(820 ILCS 112/45)

Sec. 45. Outreach and education efforts. The Department of Labor shall conduct ongoing outreach and education efforts concerning this Act targeted toward employers, labor organizations, and other appropriate organizations. In addition, the Department of Labor shall conduct studies and provide information biennially to employers, labor organizations, and the general public concerning the means available to eliminate pay disparities between men and women, including:

(1) conducting and promoting research to develop the means to correct the conditions leading to the pay disparities;

(2) publishing and otherwise making available to employers, labor organizations, professional associations, educational institutions, the legislature, the media, and the general public the findings resulting from studies and other materials, relating to the pay disparities;

(3) providing information to employers, labor organizations, and other interested persons on the means of eliminating pay disparities; and

(4) developing guidelines to enable employers to evaluate job categories based on objective criteria such as educational requirements, skill requirements, independence, working conditions, and responsibility. These guidelines shall be designed to enable employers to voluntarily compare wages paid for different jobs to determine if the pay scales involved adequately and fairly reflect the educational requirements, skill requirements, independence, working conditions, and responsibility for each such job with the goal of eliminating unfair pay disparities between occupations traditionally dominated by men or women.

(Source: P.A. 93-6, eff. 1-1-04.)