Governor Vetoes Expansion of Illinois Employment Discrimination Law
Demonstrating again the importance of having checks and balances in our state government, Governor Rauner at the urging of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and other business groups vetoed
HB 4572
. The legislation sponsored by Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) and Sen. Christina Castro (D-Elgin) amends the Illinois Human Rights Act to redefine "employer" to include any person employing one (currently 15) or more employees within Illinois during 20 or more calendar weeks within the calendar year of or preceding the alleged violation.
In his veto message the Governor noted, "The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits unlawful discrimination in employment in Illinois, and, in most instances, applies to employers with 15 or more employees. This 15-employee threshold mirrors the federal definition of employer in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other anti-discrimination statutes enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This longstanding and well-reasoned threshold balances the need to foster fair, equitable and harassment-free workplaces across the State with the lopsided burden that discrimination claims impose upon small businesses and startups, in comparison to large organizations with in-house compliance, human resources, risk management, and litigation defense functions."
He added in his message, "Moving away from federal best practices and Illinois' own current practices will discourage business creation, while maintaining greater consistency with this standard provides small businesses with predictability in their compliance efforts, and recognizes the distinct challenges that liability may pose for them."
The veto now moves to the Illinois House for consideration during the November veto session. The vote in the House earlier this year for HB 4572 was seven votes shy of the seventy-one needed for an override.
To see how your state representative voted
. Rep. Guzzardi has indicated he and the civil rights advocates will be pressuring republican legislators to support an override, especially lame duck lawmakers.
The Governor has signed
SB 2826
(Morrison/Olsen) which amends the
Illinois Human Rights Act adding to the definition "order of protection status"
as a person protected under the Protective Orders Article of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963, the Stalking No Contact Order Act, and the Civil No Contact Order Act.
P.A. 100-071, effective January 1, 2019.
Governor to Act on Other Employment Issues by Month's End
Other than HB 4163, all other legislation approved by the General Assembly was sent to the Governor before the end of June. The Governor has sixty days from receipt of a bill from the legislature to act meaning that there are many bills that he will act on by the end of August. The following our bills that the Council is engaged in:
SB 20
(Steans/Currie) contains e
xtensive procedural changes to the Illinois Humans Rights Act
and significant structural changes to the Illinois Human Rights Commission to provide for full-time, professional commissioners. A temporary panel of commissioners also will be responsible for eliminating the backlog of requests for review at the Commission. The Chamber heavily pushed these reforms, especially addressing the backlog at the Human Rights Commission.
ELC SUPPORT, the Governor to act by August 27th.
We recently met with leadership from the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Illinois Human Rights Commission to discuss SB 20 and the Governor's
Executive Order 2018-8
. By August 19th, the agencies under the Executive Order are required to submit to the Governor their plan to administratively address the tremendous backlog of charges of employment discrimination in the system.
SB 336
(Harmon/Cassidy
) expands medical cannabis as a pilot program
for patients who have received a physician certification for a medical condition that an
opioid
has been or could be prescribed for by a physician. Must be Acted on by the Governor on August 28th.
SB 904
(Hastings/Hoffman) will allow medical providers to pursue the 1% per month interest penalty on unpaid workers' compensation medical bills in circuit court. In addition, the measure adds language to Section 8.2a Electronic Billing requiring the Illinois Department of Insurance to adopt rules regarding health care providers responsibility "for supplying only those medical records pertaining to the provider's own claims that are minimally necessary under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996". There are a number of changes proposed in this measure that we believe could work against employers' abilities to control medical costs. ELC OPPOSES -
Must be Acted on by the Governor on August 28th.
SB 1737
(
Muñoz/Hoffman) makes changes to the workers' compensation insurance rates overseen by the Illinois Department of Insurance (DOI). Those changes will take Illinois from its current competitive marketplace approach to requiring an insurer/rating organization to file its rates, manuals, rules, etc. with DOI 30 days before their use. DOI would have 30 days from the filing to approve or disapprove the rates. It also, requires a company that intends to deviate from the filing of a licensed rating organization of which it is a member, the company shall provide the Director with supporting information that specifies the basis for the requested deviation and provides justification for the deviation. At renewal, if a rate is greater than 5% more than the rate filed with DOI, a notice of the increase must be provided to the policyholder 30 days prior to renewal. The following additional non-workers' compensation changes are in this legislation as well:
- Creates the Short-Term, Limited-Duration Health Insurance Coverage Act;
- Creates the Domestic Stock Company Division Law in the Insurance Code; and
- Amends the Domestic Captive Insurance Companies Article of the Insurance Code regarding the authority and and restrictions on captive insurers.
Must be Acted on by the Governor on August 28th.
SB 2471
(Holmes/Cavaletto) Amends the Volunteer Emergency Job Protection Act
to define "volunteer emergency worker"
means a person who serves as a member of a fire department of a fire protection district, municipality, or other unit of government on other than a full-time career basis and who meets the requirements for volunteer status under the Code of Federal Regulations and Opinion Letters from the USDOL. The definition includes a person licensed under the EMS Systems Act and serves on a volunteer basis as an EMR, EMT, EMT-I, A-EMT, or EMT-P.
Must be Acted on by the Governor on August 21st.
SB 2999
(Van Pelt/Conyears-Ervin) requires an employer to reimburse an employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee directly related to services performed for the employer. It requires that the expenditure must be within the scope of employment, authorized or required and appropriate documentation is provided. ELC NEUTRAL -
Must be Acted on by the Governor on August 28th.
SB 3547
(T. Cullerton/Chapa LaVia) Creates the
Service-Member Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
concerning matters relevant to the employment rights of service-members, including employment protections, additional benefits for public employee members of a reserve component, prohibitions on discrimination, a notice of rights and duties, violations, enforcement, remedies, and rulemaking.
Must be Acted on by the Governor on August 28th.
HB 1595
(Stuart/Haine) amends the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Actprovides for reasonable break time (instead of "unpaid break time each day") during the first year after the child's birth each time the employee needs to express milk. The break time may run concurrently with any break time already provided to the employee and an employer may not reduce an employee's compensation for time used for the purpose of expressing milk or nursing a baby. An employer shall provide reasonable break time as needed by the employee unless to do so would create an undue hardship as defined by the Illinois Human Rights Act. ELC NEUTRAL -
Must be Acted on by the Governor on August 28th.
HB 3792
(Lilly/Harmon) Amends the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act in provisions concerning postsecondary and career expectations, beginning in grade 6, students should be introduced to the importance of developing and applying a work ethic in a variety of contexts.
Must be Acted on by the Governor on August 20th.
HB 4163
(Moeller/Castro)
amends the Equal Pay Act of 2003 prohibiting an employer from inquiring about salary and wage history by adding new standards that limit employer defenses and adding new compensatory and punitive damage penalties on businesses who are not compliant. ELC OPPOSES and is seeking a veto from Gov. Rauner. Must be Acted on by the Governor on October 6th.
HB 4743
(Ford/Lightford) amends the Equal Pay Act providing that no employer may discriminate between employees by paying wages to an African-American employee at a rate less than the rate at which the employer pays wages to another employee who is not African-American for the same or substantially similar work on a job that requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility and is performed under similar working conditions.
Must be Acted on by the Governor on August 20th.
HB 4795
(Demmer/Syverson) changes the Alcoholism and Other Drug Abuse and Dependency Act to the Substance Use Disorder Act, defines "substance use disorder", and removes certain terms and their definitions.
Requires Illinois DHS to encourage all health and disability insurance programs to include substance use disorder treatment as a covered service and to use evidence-based best practice criteria as maintained in administrative rule and required in P.A. 99-0480 in determining the necessity for such services and continued stay.
P.A. 100-0759, effective January 1, 2019.
Council Meeting on Recreational Marijuana's Impact on the Workplace
The next Employment Law Council meeting will take place at 10 am on Thursday, September 6th at the Chamber offices in Chicago, 300 S. Wacker Drive, 8th floor. State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) and ELC member Peter Steinmeyer, of Epstein Becker & Green will discuss legislative efforts regarding marijuana-both as a substitute for opioids and the broader legalization push as well as the employment and workplace implications of increased utilization of legal marijuana. Both lawmakers are leading the legislative efforts to enact a law legalizing the use of marijuana.
The Employment Law Council is co-host this meeting with the Illinois Chamber's Healthcare Council so we recommend your early RSVP if you plan to attend.
Healthcare and Employment Law Councils' Joint Quarterly Meeting
Thursday, September 6, 2018
10 am - Noon
Illinois Chamber of Commerce
300 S. Wacker, 8th Floor
Chicago, IL
Illinois Chamber Accepting Blog Submissions
Share your area of expertise on the Illinois Chamber's blog! We are asking members to write or submit short articles on issues of interest to our members. Articles for the blog should be around 500-600 words and can be submitted with a photo. Please send your article to [email protected]
REGISTER NOW - 2018 IL CHAMBER PAC GOLF OUTING
The Illinois Chamber of Commerce is holding its annual golf outing on September 5th. Lunch and Dinner will be provided. Please contact Callie Cimarossa with any questions at 217-522-5512 ext. 224 or [email protected]
Illinois Chamber of Commerce PAC Golf Outing 2018
Wednesday September 5, 2018
12:00 to 6:00
The Rail Golf Course
1400 South Club House Drive
Springfield, IL 62707
You can register at the link below:
