IDOL Hearing on Equal Pay Proposed Rule
As provided in the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, the Illinois Chamber requested that the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) hold a public hearing on its proposed rule implementing Section 11 of the Illinois Equal Pay Act. IDOL has announced that it is holding a virtual hearing on August 9th at 10 a.m. via WebEx. More information regarding the public hearing can be found here [illinois.gov]. The proposed rules can be found here [illinois.gov].
The Employment Law Council submitted comments on July 1st to IDOL pointing out the inadequacy of the proposed rule. The lack of clarity, specifics, and guidance in the proposed rule appeared to be a means of skirting the Administrative Procedure Act. The inadequacy of the rule causes employers to be unable to have certainty and confidence that their application and data is in compliance. We are also concerned that employers already are being required to file with IDOL without final regulations in place. If you have a specific problem/experience with the new law/rule that you would like the Chamber to present at the hearing, please contact Jay Shattuck at [email protected].
Section 11 of the Equal Pay Act requires employers of 100 or more to file with IDOL wage data and certification of compliance with various federal and state discrimination laws.
Biz Retirement Requirement Expanding to Smaller Employers
Launched in 2018, Illinois Secure Choice is a retirement savings program that requires employers with 5 or more Illinois employees that have been in business for at least 2 years and that don’t offer a tax-qualified retirement plan to register for and facilitate Illinois Secure Choice.
The program is facilitated by the State of Illinois and administered by a professional financial services firm. It’s designed for employees who don’t have a retirement savings plan at work. Through the program, employees can enroll in Roth IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) that are funded through payroll deduction. Their IRAs belong to them and are portable from job to job. To date, more than 100,000 employees have participated in the program, contributing more than $105 million to their own retirement accounts.
Employers do not pay any fees, make contributions, or have any fiduciary liability – they simply facilitate employee payroll deductions and keep their employee rosters current. Employer registration deadlines are staggered based on employer size.
The registration deadline for businesses with 16 or more employees is November 1, 2022, while the registration deadline for businesses with 5-15 employees is November 1, 2023. Eligible employers are welcome to join in advance of their deadlines to give their employees more time to build their retirement savings.
Business owners can learn more about the program and applicable registration deadlines at www.ilsecurechoice.com
IL Chamber Annual Luncheon Sponsorship Availability
The Illinois Chamber’s 2022 Annual Meeting is set for October 6 from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago.
The agenda includes our one-hour pre-event reception “All Council Mix & Mingle”. The luncheon program is the “Future of Energy and Impact on Illinois: Actions of the Federal Reserve”
Sponsorship of the All Council Mix & Mingle is available for $2,500.00. Benefits of sponsorship are:
· Two seats for your company at the Annual Luncheon
· Acknowledgement on signage at pre-event reception, on website, and
invite for the event
· Exhibitor space to highlight your company during the pre-event reception.
Illinois Primary Election Results
The primary election results are in and the new congressional and legislative maps appear to have divided Illinois politically even further. While not perhaps intended but the new maps allowed progressives to defeat more moderate democrats and more conservative republicans were victorious in many races across the state.
Statewide
U.S. Senate: Kathy Salvi with 30% of the vote in a crowded republican primary has won the right to take on U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth who was unopposed.
Governor: State Sen. Darren Bailey wins his primary with over 57% of the republican vote. Former President Trump’s endorsement and the over $35 million spent by Gov. Pritzker and the Democrat party to tout Bailey’s conservative values helped to make the victory easy. Gov. Pritzker in no surprise pummeled his primary opponent. Interestingly, there were a total of just under 800,000 votes cast by democrats in the Governor’s race and a little over 769,000 cast by republicans. Republicans could make the fall election for Governor competitive if they are able to pull together. With the hard-hitting negative campaign that occurred that may be difficult to accomplish. Gov. Pritzker starts out as a heavy favorite for re-election.
Attorney General: Incumbent Kwame Raoul will be taking on attorney Tom DeVore who received 44% of the republican vote in a three-way race.
Secretary of State: With the retirement of Jesse White, former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias will be vying for the office with republican state Rep. Dan Brady.
Comptroller: Incumbent Susana Mendoza competes with Shannon Teresi who was unopposed in the republican primary.
Treasurer: Republican state Rep. Tom Demmer will be challenging incumbent Mike Frerichs.
Congressional
1st District: Jonathon Jackson prevailed with 28% of the vote against 16 opponents to replace retiring Cong. Bobby Rush. The GOP candidate will be Eric Carlson in this heavy democrat seat.
2nd District: Republican Thomas Lynch faces incumbent Robin Kelly in this democrat stronghold.
3rd District: State representative Delia Ramirez had a surprising easy victory over Chicago Alderman Gilbert Villegas. This was a new district created to elect a Hispanic.
5th District: Incumbent Mike Quigley will be challenged by republican Tommy Hanson who received 55% of the primary votes.
6th District: In the clash of the incumbents, Sean Casten coasted by Marie Newman with 68% of the democrat vote. He will be facing a tough November challenge from Keith Pekau who prevailed in his six-candidate primary with 39% of the republican vote.
7th District: Incumbent Danny Davis defeats Kina Collins with 52% of the democrat vote.
8th District: Incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi wins his primary with 71% of the vote. Chis Dargis will be his GOP opponent in the fall.
11th District: Republican Catalina Lauf wins 31% of the primary vote and faces incumbent Bill Foster in the general election.
13th District: Regan Deering narrowly wins her republican primary. She will take on democrat Nikki Budzinski who this new district was designed for her to win in November.
14th District: Incumbent Lauren Underwood will see a competitive challenge from republican Scott Gryder. Gryder ended on top of a five-way race with 31% of the vote.
15th District: Another clash of incumbents saw Trump-endorsed Mary Miller easily defeat Rodney Davis with 58% of the vote in this strong GOP district.
16th District: Incumbent Darin LaHood vanquished his three primary opponents winning 66% of the vote.
17th District: This district will be a battle royale in the fall to replace retiring Cherie Bustos. Esther Joy King, who narrowly lost to Bustos in 2020, coasted to her primary win. She will face democrat Eric Sorenson who defeated five other democrat opponents with 38% of the vote
Legislative Results
Certainly, of the four legislative leaders, Senate GOP Leader Dan McConchie fared the best. Three of his caucus members facing opponents won their primary election. Sen. Dave Syverson (Rockford) won easily with over 75% of the vote. Sen. Steve McClure survived a late surge from his opponent and did well with 60% of the vote in a district that has much new territory for him. The close race was Sen. Win Stoller’s (Peoria) narrow victory with just over 51% of the vote. GOP preferred candidate Mike Thoms, Mayor of Rock Island, defeated his opponent with 68% of the vote to run in the open 36th Senate seat.
Sen. President Don Harmon’s candidates in districts that had retiring Senate democrats had a difficult night. In the 16th, new-comer Willie Preston prevails to replace Sen. Jaqueline Collins who lost her bid to move to Congress. Preston received 54% of the democrat vote. Progressive candidate Rachel Ventura easily defeated appointed Senator Eric Mattson who replaced Sen. John Connor in the Joliet area. Seeking to replace retiring Sen. Melinda Bush will be former representative Mary Edly-Allen. She defeated Rep. Sam Yingling with 55% of the vote. Senate democrat incumbents did well. Sen. Omar Aquino (Chicago) 74%, Sen. Robert Martwick (Chicago) 66%, and Sen. Celina Villanueva (Chicago) 69% all prevailed.
Speaker Chris Welch saw an incumbent member fall last night and two trail their opponents. Rep. Mike Zalewski (Chicago), chairman of the House Revenue Committee, conceded to hard charging progressive Abdelnasser Rashid. Rep. Denyse Wang Stoneback (Skokie) loses to challenger Kevin Olickal by 542 votes. And, Rep. Kathleen Willis (Addison) falls to Norma Hernandez by196 votes. Incumbent members of the House Democrat caucus that coasted to victory were: Rep. Sonya Harper (Chicago) 71%; Rep. Lindsay LaPointe (Chicago) 75%; Rep. Curtis Tarver (Chicago) 77%; Rep. Justin Slaughter (Chicago) 79%; Rep. Thad Jones (Calumet City) 78%; and Rep Natalie Manley (Joliet) 89%. Appointed Rep. Mike Kelly (Chicago) prevails over his challenger Mike Rabbitt.
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin cannot be happy with his primary results. Two of his incumbents went down to defeat from candidates with more conservative credentials. And, nearly all the House GOP “preferred” candidates in open, strong republican seats lost to candidates that will be more conservative. Jed Davis defeated Rep. David Welter (Morris) with 54% of the vote. Travis Weaver prevailed over Rep. Mark Luft (Pekin) winning with 64% of the vote. Successful republican incumbents include: Rep. Dan Swanson (Alpha) 67%; Rep. Tony McCombie (Savannah) 75%; Rep. Tim Butler (Springfield) 74%; Rep. Patrick Windhorst (Metropolis) 72%; and Rep. Paul Jacobs (Pomona) 68%. Former representative John Cabello will be rejoining the GOP caucus with a win in the new 90th district.
Illinois Chamber News
The Illinois Chamber is now partnering with Strategic Value Media to sell advertising in our Illinois Business Leader Magazine. We would really appreciate it if you could please add the information below to your newsletters to let all of our members know that this is a legitimate company. Please let me know if you have any questions.
The Illinois Chamber of Commerce has partnered with Overland, KS-based Strategic Value Media, a leading nationwide provider of print and digital media solutions to the national, state and local trade and membership associations, to help put together the Fall 2022 edition of the Illinois Business Leader Magazine. This premier resource is the official publication of Illinois Chamber, the voice for Illinois Chamber of Commerce professionals.
A representative from Strategic Value Media may contact you by email or phone to inquire if you want to advertise in the magazine. Please know this is a legitimate call and that SVM is partnering with the Illinois Chamber of Commerce to provide you with this resource for advertising your products and services.
This insightful publication will include recent accomplishments, business profiles, news from the Statehouse, and articles written by Illinois experts for Illinois employers on timely topics. Illinois Business Leader Magazine is accessible through the Illinois Chamber website here. We encourage you to take advantage of this exceptional opportunity to highlight your products and services in the magazine.
To learn more about advertising your products or services in the magazine, please email [email protected].