Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB4604
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Full Text of HB4604  102nd General Assembly

HB4604ham002 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Marcus C. Evans, Jr.

Filed: 2/16/2022

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4604

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4604, AS AMENDED,
3by inserting immediately above Section 5 the following:
 
4    "Section 3. The Equal Pay Act of 2003 is amended by
5changing Section 11 as follows:
 
6    (820 ILCS 112/11)
7    Sec. 11. Equal pay registration certificate requirements;
8application. For the purposes of this Section 11 only,
9"business" means any private employer who has 100 or more more
10than 100 employees in the State of Illinois and is required to
11file an Annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with the
12Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but does not include
13the State of Illinois or any political subdivision, municipal
14corporation, or other governmental unit or agency.
15    (a) A business must obtain an equal pay registration
16certificate from the Department.

 

 

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1    (b) Any business subject to the requirements of this
2Section that is authorized to transact business in this State
3on March 23, 2021 shall submit an application to obtain an
4equal pay registration certificate, between March 24, 2022 and
5March 23, 2024, and must recertify every 2 years thereafter.
6Any business subject to the requirements of this Section that
7is authorized to transact business in this State after March
823, 2021 must submit an application to obtain an equal pay
9registration certificate within 3 years of commencing business
10operations, but not before January 1, 2024, and must recertify
11every 2 years thereafter. The Department shall collect contact
12information from each business subject to this Section. The
13Department shall assign each business a date by which it must
14submit an application to obtain an equal pay registration
15certificate. The business shall recertify every 2 years at a
16date to be determined by the Department. When a business
17receives a notice from the Department to recertify for its
18equal pay registration certificate, if the business has fewer
19than 100 employees, the business must certify in writing to
20the Department that it is exempt from this Section. Any new
21business that is subject to this Section and authorized to
22conduct business in this State, after the effective date of
23this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, shall
24submit its contact information to the Department by January 1
25of the following year and shall be assigned a date by which it
26must submit an application to obtain an equal pay registration

 

 

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1certificate. The Department's failure to assign a business a
2registration date does not exempt the business from compliance
3with this Section. The failure of the Department to notify a
4business of its recertification deadline may be a mitigating
5factor when making a determination of a violation of this
6Section.
7    (c) Application.
8        (1) A business shall apply for an equal pay
9    registration certificate by paying a $150 filing fee and
10    submitting wage records and an equal pay compliance
11    statement to the Director as follows:
12            (A) Wage Records. Any business that is required to
13        file an annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with
14        the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must also
15        submit to the Director a copy of the business's most
16        recently filed Employer Information Report EEO-1. The
17        business shall also compile a list of all employees
18        during the past calendar year, separated by gender and
19        the race and ethnicity categories as reported in the
20        business's most recently filed Employer Information
21        Report EEO-1, and the county in which the employee
22        works, the date the employee started working for the
23        business, any other information the Department deems
24        necessary to determine if pay equity exists among
25        employees, and report the total wages as defined by
26        Section 2 of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection

 

 

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1        Act paid to each employee during the past calendar
2        year, rounded to the nearest $100, to the Director.
3            (B) Equal Pay Compliance Statement. The business
4        must submit a statement signed by a corporate officer,
5        legal counsel, or authorized agent of the business
6        certifying:
7                (i) that the business is in compliance with
8            this Act and other relevant laws, including but
9            not limited to: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
10            of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Illinois
11            Human Rights Act, and the Equal Wage Act;
12                (ii) that the average compensation for its
13            female and minority employees is not consistently
14            below the average compensation, as determined by
15            rule by the United States Department of Labor, for
16            its male and non-minority employees within each of
17            the major job categories in the Employer
18            Information Report EEO-1 for which an employee is
19            expected to perform work, taking into account
20            factors such as length of service, requirements of
21            specific jobs, experience, skill, effort,
22            responsibility, working conditions of the job,
23            education or training, job location, use of a
24            collective bargaining agreement, or other
25            mitigating factors; as used in this subparagraph,
26            "minority" has the meaning ascribed to that term

 

 

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1            in paragraph (1) of subsection (A) of Section 2 of
2            the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and
3            Persons with Disabilities Act;
4                (iii) that the business does not restrict
5            employees of one sex to certain job
6            classifications, and makes retention and promotion
7            decisions without regard to sex;
8                (iv) that wage and benefit disparities are
9            corrected when identified to ensure compliance
10            with the Acts cited in item (i);
11                (v) how often wages and benefits are
12            evaluated; and
13                (vi) the approach the business takes in
14            determining what level of wages and benefits to
15            pay its employees; acceptable approaches include,
16            but are not limited to, a wage and salary survey.
17            (C) Filing fee. The business shall pay to the
18        Department a filing fee of $150. Proceeds from the
19        fees collected under this Section shall be deposited
20        into the Equal Pay Registration Fund, a special fund
21        created in the State treasury. Moneys in the Fund
22        shall be appropriated to the Department for the
23        purposes of this Section.
24        (2) Receipt of the equal pay compliance application
25    and statement by the Director does not establish
26    compliance with the Acts set forth in item (i) of

 

 

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1    subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection (c).
2        (3) A business that has employees in multiple
3    locations or facilities in Illinois shall submit a single
4    application to the Department regarding all of its
5    operations in Illinois.
6    (d) Issuance or rejection of registration certificate.
7After January 1, 2022, the Director must issue an equal pay
8registration certificate, or a statement of why the
9application was rejected, within 45 calendar days of receipt
10of the application. Applicants shall have the opportunity to
11cure any deficiencies in its application that led to the
12rejection, and re-submit the revised application to the
13Department within 30 calendar days of receiving a rejection.
14Applicants shall have the ability to appeal rejected
15applications. An application may be rejected only if it does
16not comply with the requirements of subsection (c), or the
17business is otherwise found to be in violation of this Act. The
18receipt of an application by the Department, or the issuance
19of a registration certificate by the Department, shall not
20establish compliance with the Equal Pay Act of 2003 as to all
21Sections except Section 11. The issuance of a registration
22certificate shall not be a defense against any Equal Pay Act
23violation found by the Department, nor a basis for mitigation
24of damages.
25    (e) Revocation of registration certificate. An equal pay
26registration certificate for a business may be suspended or

 

 

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1revoked by the Director when the business fails to make a good
2faith effort to comply with the Acts identified in item (i) of
3subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c), fails to
4make a good faith effort to comply with this Section, or has
5multiple violations of this Section or the Acts identified in
6item (i) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subsection
7(c). Prior to suspending or revoking a registration
8certificate, the Director must first have sought to conciliate
9with the business regarding wages and benefits due to
10employees.
11    Consistent with Section 25, prior to or in connection with
12the suspension or revocation of an equal pay registration
13certificate, the Director, or his or her authorized
14representative, may interview workers, administer oaths, take
15or cause to be taken the depositions of witnesses, and require
16by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses, and the
17production of personnel and compensation information relative
18to the matter under investigation, hearing or a
19department-initiated audit.
20    Neither the Department nor the Director shall be held
21liable for good faith errors in issuing, denying, suspending
22or revoking certificates.
23    (f) Administrative review. A business may obtain an
24administrative hearing in accordance with the Illinois
25Administrative Procedure Act before the suspension or
26revocation of its certificate or imposition of civil penalties

 

 

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1as provided by subsection (i) is effective by filing a written
2request for hearing within 20 calendar days after service of
3notice by the Director.
4    (g) Technical assistance. The Director must provide
5technical assistance to any business that requests assistance
6regarding this Section.
7    (h) Access to data.
8        (1) Any individually identifiable information
9    submitted to the Director within or related to an equal
10    pay registration application or otherwise provided by an
11    employer in its equal pay compliance statement under
12    subsection (c) shall be considered confidential
13    information and not subject to disclosure pursuant to the
14    Illinois Freedom of Information Act. As used in this
15    Section, "individually identifiable information" means
16    data submitted pursuant to this Section that is associated
17    with a specific person or business. Aggregate data or
18    reports that are reasonably calculated to prevent the
19    association of any data with any individual business or
20    person are not confidential information. Aggregate data
21    shall include the job category and the average hourly wage
22    by county for each gender, race, and ethnicity category on
23    the registration certificate applications. The Department
24    of Labor may compile aggregate data from registration
25    certificate applications.
26        (2) The Director's decision to issue, not issue,

 

 

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1    revoke, or suspend an equal pay registration certificate
2    is public information.
3        (3) Notwithstanding this subsection (h), a current
4    employee of a covered business may request anonymized data
5    regarding their job classification or title and the pay
6    for that classification. No individually identifiable
7    information may be provided to an employee making a
8    request under this paragraph.
9        (4) Notwithstanding this subsection (h), the
10    Department may share data and identifiable information
11    with the Department of Human Rights, pursuant to its
12    enforcement of Article 2 of the Illinois Human Rights Act,
13    or the Office of the Attorney General, pursuant to its
14    enforcement of Section 10-104 of the Illinois Human Rights
15    Act.
16        (5) Any Department employee who willfully and
17    knowingly divulges, except in accordance with a proper
18    judicial order or otherwise provided by law, confidential
19    information received by the Department from any business
20    pursuant to this Act shall be deemed to have violated the
21    State Officials and Employees Ethics Act and be subject to
22    the penalties established under subsections (e) and (f) of
23    Section 50-5 of that Act after investigation and
24    opportunity for hearing before the Executive Ethics
25    Commission in accordance with Section 20-50 of that Act.
26    (i) Penalty. Falsification or misrepresentation of

 

 

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1information on an application submitted to the Department
2shall constitute a violation of this Act and the Department
3may seek to suspend or revoke an equal pay registration
4certificate or impose civil penalties as provided under
5subsection (c) of Section 30.
6(Source: P.A. 101-656, eff. 3-23-21; 102-36, eff. 6-25-21.)";
7and
 
8by inserting immediately below Section 5 the following:
 
9    "Section 99. Effective date. This Section and Section 3
10takes effect immediately.".