Illinois recently enacted SB 1480, which amends several laws, including the Illinois Business Corporation Act and the Illinois Equal Pay Act. While employers have significant time to begin their compliance efforts, SB 1480 will make employers` diversity efforts more transparent by publishing their EEO-1 reports, which will be published on a government website starting in early 2023. Illinois employers must also immediately begin reviewing and possibly changing their compensation practices to obtain an Equal Pay Registration certificate, which is required starting March 24, 2024. While employers should be wary of enforcing salary secrecy policies, there are still areas where wage secrecy can be enforced. Salary secrecy laws apply to communications between employees or communications in connection with investigations or complaints of wage discrimination. However, to the extent that an employer`s compensation practices are confidential, protected by copyright or trade secret, they remain protected. Therefore, employers can always prohibit their employees from disclosing their salaries to their competitors. Employers are also likely to successfully justify the dismissal or discipline of an employee if employers can prove that the action was taken as a result of misconduct, not compensation discussions or inquiries. For example, if an employee continues to seek compensation from another employee after being asked to leave the workplace or otherwise interferes with the workplace, dismissal or discipline may be warranted. However, in these circumstances, employers should exercise caution and only act when there is clear evidence of wrongdoing by employees. EPRC`s application primarily involves filing labor payroll records for an Illinois-based employer and signed confirmation that the company complies with certain state and federal anti-discrimination laws.
IDOL has been collecting contact information from companies with offices in Illinois since late last year and has begun assigning employers specific deadlines for their initial requests. Recently, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that wage secrecy can violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). While the NLRA is generally regarded as the law governing employer-union relations, it also protects non-unionized workers who engage in concerted activities to support or protect each other. In a March 2015 decision, an NLRB administrative judge found that a wage secrecy policy introduced by T-Mobile violated the NLRA because communication between employees about pay rates is a joint effort to improve the work environment. Regardless, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”), the federal agency that oversees federal contractors, is in the final stages of enacting new regulations that prevent federal contractors, subcontractors, and contractors working on state-sponsored construction projects from firing or discriminating against employees or applicants who provide compensation information as part of an investigation. or a complaint about the Request, discuss or disclose a payment. Discrimination. To receive the Equal Pay Registration Certificate, companies must submit a Declaration of Compliance stating that they comply with federal and state labor and equal pay laws. In addition, companies must certify that they have not restricted employment opportunities for one gender, that they have made gender-neutral employment decisions, and that they have provided average pay to their female and minority employees at a rate that is “not consistently lower” than the average pay (as determined by the U.S.
Department of Labor) for men and non-minorities within the area. Concerned. Main categories of the Equal Employment Opportunity Report 1 (see below). Colorado, Connecticut and Nevada already have laws requiring private employers to provide some level of pay transparency. Other states are following suit: Illinois is one of twelve states that prohibit privacy policies. The Illinois Equal Pay Act expressly states that it is illegal for an employer to exonerate, discipline, or otherwise retaliate by asking, disclosing, or comparing compensation for an employer or another employee. This provision was adopted as a method of reducing the gender pay gap, in the belief that communication between workers on pay rates can be valuable evidence in complaints of pay discrimination and that the Pay Secrecy Directives allow for the continuation of pay gaps. Other states, such as Connecticut and Michigan, have banned wage secrecy as part of their general wage and hour laws.