(J) of the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act. "Public works" also includes electric vehicle charging station projects financed pursuant to the Electric Vehicle Act and renewable energy projects required to pay the prevailing wage pursuant to the Illinois Power Agency Act. "Public works" also includes power washing projects by a public body or paid for wholly or in part out of public funds in which steam or pressurized water, with or without added abrasives or chemicals, is used to remove paint or other coatings, oils or grease, corrosion, or debris from a surface or to prepare a surface for a coating. "Public works" also includes all electric transmission systems projects subject to the Electric Transmission Systems Construction Standards Act. "Public works" does not include work done directly by any public utility company, whether or not done under public supervision or direction, or paid for wholly or in part out of public funds. "Public works" also includes construction projects performed by a third party contracted by any public utility, as described in subsection (a) of Section 2.1, in public rights-of-way, as defined in Section 21-201 of the Public Utilities Act, whether or not done under public supervision or direction, or paid for wholly or in part out of public funds. "Public works" also includes construction projects that exceed 15 aggregate miles of new fiber optic cable, performed by a third party contracted by any public utility, as described in subsection (b) of Section 2.1, in public rights-of-way, as defined in Section 21-201 of the Public Utilities Act, whether or not done under public supervision or direction, or paid for wholly or in part out of public funds. "Public works" also includes any corrective action performed pursuant to Title XVI of the Environmental Protection Act for which payment from the Underground Storage Tank Fund is requested. "Public works" also includes all construction projects involving fixtures or permanent attachments affixed to light poles that are owned by a public body, including street light poles, traffic light poles, and other lighting fixtures, whether or not done under public supervision or direction, or paid for wholly or in part out of public funds, unless the project is performed by employees employed directly by the public body. "Public works" also includes work performed subject to the Mechanical Insulation Energy and Safety Assessment Act. "Public works" also includes the removal, hauling, and transportation of biosolids, lime sludge, and lime residue from a water treatment plant or facility and the disposal of biosolids, lime sludge, and lime residue removed from a water treatment plant or facility at a landfill. "Public works" does not include projects undertaken by the owner at an owner-occupied single-family residence or at an owner-occupied unit of a multi-family residence. "Public works" does not include work performed for soil and water conservation purposes on agricultural lands, whether or not done under public supervision or paid for wholly or in part out of public funds, done directly by an owner or person who has legal control of those lands.

"Construction" means all work on public works involving laborers, workers or mechanics. This includes any maintenance, repair, assembly, or disassembly work performed on equipment whether owned, leased, or rented.

"Locality" means the county where the physical work upon public works is performed, except (1) that if there is not available in the county a sufficient number of competent skilled laborers, workers and mechanics to construct the public works efficiently and properly, "locality" includes any other county nearest the one in which the work or construction is to be performed and from which such persons may be obtained in sufficient numbers to perform the work and (2) that, with respect to contracts for highway work with the Department of Transportation of this State, "locality" may at the discretion of the Secretary of the Department of Transportation be construed to include two or more adjacent counties from which workers may be accessible for work on such construction.

"Public body" means the State or any officer, board or commission of the State or any political subdivision or department thereof, or any institution supported in whole or in part by public funds, and includes every county, city, town, village, township, school district, irrigation, utility, reclamation improvement or other district and every other political subdivision, district or municipality of the state whether such political subdivision, municipality or district operates under a special charter or not.

"Labor organization" means an organization that is the exclusive representative of an employer's employees recognized or certified pursuant to the National Labor Relations Act.

The terms "general prevailing rate of hourly wages", "general prevailing rate of wages" or "prevailing rate of wages" when used in this Act mean the hourly cash wages plus full journeyman annualized fringe benefits for training and apprenticeship programs registered with approved by the Office of Apprenticeship within the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration with full journeymen annualized fringe benefits for U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, health and welfare, insurance, vacations and pensions paid generally, in the locality in which the work is being performed, to employees engaged in work of a similar character on public works.

(Source: P.A. 102-9, eff. 1-1-22; 102-444, eff. 8-20-21; 102-673, eff. 11-30-21; 102-813, eff. 5-13-22; 102-1094, eff. 6-15-22; 103-8, eff. 6-7-23; 103-327, eff. 1-1-24; 103-346, eff. 1-1-24; 103-359, eff. 7-28-23; 103-447, eff. 8-4-23; 103-605, eff. 7-1-24; 103-1066, eff. 2-20-25.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.

Effective Date: 6/30/2025