As we reported in the first installment of our series on pay transparency, pay equity legislation continues to trend nationwide. While Part I focused on salary range disclosure legislation, in Part II, we highlight mandatory pay data reporting requirements that are being considered in Massachusetts.
What is Mandatory Pay Data Reporting?
Pay data reporting laws require covered employers to submit detailed compensation data reports, often broken down by race and gender, to state-designated agencies. To date, California and Illinois have adopted such laws. Under California law ...
On July 28, 2023, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law House Bill No. 2068, “Transportation Benefits Program Act” (“Illinois Transit Law”), which requires employers to offer pre-tax transportation fringe benefits (“Transit Benefits”) to employees.
The Illinois Transit Law joins the growing trend of similar local and state pre-tax transportation fringe benefit laws already in effect in various cities and states, including New Jersey, New York City, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Seattle (See our previous blog post here and here).
Who is Subject to the ...
On February 2, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court filed an opinion in Jorome Tims v. Black Horse Carriers, Inc., holding that Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) is subject to a single, five-year statute of limitations period.
Prompted by the widespread adoption and use of video-conferencing software following the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers have shifted toward video interviews to evaluate potential hires. Even as employers have begun to require in-office attendance, the widespread use of video interviewing has continued, because it is a convenient and efficient way to evaluate applicants. Some of the video interviewing tools used by employers incorporate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in an effort to maximize the effectiveness of the interview process. Often, employers contract with third-party vendors to provide these AI-powered interviewing tools, as well as other tech-enhanced selection procedures.
Since 2019, the Illinois Lodging Services Human Trafficking Recognition Training Act (820 ILCS 95/, “the Act”) has required Illinois lodging establishments (such as hotels, motels, and casino hotels) to provide employees with training on how to recognize human trafficking and protocols for reporting suspected human trafficking to authorities. Recent amendments, which became effective January 1, 2022, have ostensibly expanded the scope of covered employers to include other businesses that serve transient populations: restaurants and truck stops.
On June 11, 2021, Illinois and the City of Chicago entered Phase 5 of its five-stage reopening plans. As part of the transition, Illinois released Executive Order 2021-12 (the “Phase 5 Reopening Order”) and new Phase 5 Guidance. Chicago also issued Phase 5 Recommendations and provided a helpful graphic that provides additional recommendations, which apply to all businesses. For Illinois and Chicago businesses, Phase 5 means a lifting of many COVID-19 restrictions across industries. Although businesses can start operating closer to normal, Phase 5 is a new normal that ...
In a flurry of activity into the wee hours of June 2, 2021, Illinois legislators concluded a spring session that saw the passage of numerous measures that will affect employers in the state across the span of the employment relationship. Among the most significant of the many bills heading to Governor Pritzker for signature are acts amending the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (“VESSA”), and the Freedom to Work Act. It is expected that Governor Pritzker will sign all of the above-mentioned bills.
The Illinois Employee Sick Leave Act (“Act”) is what is known as a “kin care” law; i.e., it generally requires Illinois employers that provide paid or unpaid personal sick leave benefits to their employees to allow employees to use such leave to attend to a covered family member’s illness or injury, “on the same terms” as the employees would use their sick leave benefits for their own illness or injury. A “covered family member” means an employee's “child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild ...
Our colleagues Denise Dadika and Vidaur Durazo of Epstein Becker Green have a new post on the Health Employment and Labor blog that will be of interest to our readers: "Changing Floors: Minimum Wage Increases for Health Leaders to Consider".
The following is an excerpt:
2021 is set to be a landmark year for the number of jurisdictions raising wage floors across the country. According to a National Employment Law Project report, as of January 1, 2021, 20 states and 32 municipalities raised their minimum wage. By the end of 2021, the report tracks that as many as 24 states and 50 ...
The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) has issued March 2021 guidance for employers on “Compensation, Paid Leave and the COVID-19 Vaccine,” advising employers on providing employees with time off and flexibility in order to get the first (and as necessary, the second dose) of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Mandatory Vaccination Programs
The IDOL guidance states that pursuant to the Illinois Minimum Wage Law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, if an employer requires employees to get vaccinated, then the time the employee spends getting the vaccine “is likely compensable,” ...
In recent years, wage discrimination has been a hot topic and with it, the question of whether employers may rely on a worker’s salary history to justify a pay disparity between male and female employees. In a 2018 case involving the federal Equal Pay Act (“EPA”), Rizo v. Yovino, (about which we wrote here), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Ninth Circuit”) ruled that employers may not rely on prior salary to excuse unequal pay. On petition, the Supreme Court vacated the decision and remanded the case on a technical ground (i.e., because the judge who ...
As employers begin to develop and implement plans for reopening and staff return to the workplace, they should be mindful of industry-specific requirements and guidance, which may apply where they operate. Following are some examples that typify the sorts of industry-related requirements various states and municipalities have implemented:
- Connecticut’s reopening requirements for hotels and restaurants overlap, but are not identical. For example, both hotels and indoor sections of restaurants may welcome guests at up to 50 percent capacity, and both require that ...
Last week, Illinois moved in to “Phase 4” of the state’s five-stage Restore Illinois Plan (the “Plan”). As part of this transition, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity issued updated, industry-specific Phase 4 Guidelines (the “Guidelines”).
From an employer compliance standpoint, the transition from Phase 3 to 4 is not a radical change. Rather, the transition primarily involves loosened restrictions for already open businesses, and the reopening of additional industries (such as indoor recreation facilities like bowling alleys and ...
The Illinois “Stay at Home” Order took effect at 5:00 p.m. on March 21, 2020, and will last through April 7 (full text here). This post will briefly summarize the Order’s application to Illinois businesses, and then provide a one-stop-shop index pointing you to Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. (“EBG”) and governmental resources to help you comply with existing and COVID-19-specific federal, state, and local regulations.
What Does “Stay at Home” Mean for My Business?
The Order requires “all individuals currently living within the State of Illinois” to “stay at home ...
Earlier this year, we reported legislative efforts in Illinois to curb sexual harassment in the hospitality industry via Illinois House Bill 3551, which would require restaurants to adopt a sexual harassment policy and provide training to all employees. While that bill appears to have stalled in the House, similar requirements appear in Illinois Senate Bill 75 (titled the “Workplace Transparency Act”), which, after sitting on the Governor Pritzker’s desk for several months, was finally signed by Governor Pritzker on August 9, 2019.
Section 2-110 of the Workplace ...
This Employment Law This Week® Monthly Rundown discusses the most important developments for employers in August 2019.
This episode includes:
- Increased Employee Protections for Cannabis Users
- First Opinion Letters Released Under New Wage and Hour Leadership
- New Jersey and Illinois Enact Salary History Inquiry Bans
- Deadline for New York State Anti-Harassment Training Approaches
- Tip of the Week
See below to watch the full episode – click here for story details and video.
We invite you to view Employment Law This Week® – tracking the latest developments that could ...
This Employment Law This Week® Monthly Rundown discusses the most important developments for employers in July 2019. Both the video and the extended audio podcast are now available.
This episode includes:
- State Legislation Heats Up
- NLRB Overturns Another Long-Standing Precedent
- SCOTUS October Term 2018 Wraps Up
- Tip of the Week: How inclusion and trust can increase innovation in the workplace
See below to watch the full episode - click here for story details, the video, and the extended audio podcast.
Stay tuned: Sign-up for email notifications and subscribe to the ...
Our colleagues
Following is an excerpt:
On July 2, 2019, New Jersey joined Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, New York City, and Oklahoma in enacting employment protections for authorized users of medical cannabis. New Jersey’s new medical ...
Increasingly companies are using third-party digital hiring platforms to recruit and select job applicants. These products, explicitly or implicitly, promise to reduce or eliminate the bias of hiring managers in making selection decisions. Instead, the platforms grade applicants based on a variety of purportedly objective factors. For example, a platform may scan thousands of resumes and select applicants based on education level, work experience, or interests, or rank applicants based on their performance on an aptitude test – whatever data point(s) the platform has been ...
Tuesday, May 7, 2019 – Downtown Dinner Program
Wednesday, May 8, 2019 – Repeat Suburban Lunch Program
Join our colleagues Lauri Rasnick, Kevin Ryan, and Peter Steinmeyer for an interactive panel discussion which will provide insights into recent developments and expected trends in the evolving legal landscape of trade secret and non-competition law. This program will also discuss unique issues and developments in the health care and financial services industry. Our colleagues will also be joined by Thomas J. Shanahan, Associate General Counsel at Option Care.
Issues ...
On March 6, 2019, the 20-year business partnership between celebrity chef Mario Batali and the Bastianich family of restaurateurs, Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, was formally dissolved following allegations by several women more than a year ago that he sexually assaulted and harassed them at his restaurants years earlier. Tanya Bastianich Manueli and her brother Joe Bastianich have bought all of Mr. Batali’s shares in the restaurants. As a result, Mr. Batali has been fully divested and will no longer profit from his former restaurant group, and his name already has been ...
In the New Year, two states – New Jersey and Illinois – have proposed legislation requiring restaurants to adopt a sexual harassment training policy and provide anti-sexual harassment training to employees. While it remains to be seen whether these bills will become law, attempts to target and reform working conditions in the hospitality industry are nonetheless noteworthy, particularly given that unlike New York and California, neither New Jersey nor Illinois have enacted broad legislation requiring private sector employers, regardless of occupation, to provide sexual ...
As we previously reported, since 2017 employees have filed dozens of employment class actions claiming violations of Illinois’ 2008 Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). In short, BIPA protects the privacy rights of employees, customers, and others in Illinois against the improper collection, usage, storage, transmission, and destruction of biometric information, including biometric identifiers, such as retina or iris scans, fingerprints, voiceprints, and scans of face or hand geometry. Before collecting such biometric information, BIPA requires an ...
Employers continue to incorporate the use of biometric information for several employee management purposes, such as in systems managing time keeping and security access that use fingerprints, handprints, or facial scans. Recently, Illinois state courts have encountered a substantial increase in the amount of privacy class action complaints under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), which requires employers to provide written notice and obtain consent from employees (as well as customers) prior to collecting and storing any biometric data. Under ...
My colleague Peter Steinmeyer published a post on the Trade Secrets and Noncompete Blog that will be of interest to many of our readers: “Chicago District Judge Issues Primer On Declaratory Judgment Actions Regarding The Enforceability Of Non-Compete Agreements.”
Following is an excerpt:
Last week, Chicago district judge Charles Kocoras dismissed a declaratory judgment action challenging the enforceability of a facially broad form non-compete agreement signed by all employees of the Jimmy John’s sandwich chain. Judge Kocoras held that the dispute was not judiciable ...
By Jeffrey H. Ruzal
In August, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law HB 5622, amending the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (IWPCA), which now recognizes for the first time payment of wages by payroll card. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2015. While the law provides a new option for Illinois employers, they must be careful to comply with the conditions under which payroll cards may be used.
Under the current Illinois law, employers are required to pay employees via check or direct deposit. The current law is silent as to whether payroll cards, which operate like debit ...
Blog Editors
Recent Updates
- EEOC Final Rule Implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
- Podcast: Navigating Physician Non-Compete Litigation – Employment Law This Week
- Maryland Expected to Expand Pay Transparency Requirements in Fall 2024
- Video: Union Reps at OSHA Inspections, New COVID-19 Guidance, and Minimum Wage Updates - Employment Law This Week
- Fair Credit Reporting Act Preempts State Law Defamation Claim Over Background Check