Public Act 093-0915
 
SB2665 Enrolled LRB093 18523 WGH 44243 b

    AN ACT concerning employment.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
 
    Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
    (a) "Affected employees" means employees who may
reasonably be expected to experience an employment loss as a
consequence of a proposed plant closing or mass layoff by their
employer.
    (b) "Employment loss" means:
        (1) an employment termination, other than a discharge
    for cause, voluntary departure, or retirement;
        (2) a layoff exceeding 6 months; or
        (3) a reduction in hours of work of more than 50%
    during each month of any 6-month period.
    "Employment loss" does not include instances when the plant
closing or layoff is the result of the relocation or
consolidation of part or all of the employer's business and,
before the closing or layoff, the employer offers to transfer
the employee to a different site of employment within a
reasonable commuting distance with no more than a 6-month break
in employment, or the employer offers to transfer the employee
to any other site of employment, regardless of distance, with
no more than a 6-month break in employment, and the employee
accepts within 30 days of the offer or of the closing or
layoff, whichever is later.
    (c) "Employer" means any business enterprise that employs:
        (1) 75 or more employees, excluding part-time
    employees; or
        (2) 75 or more employees who in the aggregate work at
    least 4,000 hours per week (exclusive of hours of
    overtime).
    (d) "Mass layoff" means a reduction in force which:
        (1) is not the result of a plant closing; and
        (2) results in an employment loss at the single site of
    employment during any 30-day period for:
            (A) at least 33% of the employees (excluding any
        part-time employees) and at least 25 employees
        (excluding any part-time employees); or
            (B) at least 250 employees (excluding any
        part-time employees).
    (e) "Part-time employee" means an employee who is employed
for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or who has been
employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 months preceding the date
on which notice is required.
    (f) "Plant closing" means the permanent or temporary
shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more
facilities or operating units within a single site of
employment, if the shutdown results in an employment loss at
the single site of employment during any 30-day period for 50
or more employees excluding any part-time employees.
    (g) "Representative" means an exclusive representative of
employees within the meaning of Section 9(a) or 8(f) of the
National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(a), 158(f)) or
Section 2 of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 152).
 
    Section 10. Notice.
    (a) An employer may not order a mass layoff, relocation, or
employment loss unless, 60 days before the order takes effect,
the employer gives written notice of the order to the
following:
        (1) affected employees and representatives of affected
    employees; and
        (2) the Department of Commerce and Economic
    Opportunity and the chief elected official of each
    municipal and county government within which the
    employment loss, relocation, or mass layoff occurs.
    (b) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff,
relocation, or employment loss under this Act shall include in
its notice the elements required by the federal Worker
Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et
seq.).
    (c) Notwithstanding the requirements of subsection (a), an
employer is not required to provide notice if a mass layoff,
relocation, or employment loss is necessitated by a physical
calamity or an act of terrorism or war.
    (d) The mailing of notice to an employee's last known
address or inclusion of notice in the employee's paycheck shall
be considered acceptable methods for fulfillment of the
employer's obligation to give notice to each affected employee
under this Act.
    (e) In the case of a sale of part or all of an employer's
business, the seller shall be responsible for providing notice
for any plant closing or mass layoff in accordance with this
Section, up to and including the effective date of the sale.
After the effective date of the sale of part or all of an
employer's business, the purchaser shall be responsible for
providing notice for any plant closing or mass layoff in
accordance with this Section. Notwithstanding any other
provision of this Act, any person who is an employee of the
seller (other than a part-time employee) as of the effective
date of the sale shall be considered an employee of the
purchaser immediately after the effective date of the sale.
    (f) An employer which is receiving State or local economic
development incentives for doing or continuing to do business
in this State may be required to provide additional notice
pursuant to Section 15 of the Business Economic Support Act.
    (g) The rights and remedies provided to employees by this
Act are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other
contractual or statutory rights and remedies of the employees,
and are not intended to alter or affect such rights and
remedies, except that the period of notification required by
this Act shall run concurrently with any period of notification
required by contract or by any other law.
    (h) It is the sense of the General Assembly that an
employer who is not required to comply with the notice
requirements of this Section should, to the extent possible,
provide notice to its employees about a proposal to close a
plant or permanently reduce its workforce.
 
    Section 15. Exceptions.
    (a) In the case of a plant closing, an employer is not
required to comply with the notice requirement in subsection
(a) of Section 10 if:
        (1) the Department of Labor determines:
            (A) at the time that notice would have been
        required, the employer was actively seeking capital or
        business; and
            (B) the capital or business sought, if obtained,
        would have enabled the employer to avoid or postpone
        the relocation or termination; and
            (C) the employer reasonably and in good faith
        believed that giving the notice required by subsection
        (a) of Section 10 would have precluded the employer
        from obtaining the needed capital or business; or
        (2) the Department of Labor determines that the need
    for a notice was not reasonably foreseeable at the time the
    notice would have been required.
    (b) To determine whether the employer was actively seeking
capital or business, or that the need for notice was not
reasonably foreseeable under subsection (a), the employer
shall provide to the Department of Labor:
        (1) a written record consisting of those documents
    relevant to the determination of whether the employer was
    actively seeking capital or business, or that the need for
    notice was not reasonably foreseeable; and
        (2) an affidavit verifying the contents of the
    documents contained in the record.
    (c) An employer is not required to comply with the notice
requirement in subsection (a) of Section 10 if:
        (1) the plant closing is of a temporary facility or the
    plant closing or layoff is the result of the completion of
    a particular project or undertaking, and the affected
    employees were hired with the understanding that their
    employment was limited to the duration of the facility or
    the project or undertaking; or
        (2) the closing or layoff constitutes a strike or
    constitutes a lockout not intended to evade the
    requirements of this Act. Nothing in this Act shall require
    an employer to serve written notice when permanently
    replacing a person who is deemed to be an economic striker
    under the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et
    seq.). Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to validate or
    invalidate any judicial or administrative ruling relating
    to the hiring of permanent replacements for economic
    strikers under the National Labor Relations Act.
    (d) An employer relying on this Section shall provide as
much notice as is practicable and at that time shall provide a
brief statement of the basis for reducing the notification
period.
 
    Section 20. Extension of layoff period. A layoff of more
than 6 months which, at its outset, was announced to be a
layoff of 6 months or less shall be treated as an employment
loss under this Act unless:
        (1) the extension beyond 6 months is caused by business
    circumstances (including unforeseeable changes in price or
    cost) not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the initial
    layoff; and
        (2) notice is given at the time it becomes reasonably
    foreseeable that the extension beyond 6 months will be
    required.
 
    Section 25. Determinations with respect to employment
loss. In determining whether a plant closing or mass layoff has
occurred or will occur, employment losses for 2 or more groups
at a single site of employment, each of which is less than the
minimum number of employees specified in subsection (d) or (f)
of Section 5 of this Act but which in the aggregate exceed that
minimum number, and which occur within any 90-day period shall
be considered to be a plant closing or mass layoff unless the
employer demonstrates that the employment losses are the result
of separate and distinct actions and causes and are not an
attempt by the employer to evade the requirements of this Act.
 
    Section 30. Powers of Director of Labor.
    (a) Pursuant to the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act,
the Director of Labor shall prescribe such rules as may be
necessary to carry out this Act. The rules shall, at a minimum,
include provisions that allow the parties access to
administrative hearings for any actions of the Department under
this Act. The provisions of the Administrative Review Law, and
the rules adopted pursuant thereto, apply to and govern all
proceedings for the judicial review of decisions under this
Act.
    (b) In any investigation or proceeding under this Act, the
Director of Labor has, in addition to all other powers granted
by law, the authority to examine the books and records of an
employer, but only to the extent to determine whether a
violation of this Act has occurred.
    (c) Except as provided in this Section, information
obtained from any employer subject to this Act regarding the
books, records, or wages paid to workers during the
administration of this Act shall:
        (1) be confidential;
        (2) not be published or open to public inspection;
        (3) not be used in any court in any pending action or
    proceeding; and
        (4) not be admissible in evidence in any action or
    proceeding other than one arising out of this Act.
     (d) No finding, determination, decision, ruling, or order
(including any finding of fact, statement, or conclusion made
therein) issued pursuant to this Act shall be admissible or
used in evidence in any action other than one arising out of
this Act, nor shall it be binding or conclusive except as
provided in the Act, nor shall it constitute res judicata,
regardless of whether the actions were between the same or
related parties or involved the same facts.
    (e) Any officer or employer of this State, any officer or
employee of any entity authorized to obtain information
pursuant to this Section, and any agent of this State or of
such entity who, except with authority of the Director under
this Section, discloses information is guilty of a Class B
misdemeanor and is disqualified from holding any appointment or
employment by the State.
    (f) The Director of Labor has the authority to determine
any liabilities or civil penalties under Section 35 and Section
40 of this Act.
 
    Section 35. Violation; liability.
    (a) An employer who fails to give notice as required by
paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Section 10 before ordering a
mass layoff, relocation, or employment loss is liable to each
employee entitled to notice who lost his or her employment for:
        (1) Back pay at the average regular rate of
    compensation received by the employee during the last three
    years of his or her employment, or the employee's final
    rate of compensation, whichever is higher.
        (2) The value of the cost of any benefits to which the
    employee would have been entitled had his or her employment
    not been lost, including the cost of any medical expenses
    incurred by the employee that would have been covered under
    an employee benefit plan.
    (b) Liability under this Section is calculated for the
period of the employer's violation, up to a maximum of 60 days,
or one-half the number of days that the employee was employed
by the employer, whichever period is smaller.
    (c) The amount of an employer's liability under subsection
(a) is reduced by the following:
        (1) Any wages, except vacation moneys accrued before
    the period of the employer's violation, paid by the
    employer to the employee during the period of the
    employer's violation.
        (2) Any voluntary and unconditional payments made by
    the employer to the employee that were not required to
    satisfy any legal obligation.
        (3) Any payments by the employer to a third party or
    trustee, such as premiums for health benefits or payments
    to a defined contribution pension plan, on behalf of and
    attributable to the employee for the period of the
    violation.
        (4) Any liability paid by the employer under federal
    law.
    (d) Any liability incurred by an employer under subsection
(a) of this Section with respect to a defined benefit pension
plan may be reduced by crediting the employee with service for
all purposes under such a plan for the period of the violation.
    (e) If an employer proves to the satisfaction of the
Director that the act or omission that violated this Act was in
good faith and that the employer had reasonable grounds for
believing that the act or omission was not a violation of this
Act, the Director may in his or her discretion reduce the
amount of liability provided for in this Section.
 
    Section 40. Civil penalty.
     (a) An employer who fails to give notice as required by
paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Section 10 is subject to a
civil penalty of not more than $500 for each day of the
employer's violation. The employer is not subject to a civil
penalty under this Section if the employer pays to all
applicable employees the amounts for which the employer is
liable under Section 35 within 3 weeks from the date the
employer orders the mass layoff, relocation, or employment
loss.
    (b) The total amount of penalties for which an employer may
be liable under this Section shall not exceed the maximum
amount of penalties for which the employer may be liable under
federal law for the same violation.
    (c) Any penalty amount paid by the employer under federal
law shall be considered a payment made under this Act.
    (d) If an employer proves to the satisfaction of the
Director that the act or omission that violated this Act was in
good faith and that the employer had reasonable grounds for
believing that the act or omission was not a violation of this
Act, the Director may in his or her discretion reduce the
amount of the penalty provided for in this Section.
 
    Section 45. Advisory notice from Department of Commerce and
Economic Opportunity. Before September 30 of each year, the
Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, with the
cooperation of the Department of Employment Security, must
issue a written notice to each employer that reported to the
Department of Employment Security that the employer paid wages
to 75 or more individuals with respect to any quarter in the
immediately preceding calendar year. The notice must indicate
that the employer may be subject to this Act and must generally
advise the employer about the requirements of this Act and the
remedies provided for violations of this Act.
 
    Section 50. Applicability. This Act applies to plant
closings or relocations occurring on or after January 1, 2005.
 
    Section 55. Interpretation. Whenever possible, this Act
shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the federal
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act and the
federal regulations and court decisions interpreting that Act
to the extent that the provisions of federal and State law are
the same.
 
    (20 ILCS 1005/1005-60 rep.)
    Section 85. The Department of Employment Security Law of
the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is amended by
repealing Section 1005-60.
 
    Section 90. The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by
adding Section 500.1 as follows:
 
    (820 ILCS 405/500.1 new)
    Sec. 500.1. Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act; federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act. Benefits payable under this Act may not be
denied or reduced because of the receipt of payments related to
an employer's violation of the Illinois Worker Adjustment and
Retraining Notification Act or the federal Worker Adjustment
and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.).
 
    Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are
severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
1, 2005.