SB1913 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB098 09933 JLS 40091 b

98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
SB1913

Introduced 2/15/2013, by Sen. Kwame Raoul

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

820 ILCS 105/11	from Ch. 48, par. 1011
820 ILCS 115/14	from Ch. 48, par. 39m-14

Amends the Minimum Wage Law and the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act. Provides that it is unlawful for an employer to interfere with an employee in the exercise of his or her rights under those Acts. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning employment.

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

Section 5. Findings and Purposes.

(a) The General Assembly finds the following:

(1) The intent of the Illinois General Assembly in enacting the Minimum Wage Law and the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act was to provide a statutory basis for a claim of retaliatory discharge.

(2) In Trochuck v. Patterson, 851 F.Supp.2d 1147, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois held that the Minimum Wage Law and the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act cannot form the basis for a legally viable common law retaliatory discharge claim.

(b) The purposes of this Act are as follows:

(1) To clearly state that the holding in Trochuck v. Patterson as stated above is not the intent of the Illinois General Assembly.

(2) To provide a basis for a claim of retaliatory discharge under the Minimum Wage Law and the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act.

Section 10. The Minimum Wage Law is amended by changing Section 11 as follows:

(820 ILCS 105/11) (from Ch. 48, par. 1011)

Sec. 11. Violations and enforcement.

(a) Any employer or his agent, or the officer or agent of any private employer who:

(1) Hinders or delays the Director or his authorized representative in the performance of his duties in the enforcement of this Act; or

(2) Refuses to admit the Director or his authorized representative to any place of employment; or

(3) Fails to keep the records required under this Act or to furnish such records required or any information to be furnished under this Act to the Director or his authorized representative upon request; or

(4) Fails to make and preserve any records as required hereunder; or

(5) Falsifies any such record; or

(6) Refuses to make such records available to the Director or his authorized representative; or

(7) Refuses to furnish a sworn statement of such records or any other information required for the proper enforcement of this Act; or

(8) Fails to post a summary of this Act or a copy of any applicable regulation as required by Section 9 of this Act; shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor; and each day of such failure to keep the records required under this Act or to furnish such records or information to the Director or his authorized representative or to fail to post information as required herein constitutes a separate offense.

(b) Any employer or his agent, or the officer or agent of any private employer, who pays or agrees to pay to any employee wages at a rate less than the rate applicable under this Act or of any regulation issued under this Act is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor, and each week on any day of which such employee is paid less than the wage rate applicable under this Act constitutes a separate offense.

(c) It is unlawful for any employer or his or her agent, or the officer or agent of any private employer, to interfere with, restrain, or coerce an employee in any manner whatsoever in the exercise of the rights or remedies granted to him or her by this Act or to discriminate, attempt to discriminate, or threaten to discriminate against an employee in any way because of his or her exercise of the rights or remedies granted to him or her by this Act.

Any employer or his agent, or the officer or agent of any private employer, who discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because that employee has made a complaint to his employer, or to the Director or his authorized representative, that he has not been paid wages in accordance with the provisions of this Act, or because that employee has caused to be instituted or is about to cause to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this Act, or because that employee has testified or is about to testify in an investigation or proceeding under this Act, is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

(d) It is the duty of the Department of Labor to inquire diligently for any violations of this Act, and to institute the action for penalties herein provided, and to enforce generally the provisions of this Act.

(Source: P.A. 86-799.)

Section 15. The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act is amended by changing Section 14 as follows:

(820 ILCS 115/14) (from Ch. 48, par. 39m-14)

Sec. 14. (a) Any employee not timely paid wages, final compensation, or wage supplements by his or her employer as required by this Act shall be entitled to recover through a claim filed with the Department of Labor or in a civil action, but not both, the amount of any such underpayments and damages of 2% of the amount of any such underpayments for each month following the date of payment during which such underpayments remain unpaid. In a civil action, such employee shall also recover costs and all reasonable attorney's fees.

(a-5) In addition to the remedies provided in subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this Section, any employer or any agent of an employer, who, being able to pay wages, final compensation, or wage supplements and being under a duty to pay, wilfully refuses to pay as provided in this Act, or falsely denies the amount or validity thereof or that the same is due, with intent to secure for himself or other person any underpayment of such indebtedness or with intent to annoy, harass, oppress, hinder, delay or defraud the person to whom such indebtedness is due, upon conviction, is guilty of:

(1) for unpaid wages, final compensation or wage supplements in the amount of $5,000 or less, a Class B misdemeanor; or

(2) for unpaid wages, final compensation or wage supplements in the amount of more than $5,000, a Class A misdemeanor.

Each day during which any violation of this Act continues shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.

Any employer or any agent of an employer who violates this Section of the Act a subsequent time within 2 years of a prior criminal conviction under this Section is guilty, upon conviction, of a Class 4 felony.

(b) Any employer who has been demanded or ordered by the Department or ordered by the court to pay wages, final compensation, or wage supplements due an employee shall be required to pay a non-waivable administrative fee of $250 to the Department of Labor. Any employer who has been so demanded or ordered by the Department or ordered by a court to pay such wages, final compensation, or wage supplements and who fails to seek timely review of such a demand or order as provided for under this Act and who fails to comply within 15 calendar days after such demand or within 35 days of an administrative or court order is entered shall also be liable to pay a penalty to the Department of Labor of 20% of the amount found owing and a penalty to the employee of 1% per calendar day of the amount found owing for each day of delay in paying such wages to the employee. All moneys recovered as fees and civil penalties under this Act, except those owing to the affected employee, shall be deposited into the Wage Theft Enforcement Fund, a special fund which is hereby created in the State treasury. Moneys in the Fund may be used only for enforcement of this Act.

(b-5) Penalties and fees under this Section may be assessed by the Department and recovered in a civil action brought by the Department in any circuit court or in any administrative adjudicative proceeding under this Act. In any such civil action or administrative adjudicative proceeding under this Act, the Department shall be represented by the Attorney General.

(c) It is be unlawful for any employer or any agent of an employer to interfere with, restrain, or coerce an employee in any manner whatsoever in the exercise of the rights or remedies granted to him or her by this Act or to discriminate, attempt to discriminate, or threaten to discriminate against an employee in any way because of his or her exercise of the rights or remedies granted to him or her by this Act.

Any employer, or any agent of an employer, who discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because that employee has made a complaint to his employer, to the Director of Labor or his authorized representative, in a public hearing, or to a community organization that he or she has not been paid in accordance with the provisions of this Act, or because that employee has caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this Act, or because that employee has testified or is about to testify in an investigation or proceeding under this Act, is guilty, upon conviction, of a Class C misdemeanor. An employee who has been unlawfully retaliated against shall be entitled to recover through a claim filed with the Department of Labor or in a civil action, but not both, all legal and equitable relief as may be appropriate. In a civil action, such employee shall also recover costs and all reasonable attorney's fees.

(Source: P.A. 95-209, eff. 8-16-07; 96-1407, eff. 1-1-11.)

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