HB5752eng 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB5752 Engrossed LRB095 15683 RLC 46443 b

AN ACT concerning employment.

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

Section 5. The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by changing Section 1900 as follows:

(820 ILCS 405/1900) (from Ch. 48, par. 640)

Sec. 1900. Disclosure of information.

A. Except as provided in this Section, information obtained from any individual or employing unit during the administration of this Act shall:

1. be confidential,

2. not be published or open to public inspection,

3. not be used in any court in any pending action or proceeding,

4. not be admissible in evidence in any action or proceeding other than one arising out of this Act.

B. No finding, determination, decision, ruling or order (including any finding of fact, statement or conclusion made therein) issued pursuant to this Act shall be admissible or used in evidence in any action other than one arising out of this Act, nor shall it be binding or conclusive except as provided in this Act, nor shall it constitute res judicata, regardless of whether the actions were between the same or related parties or involved the same facts.

C. Any officer or employee of this State, any officer or employee of any entity authorized to obtain information pursuant to this Section, and any agent of this State or of such entity who, except with authority of the Director under this Section, shall disclose information shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor and shall be disqualified from holding any appointment or employment by the State.

D. An individual or his duly authorized agent may be supplied with information from records only to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of his claim for benefits or with his existing or prospective rights to benefits. Discretion to disclose this information belongs solely to the Director and is not subject to a release or waiver by the individual. Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, an individual or his or her duly authorized agent may be supplied with a statement of the amount of benefits paid to the individual during the 18 months preceding the date of his or her request.

E. An employing unit may be furnished with information, only if deemed by the Director as necessary to enable it to fully discharge its obligations or safeguard its rights under the Act. Discretion to disclose this information belongs solely to the Director and is not subject to a release or waiver by the employing unit.

F. The Director may furnish any information that he may deem proper to any public officer or public agency of this or any other State or of the federal government dealing with:

1. the administration of relief,

2. public assistance,

3. unemployment compensation,

4. a system of public employment offices,

5. wages and hours of employment, or

6. a public works program.

The Director may make available to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission information regarding employers for the purpose of verifying the insurance coverage required under the Workers' Compensation Act and Workers' Occupational Diseases Act.

G. The Director may disclose information submitted by the State or any of its political subdivisions, municipal corporations, instrumentalities, or school or community college districts, except for information which specifically identifies an individual claimant.

H. The Director shall disclose only that information required to be disclosed under Section 303 of the Social Security Act, as amended, including:

1. any information required to be given the United States Department of Labor under Section 303(a)(6); and

2. the making available upon request to any agency of the United States charged with the administration of public works or assistance through public employment, the name, address, ordinary occupation and employment status of each recipient of unemployment compensation, and a statement of such recipient's right to further compensation under such law as required by Section 303(a)(7); and

3. records to make available to the Railroad Retirement Board as required by Section 303(c)(1); and

4. information that will assure reasonable cooperation with every agency of the United States charged with the administration of any unemployment compensation law as required by Section 303(c)(2); and

5. information upon request and on a reimbursable basis to the United States Department of Agriculture and to any State food stamp agency concerning any information required to be furnished by Section 303(d); and

6. any wage information upon request and on a reimbursable basis to any State or local child support enforcement agency required by Section 303(e); and

7. any information required under the income eligibility and verification system as required by Section 303(f); and

8. information that might be useful in locating an absent parent or that parent's employer, establishing paternity or establishing, modifying, or enforcing child support orders for the purpose of a child support enforcement program under Title IV of the Social Security Act upon the request of and on a reimbursable basis to the public agency administering the Federal Parent Locator Service as required by Section 303(h); and

9. information, upon request, to representatives of any federal, State or local governmental public housing agency with respect to individuals who have signed the appropriate consent form approved by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and who are applying for or participating in any housing assistance program administered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development as required by Section 303(i).

I. The Director, upon the request of a public agency of Illinois, of the federal government or of any other state charged with the investigation or enforcement of Section 10-5 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (or a similar federal law or similar law of another State), may furnish the public agency information regarding the individual specified in the request as to:

1. the current or most recent home address of the individual, and

2. the names and addresses of the individual's employers.

J. Nothing in this Section shall be deemed to interfere with the disclosure of certain records as provided for in Section 1706 or with the right to make available to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Department of the Treasury, or the Department of Revenue of the State of Illinois, information obtained under this Act.

K. The Department shall make available to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, upon request, information in the possession of the Department that may be necessary or useful to the Commission in the collection of defaulted or delinquent student loans which the Commission administers.

L. The Department shall make available to the State Employees' Retirement System, the State Universities Retirement System, and the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois, upon request, information in the possession of the Department that may be necessary or useful to the System for the purpose of determining whether any recipient of a disability benefit from the System is gainfully employed.

M. This Section shall be applicable to the information obtained in the administration of the State employment service, except that the Director may publish or release general labor market information and may furnish information that he may deem proper to an individual, public officer or public agency of this or any other State or the federal government (in addition to those public officers or public agencies specified in this Section) as he prescribes by Rule.

N. The Director may require such safeguards as he deems proper to insure that information disclosed pursuant to this Section is used only for the purposes set forth in this Section.

O. (Blank).

P. Within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1993 and annually thereafter, the Department shall provide to the Department of Financial Institutions a list of individuals or entities that, for the most recently completed calendar year, report to the Department as paying wages to workers. The lists shall be deemed confidential and may not be disclosed to any other person.

Q. The Director shall make available to an elected federal official the name and address of an individual or entity that is located within the jurisdiction from which the official was elected and that, for the most recently completed calendar year, has reported to the Department as paying wages to workers, where the information will be used in connection with the official duties of the official and the official requests the information in writing, specifying the purposes for which it will be used. For purposes of this subsection, the use of information in connection with the official duties of an official does not include use of the information in connection with the solicitation of contributions or expenditures, in money or in kind, to or on behalf of a candidate for public or political office or a political party or with respect to a public question, as defined in Section 1-3 of the Election Code, or in connection with any commercial solicitation. Any elected federal official who, in submitting a request for information covered by this subsection, knowingly makes a false statement or fails to disclose a material fact, with the intent to obtain the information for a purpose not authorized by this subsection, shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

R. The Director may provide to any State or local child support agency, upon request and on a reimbursable basis, information that might be useful in locating an absent parent or that parent's employer, establishing paternity, or establishing, modifying, or enforcing child support orders.

S. The Department shall make available to a State's Attorney of this State or a State's Attorney's investigator, upon request, the current address or, if the current address is unavailable, current employer information, if available, of a victim of a felony or a witness to a felony or a person against whom an arrest warrant is outstanding.

T. The Director shall make available to the Department of State Police or a county or municipal law enforcement agency, upon request, any information concerning the place of employment or former places of employment and place of residency when the individual in question has or is presently receiving benefits from the Department of Employment Security of a person who is required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act that may be useful in enforcing the registration provisions requiring a sex offender to disclose his or her place of employment to the law enforcement agency of the jurisdiction in which the sex offender is employed.

U. Notwithstanding any other rulemaking authority that may exist, neither the Governor nor any agency or agency head under the jurisdiction of the Governor has any authority to make or promulgate rules to implement or enforce the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly. If, however, the Governor believes that rules are necessary to implement or enforce the provisions of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, the Governor may suggest rules to the General Assembly by filing them with the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate and by requesting that the General Assembly authorize such rulemaking by law, enact those suggested rules into law, or take any other appropriate action in the General Assembly's discretion. Nothing contained in this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly shall be interpreted to grant rulemaking authority under any other Illinois statute where such authority is not otherwise explicitly given. For the purposes of this Section, "rules" is given the meaning contained in Section 1-70 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, and "agency" and "agency head" are given the meanings contained in Sections 1-20 and 1-25 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act to the extent that such definitions apply to agencies or agency heads under the jurisdiction of the Governor.

(Source: P.A. 93-311, eff. 1-1-04; 93-721, eff. 1-1-05; 94-911, eff. 6-23-06.)