101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
SB1466

 

Introduced 2/13/2019, by Sen. Cristina Castro

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
820 ILCS 112/10

    Amends the Equal Pay Act of 2003. Expands discrimination protection from applying to only African American employees to applying to all employees belonging to a protected class that is based on race, color, national origin, or ancestry. Provides exemptions for payments made under a seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, and a differential based on any factor other than race, color, national origin, or ancestry, or another factor that would constitute unlawful discrimination under the Illinois Human Rights Act.


LRB101 08420 TAE 53490 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

SB1466LRB101 08420 TAE 53490 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 Equal Pay Act of 2003 is amended by changing
5Section 10 as follows:
 
6    (820 ILCS 112/10)
7    Sec. 10. Prohibited acts.
8    (a) No employer may discriminate between employees on the
9basis of sex by paying wages to an employee at a rate less than
10the rate at which the employer pays wages to another employee
11of the opposite sex for the same or substantially similar work
12on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort,
13and responsibility, and which are performed under similar
14working conditions, except where the payment is made under:
15        (1) a seniority system;
16        (2) a merit system;
17        (3) a system that measures earnings by quantity or
18    quality of production; or
19        (4) a differential based on any other factor other
20    than: (i) sex or (ii) a factor that would constitute
21    unlawful discrimination under the Illinois Human Rights
22    Act.
23    No employer may discriminate between employees on the basis

 

 

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1of race, color, national origin, or ancestry by paying wages to
2an African-American employee at a rate less than the rate at
3which the employer pays wages to another employee who is not a
4member of a protected class that is based upon race, color,
5national origin, or ancestry African-American for the same or
6substantially similar work on jobs the performance of which
7requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are
8performed under similar working conditions, except where the
9payment is made under:
10        (1) a seniority system;
11        (2) a merit system;
12        (3) a system that measures earnings by quantity or
13    quality of production; or
14        (4) a differential based on any other factor other
15    than: (i) race, color, national origin, or ancestry or (ii)
16    a factor that would constitute unlawful discrimination
17    under the Illinois Human Rights Act.
18    An employer who is paying wages in violation of this Act
19may not, to comply with this Act, reduce the wages of any other
20employee.
21    Nothing in this Act may be construed to require an employer
22to pay, to any employee at a workplace in a particular county,
23wages that are equal to the wages paid by that employer at a
24workplace in another county to employees in jobs the
25performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and
26responsibility, and which are performed under similar working

 

 

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1conditions.
2    (b) It is unlawful for any employer to interfere with,
3restrain, or deny the exercise of or the attempt to exercise
4any right provided under this Act. It is unlawful for any
5employer to discharge or in any other manner discriminate
6against any individual for inquiring about, disclosing,
7comparing, or otherwise discussing the employee's wages or the
8wages of any other employee, or aiding or encouraging any
9person to exercise his or her rights under this Act.
10    (c) It is unlawful for any person to discharge or in any
11other manner discriminate against any individual because the
12individual:
13        (1) has filed any charge or has instituted or caused to
14    be instituted any proceeding under or related to this Act;
15        (2) has given, or is about to give, any information in
16    connection with any inquiry or proceeding relating to any
17    right provided under this Act; or
18        (3) has testified, or is about to testify, in any
19    inquiry or proceeding relating to any right provided under
20    this Act.
21(Source: P.A. 100-1140, eff. 1-1-19.)