HB4468 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB100 16692 RJF 31830 b

100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
HB4468

Introduced , by Rep. Joe Sosnowski

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

5 ILCS 315/2	from Ch. 48, par. 1602
5 ILCS 315/3	from Ch. 48, par. 1603
5 ILCS 315/4	from Ch. 48, par. 1604
5 ILCS 315/6	from Ch. 48, par. 1606
5 ILCS 315/7	from Ch. 48, par. 1607
5 ILCS 315/9	from Ch. 48, par. 1609
5 ILCS 315/15	from Ch. 48, par. 1615
5 ILCS 315/21.5
105 ILCS 5/34-3.5
115 ILCS 5/1	from Ch. 48, par. 1701
115 ILCS 5/2	from Ch. 48, par. 1702
115 ILCS 5/3	from Ch. 48, par. 1703
115 ILCS 5/4	from Ch. 48, par. 1704
115 ILCS 5/7	from Ch. 48, par. 1707
115 ILCS 5/10	from Ch. 48, par. 1710
115 ILCS 5/12	from Ch. 48, par. 1712
115 ILCS 5/4.5 rep.

Amends the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act to limit the required subjects of collective bargaining under those respective Acts to employee wages. Exempts specified security employees, peace officer units, and units of fire fighters or paramedics from provisions limiting the subjects of collective bargaining to employee wages. Defines "wages". Makes conforming changes. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Public Labor Relations Act is amended by changing Sections 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 15, and 21.5 as follows:

(5 ILCS 315/2) (from Ch. 48, par. 1602)

Sec. 2. Policy. It is the public policy of the State of Illinois to grant public employees full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours and other conditions of employment or other mutual aid or protection.

It is the purpose of this Act to regulate labor relations between public employers and employees, including the designation of employee representatives, negotiation of wages, hours and other conditions of employment, and resolution of disputes arising under collective bargaining agreements.

It is the purpose of this Act to prescribe the legitimate rights of both public employees and public employers, to protect the public health and safety of the citizens of Illinois, and to provide peaceful and orderly procedures for protection of the rights of all. To prevent labor strife and to protect the public health and safety of the citizens of Illinois, all collective bargaining disputes involving persons designated by the Board as performing essential services and those persons defined herein as security employees shall be submitted to impartial arbitrators, who shall be authorized to issue awards in order to resolve such disputes. It is the public policy of the State of Illinois that where the right of employees to strike is prohibited by law, it is necessary to afford an alternate, expeditious, equitable and effective procedure for the resolution of labor disputes subject to approval procedures mandated by this Act. To that end, the provisions for such awards shall be liberally construed.

(Source: P.A. 83-1012.)

(5 ILCS 315/3) (from Ch. 48, par. 1603)

Sec. 3. Definitions. As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) "Board" means the Illinois Labor Relations Board or, with respect to a matter over which the jurisdiction of the Board is assigned to the State Panel or the Local Panel under Section 5, the panel having jurisdiction over the matter.

(b) "Collective bargaining" means bargaining over terms and conditions of employment, including hours, wages, and other conditions of employment, as detailed in Section 7 and which are not excluded by Section 4.

(c) "Confidential employee" means an employee who, in the regular course of his or her duties, assists and acts in a confidential capacity to persons who formulate, determine, and effectuate management policies with regard to labor relations or who, in the regular course of his or her duties, has authorized access to information relating to the effectuation or review of the employer's collective bargaining policies.

(d) "Craft employees" means skilled journeymen, crafts persons, and their apprentices and helpers.

(e) "Essential services employees" means those public employees performing functions so essential that the interruption or termination of the function will constitute a clear and present danger to the health and safety of the persons in the affected community.

(f) "Exclusive representative", except with respect to non-State fire fighters and paramedics employed by fire departments and fire protection districts, non-State peace officers, and peace officers in the Department of State Police, means the labor organization that has been (i) designated by the Board as the representative of a majority of public employees in an appropriate bargaining unit in accordance with the procedures contained in this Act, (ii) historically recognized by the State of Illinois or any political subdivision of the State before July 1, 1984 (the effective date of this Act) as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit, (iii) after July 1, 1984 (the effective date of this Act) recognized by an employer upon evidence, acceptable to the Board, that the labor organization has been designated as the exclusive representative by a majority of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit; (iv) recognized as the exclusive representative of personal assistants under Executive Order 2003-8 prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, and the organization shall be considered to be the exclusive representative of the personal assistants as defined in this Section; or (v) recognized as the exclusive representative of child and day care home providers, including licensed and license exempt providers, pursuant to an election held under Executive Order 2005-1 prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly, and the organization shall be considered to be the exclusive representative of the child and day care home providers as defined in this Section.

With respect to non-State fire fighters and paramedics employed by fire departments and fire protection districts, non-State peace officers, and peace officers in the Department of State Police, "exclusive representative" means the labor organization that has been (i) designated by the Board as the representative of a majority of peace officers or fire fighters in an appropriate bargaining unit in accordance with the procedures contained in this Act, (ii) historically recognized by the State of Illinois or any political subdivision of the State before January 1, 1986 (the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1985) as the exclusive representative by a majority of the peace officers or fire fighters in an appropriate bargaining unit, or (iii) after January 1, 1986 (the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1985) recognized by an employer upon evidence, acceptable to the Board, that the labor organization has been designated as the exclusive representative by a majority of the peace officers or fire fighters in an appropriate bargaining unit.

Where a historical pattern of representation exists for the workers of a water system that was owned by a public utility, as defined in Section 3-105 of the Public Utilities Act, prior to becoming certified employees of a municipality or municipalities once the municipality or municipalities have acquired the water system as authorized in Section 11-124-5 of the Illinois Municipal Code, the Board shall find the labor organization that has historically represented the workers to be the exclusive representative under this Act, and shall find the unit represented by the exclusive representative to be the appropriate unit.

(g) "Fair share agreement" means an agreement between the employer and an employee organization under which all or any of the employees in a collective bargaining unit are required to pay their proportionate share of the costs of the collective bargaining process, contract administration, and pursuing matters affecting wages, hours, and other conditions of employment, but not to exceed the amount of dues uniformly required of members. The amount certified by the exclusive representative shall not include any fees for contributions related to the election or support of any candidate for political office. Nothing in this subsection (g) shall preclude an employee from making voluntary political contributions in conjunction with his or her fair share payment.

(g-1) "Fire fighter" means, for the purposes of this Act only, any person who has been or is hereafter appointed to a fire department or fire protection district or employed by a state university and sworn or commissioned to perform fire fighter duties or paramedic duties, except that the following persons are not included: part-time fire fighters, auxiliary, reserve or voluntary fire fighters, including paid on-call fire fighters, clerks and dispatchers or other civilian employees of a fire department or fire protection district who are not routinely expected to perform fire fighter duties, or elected officials.

(g-2) "General Assembly of the State of Illinois" means the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois, as provided for under Article IV of the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and includes but is not limited to the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Joint Committee on Legislative Support Services and any legislative support services agency listed in the Legislative Commission Reorganization Act of 1984.

(h) "Governing body" means, in the case of the State, the State Panel of the Illinois Labor Relations Board, the Director of the Department of Central Management Services, and the Director of the Department of Labor; the county board in the case of a county; the corporate authorities in the case of a municipality; and the appropriate body authorized to provide for expenditures of its funds in the case of any other unit of government.

(i) "Labor organization" means any organization in which public employees participate and that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with a public employer concerning wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, including the settlement of grievances.

(i-5) "Legislative liaison" means a person who is an employee of a State agency, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, or the Treasurer, as the case may be, and whose job duties require the person to regularly communicate in the course of his or her employment with any official or staff of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois for the purpose of influencing any legislative action.

(j) "Managerial employee" means an individual who is engaged predominantly in executive and management functions and is charged with the responsibility of directing the effectuation of management policies and practices. With respect only to State employees in positions under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, or Treasurer (i) that were certified in a bargaining unit on or after December 2, 2008, (ii) for which a petition is filed with the Illinois Public Labor Relations Board on or after April 5, 2013 (the effective date of Public Act 97-1172), or (iii) for which a petition is pending before the Illinois Public Labor Relations Board on that date, "managerial employee" means an individual who is engaged in executive and management functions or who is charged with the effectuation of management policies and practices or who represents management interests by taking or recommending discretionary actions that effectively control or implement policy. Nothing in this definition prohibits an individual from also meeting the definition of "supervisor" under subsection (r) of this Section.

(k) "Peace officer" means, for the purposes of this Act only, any persons who have been or are hereafter appointed to a police force, department, or agency and sworn or commissioned to perform police duties, except that the following persons are not included: part-time police officers, special police officers, auxiliary police as defined by Section 3.1-30-20 of the Illinois Municipal Code, night watchmen, "merchant police", court security officers as defined by Section 3-6012.1 of the Counties Code, temporary employees, traffic guards or wardens, civilian parking meter and parking facilities personnel or other individuals specially appointed to aid or direct traffic at or near schools or public functions or to aid in civil defense or disaster, parking enforcement employees who are not commissioned as peace officers and who are not armed and who are not routinely expected to effect arrests, parking lot attendants, clerks and dispatchers or other civilian employees of a police department who are not routinely expected to effect arrests, or elected officials.

(l) "Person" includes one or more individuals, labor organizations, public employees, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, or the State of Illinois or any political subdivision of the State or governing body, but does not include the General Assembly of the State of Illinois or any individual employed by the General Assembly of the State of Illinois.

(m) "Professional employee" means any employee engaged in work predominantly intellectual and varied in character rather than routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work; involving the consistent exercise of discretion and adjustment in its performance; of such a character that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time; and requiring advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study in an institution of higher learning or a hospital, as distinguished from a general academic education or from apprenticeship or from training in the performance of routine mental, manual, or physical processes; or any employee who has completed the courses of specialized intellectual instruction and study prescribed in this subsection (m) and is performing related work under the supervision of a professional person to qualify to become a professional employee as defined in this subsection (m).

(n) "Public employee" or "employee", for the purposes of this Act, means any individual employed by a public employer, including (i) interns and residents at public hospitals, (ii) as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, but not before, personal assistants working under the Home Services Program under Section 3 of the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act, subject to the limitations set forth in this Act and in the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act, (iii) as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly, but not before, child and day care home providers participating in the child care assistance program under Section 9A-11 of the Illinois Public Aid Code, subject to the limitations set forth in this Act and in Section 9A-11 of the Illinois Public Aid Code, (iv) as of January 29, 2013 (the effective date of Public Act 97-1158), but not before except as otherwise provided in this subsection (n), home care and home health workers who function as personal assistants and individual maintenance home health workers and who also work under the Home Services Program under Section 3 of the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act, no matter whether the State provides those services through direct fee-for-service arrangements, with the assistance of a managed care organization or other intermediary, or otherwise, (v) beginning on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly and notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, any person employed by a public employer and who is classified as or who holds the employment title of Chief Stationary Engineer, Assistant Chief Stationary Engineer, Sewage Plant Operator, Water Plant Operator, Stationary Engineer, Plant Operating Engineer, and any other employee who holds the position of: Civil Engineer V, Civil Engineer VI, Civil Engineer VII, Technical Manager I, Technical Manager II, Technical Manager III, Technical Manager IV, Technical Manager V, Technical Manager VI, Realty Specialist III, Realty Specialist IV, Realty Specialist V, Technical Advisor I, Technical Advisor II, Technical Advisor III, Technical Advisor IV, or Technical Advisor V employed by the Department of Transportation who is in a position which is certified in a bargaining unit on or before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly, and (vi) beginning on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly and notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, any mental health administrator in the Department of Corrections who is classified as or who holds the position of Public Service Administrator (Option 8K), any employee of the Office of the Inspector General in the Department of Human Services who is classified as or who holds the position of Public Service Administrator (Option 7), any Deputy of Intelligence in the Department of Corrections who is classified as or who holds the position of Public Service Administrator (Option 7), and any employee of the Department of State Police who handles issues concerning the Illinois State Police Sex Offender Registry and who is classified as or holds the position of Public Service Administrator (Option 7), but excluding all of the following: employees of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois; elected officials; executive heads of a department; members of boards or commissions; the Executive Inspectors General; any special Executive Inspectors General; employees of each Office of an Executive Inspector General; commissioners and employees of the Executive Ethics Commission; the Auditor General's Inspector General; employees of the Office of the Auditor General's Inspector General; the Legislative Inspector General; any special Legislative Inspectors General; employees of the Office of the Legislative Inspector General; commissioners and employees of the Legislative Ethics Commission; employees of any agency, board or commission created by this Act; employees appointed to State positions of a temporary or emergency nature; all employees of school districts and higher education institutions except firefighters and peace officers employed by a state university and except peace officers employed by a school district in its own police department in existence on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly; managerial employees; short-term employees; legislative liaisons; a person who is a State employee under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Attorney General who is licensed to practice law or whose position authorizes, either directly or indirectly, meaningful input into government decision-making on issues where there is room for principled disagreement on goals or their implementation; a person who is a State employee under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Comptroller who holds the position of Public Service Administrator or whose position is otherwise exempt under the Comptroller Merit Employment Code; a person who is a State employee under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State who holds the position classification of Executive I or higher, whose position authorizes, either directly or indirectly, meaningful input into government decision-making on issues where there is room for principled disagreement on goals or their implementation, or who is otherwise exempt under the Secretary of State Merit Employment Code; employees in the Office of the Secretary of State who are completely exempt from jurisdiction B of the Secretary of State Merit Employment Code and who are in Rutan-exempt positions on or after April 5, 2013 (the effective date of Public Act 97-1172); a person who is a State employee under the jurisdiction of the Treasurer who holds a position that is exempt from the State Treasurer Employment Code; any employee of a State agency who (i) holds the title or position of, or exercises substantially similar duties as a legislative liaison, Agency General Counsel, Agency Chief of Staff, Agency Executive Director, Agency Deputy Director, Agency Chief Fiscal Officer, Agency Human Resources Director, Public Information Officer, or Chief Information Officer and (ii) was neither included in a bargaining unit nor subject to an active petition for certification in a bargaining unit; any employee of a State agency who (i) is in a position that is Rutan-exempt, as designated by the employer, and completely exempt from jurisdiction B of the Personnel Code and (ii) was neither included in a bargaining unit nor subject to an active petition for certification in a bargaining unit; any term appointed employee of a State agency pursuant to Section 8b.18 or 8b.19 of the Personnel Code who was neither included in a bargaining unit nor subject to an active petition for certification in a bargaining unit; any employment position properly designated pursuant to Section 6.1 of this Act; confidential employees; independent contractors; and supervisors except as provided in this Act.

Home care and home health workers who function as personal assistants and individual maintenance home health workers and who also work under the Home Services Program under Section 3 of the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act shall not be considered public employees for any purposes not specifically provided for in Public Act 93-204 or Public Act 97-1158, including but not limited to, purposes of vicarious liability in tort and purposes of statutory retirement or health insurance benefits. Home care and home health workers who function as personal assistants and individual maintenance home health workers and who also work under the Home Services Program under Section 3 of the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act shall not be covered by the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971 (5 ILCS 375/).

Child and day care home providers shall not be considered public employees for any purposes not specifically provided for in this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly, including but not limited to, purposes of vicarious liability in tort and purposes of statutory retirement or health insurance benefits. Child and day care home providers shall not be covered by the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971.

Notwithstanding Section 9, subsection (c), or any other provisions of this Act, all peace officers above the rank of captain in municipalities with more than 1,000,000 inhabitants shall be excluded from this Act.

(o) Except as otherwise in subsection (o-5), "public employer" or "employer" means the State of Illinois; any political subdivision of the State, unit of local government or school district; authorities including departments, divisions, bureaus, boards, commissions, or other agencies of the foregoing entities; and any person acting within the scope of his or her authority, express or implied, on behalf of those entities in dealing with its employees. As of the effective date of the amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, but not before, the State of Illinois shall be considered the employer of the personal assistants working under the Home Services Program under Section 3 of the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act, subject to the limitations set forth in this Act and in the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act. As of January 29, 2013 (the effective date of Public Act 97-1158), but not before except as otherwise provided in this subsection (o), the State shall be considered the employer of home care and home health workers who function as personal assistants and individual maintenance home health workers and who also work under the Home Services Program under Section 3 of the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act, no matter whether the State provides those services through direct fee-for-service arrangements, with the assistance of a managed care organization or other intermediary, or otherwise, but subject to the limitations set forth in this Act and the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act. The State shall not be considered to be the employer of home care and home health workers who function as personal assistants and individual maintenance home health workers and who also work under the Home Services Program under Section 3 of the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act, for any purposes not specifically provided for in Public Act 93-204 or Public Act 97-1158, including but not limited to, purposes of vicarious liability in tort and purposes of statutory retirement or health insurance benefits. Home care and home health workers who function as personal assistants and individual maintenance home health workers and who also work under the Home Services Program under Section 3 of the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities Act shall not be covered by the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971 (5 ILCS 375/). As of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly but not before, the State of Illinois shall be considered the employer of the day and child care home providers participating in the child care assistance program under Section 9A-11 of the Illinois Public Aid Code, subject to the limitations set forth in this Act and in Section 9A-11 of the Illinois Public Aid Code. The State shall not be considered to be the employer of child and day care home providers for any purposes not specifically provided for in this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly, including but not limited to, purposes of vicarious liability in tort and purposes of statutory retirement or health insurance benefits. Child and day care home providers shall not be covered by the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971.

"Public employer" or "employer" as used in this Act, however, does not mean and shall not include the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, the Executive Ethics Commission, the Offices of the Executive Inspectors General, the Legislative Ethics Commission, the Office of the Legislative Inspector General, the Office of the Auditor General's Inspector General, the Office of the Governor, the Governor's Office of Management and Budget, the Illinois Finance Authority, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, the State Board of Elections, and educational employers or employers as defined in the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, except with respect to a state university in its employment of firefighters and peace officers and except with respect to a school district in the employment of peace officers in its own police department in existence on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly. County boards and county sheriffs shall be designated as joint or co-employers of county peace officers appointed under the authority of a county sheriff. Nothing in this subsection (o) shall be construed to prevent the State Panel or the Local Panel from determining that employers are joint or co-employers.

(o-5) With respect to wages, fringe benefits, hours, holidays, vacations, proficiency examinations, sick leave, and other conditions of employment, the public employer of public employees who are court reporters, as defined in the Court Reporters Act, shall be determined as follows:

(1) For court reporters employed by the Cook County Judicial Circuit, the chief judge of the Cook County Circuit Court is the public employer and employer representative.

(2) For court reporters employed by the 12th, 18th, 19th, and, on and after December 4, 2006, the 22nd judicial circuits, a group consisting of the chief judges of those circuits, acting jointly by majority vote, is the public employer and employer representative.

(3) For court reporters employed by all other judicial circuits, a group consisting of the chief judges of those circuits, acting jointly by majority vote, is the public employer and employer representative.

(p) "Security employee" means an employee who is responsible for the supervision and control of inmates at correctional facilities. The term also includes other non-security employees in bargaining units having the majority of employees being responsible for the supervision and control of inmates at correctional facilities.

(q) "Short-term employee" means an employee who is employed for less than 2 consecutive calendar quarters during a calendar year and who does not have a reasonable assurance that he or she will be rehired by the same employer for the same service in a subsequent calendar year.

(q-5) "State agency" means an agency directly responsible to the Governor, as defined in Section 3.1 of the Executive Reorganization Implementation Act, and the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, the Civil Service Commission, the Pollution Control Board, the Illinois Racing Board, and the Department of State Police Merit Board.

(r) "Supervisor" is:

(1) An employee whose principal work is substantially different from that of his or her subordinates and who has authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, direct, reward, or discipline employees, to adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend any of those actions, if the exercise of that authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the consistent use of independent judgment. Except with respect to police employment, the term "supervisor" includes only those individuals who devote a preponderance of their employment time to exercising that authority, State supervisors notwithstanding. Nothing in this definition prohibits an individual from also meeting the definition of "managerial employee" under subsection (j) of this Section. In addition, in determining supervisory status in police employment, rank shall not be determinative. The Board shall consider, as evidence of bargaining unit inclusion or exclusion, the common law enforcement policies and relationships between police officer ranks and certification under applicable civil service law, ordinances, personnel codes, or Division 2.1 of Article 10 of the Illinois Municipal Code, but these factors shall not be the sole or predominant factors considered by the Board in determining police supervisory status.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, in determining supervisory status in fire fighter employment, no fire fighter shall be excluded as a supervisor who has established representation rights under Section 9 of this Act. Further, in new fire fighter units, employees shall consist of fire fighters of the rank of company officer and below. If a company officer otherwise qualifies as a supervisor under the preceding paragraph, however, he or she shall not be included in the fire fighter unit. If there is no rank between that of chief and the highest company officer, the employer may designate a position on each shift as a Shift Commander, and the persons occupying those positions shall be supervisors. All other ranks above that of company officer shall be supervisors.

(2) With respect only to State employees in positions under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, or Treasurer (i) that were certified in a bargaining unit on or after December 2, 2008, (ii) for which a petition is filed with the Illinois Public Labor Relations Board on or after April 5, 2013 (the effective date of Public Act 97-1172), or (iii) for which a petition is pending before the Illinois Public Labor Relations Board on that date, an employee who qualifies as a supervisor under (A) Section 152 of the National Labor Relations Act and (B) orders of the National Labor Relations Board interpreting that provision or decisions of courts reviewing decisions of the National Labor Relations Board.

(s)(1) "Unit" means a class of jobs or positions that are held by employees whose collective interests may suitably be represented by a labor organization for collective bargaining. Except with respect to non-State fire fighters and paramedics employed by fire departments and fire protection districts, non-State peace officers, and peace officers in the Department of State Police, a bargaining unit determined by the Board shall not include both employees and supervisors, or supervisors only, except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection (s) and except for bargaining units in existence on July 1, 1984 (the effective date of this Act). With respect to non-State fire fighters and paramedics employed by fire departments and fire protection districts, non-State peace officers, and peace officers in the Department of State Police, a bargaining unit determined by the Board shall not include both supervisors and nonsupervisors, or supervisors only, except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection (s) and except for bargaining units in existence on January 1, 1986 (the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1985). A bargaining unit determined by the Board to contain peace officers shall contain no employees other than peace officers unless otherwise agreed to by the employer and the labor organization or labor organizations involved. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, a bargaining unit, including a historical bargaining unit, containing sworn peace officers of the Department of Natural Resources (formerly designated the Department of Conservation) shall contain no employees other than such sworn peace officers upon the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1990 or upon the expiration date of any collective bargaining agreement in effect upon the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1990 covering both such sworn peace officers and other employees.

(2) Notwithstanding the exclusion of supervisors from bargaining units as provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection (s), a public employer may agree to permit its supervisory employees to form bargaining units and may bargain with those units. This Act shall apply if the public employer chooses to bargain under this subsection.

(3) Public employees who are court reporters, as defined in the Court Reporters Act, shall be divided into 3 units for collective bargaining purposes. One unit shall be court reporters employed by the Cook County Judicial Circuit; one unit shall be court reporters employed by the 12th, 18th, 19th, and, on and after December 4, 2006, the 22nd judicial circuits; and one unit shall be court reporters employed by all other judicial circuits.

(s-5) "Wages" means only total base wages and excludes any other compensation, which includes, but is not limited to, overtime, premium pay, merit pay, performance pay, supplemental compensation, pay schedules, and automatic pay progressions.

(t) "Active petition for certification in a bargaining unit" means a petition for certification filed with the Board under one of the following case numbers: S-RC-11-110; S-RC-11-098; S-UC-11-080; S-RC-11-086; S-RC-11-074; S-RC-11-076; S-RC-11-078; S-UC-11-052; S-UC-11-054; S-RC-11-062; S-RC-11-060; S-RC-11-042; S-RC-11-014; S-RC-11-016; S-RC-11-020; S-RC-11-030; S-RC-11-004; S-RC-10-244; S-RC-10-228; S-RC-10-222; S-RC-10-220; S-RC-10-214; S-RC-10-196; S-RC-10-194; S-RC-10-178; S-RC-10-176; S-RC-10-162; S-RC-10-156; S-RC-10-088; S-RC-10-074; S-RC-10-076; S-RC-10-078; S-RC-10-060; S-RC-10-070; S-RC-10-044; S-RC-10-038; S-RC-10-040; S-RC-10-042; S-RC-10-018; S-RC-10-024; S-RC-10-004; S-RC-10-006; S-RC-10-008; S-RC-10-010; S-RC-10-012; S-RC-09-202; S-RC-09-182; S-RC-09-180; S-RC-09-156; S-UC-09-196; S-UC-09-182; S-RC-08-130; S-RC-07-110; or S-RC-07-100.

(Source: P.A. 98-100, eff. 7-19-13; 98-1004, eff. 8-18-14; 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)

(5 ILCS 315/4) (from Ch. 48, par. 1604)

(Text of Section WITH the changes made by P.A. 98-599, which has been held unconstitutional)

Sec. 4. Management Rights. Employers shall not be required to bargain over matters of inherent managerial policy, which shall include such areas of discretion or policy as the functions of the employer, standards of services, its overall budget, the organizational structure and selection of new employees, examination techniques and direction of employees. Employers, however, shall be required to bargain collectively with regard to policy matters directly affecting wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment as well as the impact thereon upon request by employee representatives, except as provided in Section 7.5.

To preserve the rights of employers and exclusive representatives which have established collective bargaining relationships or negotiated collective bargaining agreements prior to the effective date of this Act, employers shall be required to bargain collectively with regard to any matter concerning wages, hours or conditions of employment about which they have bargained for and agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement prior to the effective date of this Act, except as provided in Section 7.5.

The chief judge of the judicial circuit that employs a public employee who is a court reporter, as defined in the Court Reporters Act, has the authority to hire, appoint, promote, evaluate, discipline, and discharge court reporters within that judicial circuit.

Nothing in this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly shall be construed to intrude upon the judicial functions of any court. This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly applies only to nonjudicial administrative matters relating to the collective bargaining rights of court reporters.

(Source: P.A. 98-599, eff. 6-1-14.)

(Text of Section WITHOUT the changes made by P.A. 98-599, which has been held unconstitutional)

Sec. 4. Management Rights. Employers shall not be required to bargain over matters of inherent managerial policy, which shall include such areas of discretion or policy as the functions of the employer, standards of services, its overall budget, the organizational structure and selection of new employees, examination techniques and direction of employees. Employers, however, shall be required to bargain collectively with regard to policy matters directly affecting wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment as well as the impact thereon upon request by employee representatives. With respect to bargaining units with at least 30% of members who are security employees of a public employer, peace officer units, or units of fire fighters or paramedics, employers shall be required to bargain collectively with regard to policy matters directly affecting wages, hours, and terms of conditions of employment, as well as the impact thereon.

To preserve the rights of employers and exclusive representatives which have established collective bargaining relationships or negotiated collective bargaining agreements prior to the effective date of this Act, employers shall be required to bargain collectively with regard to any matter concerning wages, hours or conditions of employment about which they have bargained for and agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement prior to the effective date of this Act.

The chief judge of the judicial circuit that employs a public employee who is a court reporter, as defined in the Court Reporters Act, has the authority to hire, appoint, promote, evaluate, discipline, and discharge court reporters within that judicial circuit.

Nothing in this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly shall be construed to intrude upon the judicial functions of any court. This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly applies only to nonjudicial administrative matters relating to the collective bargaining rights of court reporters.

(Source: P.A. 94-98, eff. 7-1-05.)

(5 ILCS 315/6) (from Ch. 48, par. 1606)

Sec. 6. Right to organize and bargain collectively; exclusive representation; and fair share arrangements.

(a) Employees of the State and any political subdivision of the State, excluding employees of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois and employees excluded from the definition of "public employee" under subsection (n) of Section 3 of this Act, have, and are protected in the exercise of, the right of self-organization, and may form, join or assist any labor organization, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing on questions of wages, hours and other conditions of employment, not excluded by Section 4 of this Act, and to engage in other concerted activities not otherwise prohibited by law for the purposes of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, free from interference, restraint or coercion. Employees also have, and are protected in the exercise of, the right to refrain from participating in any such concerted activities. Employees may be required, pursuant to the terms of a lawful fair share agreement, to pay a fee which shall be their proportionate share of the costs of the collective bargaining process, contract administration and pursuing matters affecting wages, hours and other conditions of employment as defined in Section 3(g). Nothing in this subsection (a) shall prevent a bargaining unit with at least 30% of members who are security employees of a public employer, peace officer units, or units of fire fighters or paramedics from collectively bargaining on questions of wages, hours, and other conditions of employment not excluded by Section 4 of this Act.

(b) Nothing in this Act prevents an employee from presenting a grievance to the employer and having the grievance heard and settled without the intervention of an employee organization; provided that the exclusive bargaining representative is afforded the opportunity to be present at such conference and that any settlement made shall not be inconsistent with the terms of any agreement in effect between the employer and the exclusive bargaining representative.

(c) A labor organization designated by the Board as the representative of the majority of public employees in an appropriate unit in accordance with the procedures herein or recognized by a public employer as the representative of the majority of public employees in an appropriate unit is the exclusive representative for the employees of such unit for the purpose of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours and other conditions of employment not excluded by Section 4 of this Act. A public employer is required upon request to furnish the exclusive bargaining representative with a complete list of the names and addresses of the public employees in the bargaining unit, provided that a public employer shall not be required to furnish such a list more than once per payroll period. The exclusive bargaining representative shall use the list exclusively for bargaining representation purposes and shall not disclose any information contained in the list for any other purpose. Nothing in this Section, however, shall prohibit a bargaining representative from disseminating a list of its union members.

(d) Labor organizations recognized by a public employer as the exclusive representative or so designated in accordance with the provisions of this Act are responsible for representing the interests of all public employees in the unit. Nothing herein shall be construed to limit an exclusive representative's right to exercise its discretion to refuse to process grievances of employees that are unmeritorious.

(e) When a collective bargaining agreement is entered into with an exclusive representative, it may include in the agreement a provision requiring employees covered by the agreement who are not members of the organization to pay their proportionate share of the costs of the collective bargaining process, contract administration and pursuing matters affecting wages, hours and conditions of employment, as defined in Section 3 (g), but not to exceed the amount of dues uniformly required of members. The organization shall certify to the employer the amount constituting each nonmember employee's proportionate share which shall not exceed dues uniformly required of members. In such case, the proportionate share payment in this Section shall be deducted by the employer from the earnings of the nonmember employees and paid to the employee organization.

(f) Only the exclusive representative may negotiate provisions in a collective bargaining agreement providing for the payroll deduction of labor organization dues, fair share payment, initiation fees and assessments. Except as provided in subsection (e) of this Section, any such deductions shall only be made upon an employee's written authorization, and continued until revoked in writing in the same manner or until the termination date of an applicable collective bargaining agreement. Such payments shall be paid to the exclusive representative.

Where a collective bargaining agreement is terminated, or continues in effect beyond its scheduled expiration date pending the negotiation of a successor agreement or the resolution of an impasse under Section 14, the employer shall continue to honor and abide by any dues deduction or fair share clause contained therein until a new agreement is reached including dues deduction or a fair share clause. For the benefit of any successor exclusive representative certified under this Act, this provision shall be applicable, provided the successor exclusive representative:

(i) certifies to the employer the amount constituting each non-member's proportionate share under subsection (e); or

(ii) presents the employer with employee written authorizations for the deduction of dues, assessments, and fees under this subsection.

Failure to so honor and abide by dues deduction or fair share clauses for the benefit of any exclusive representative, including a successor, shall be a violation of the duty to bargain and an unfair labor practice.

(g) Agreements containing a fair share agreement must safeguard the right of nonassociation of employees based upon bona fide religious tenets or teachings of a church or religious body of which such employees are members. Such employees may be required to pay an amount equal to their fair share, determined under a lawful fair share agreement, to a nonreligious charitable organization mutually agreed upon by the employees affected and the exclusive bargaining representative to which such employees would otherwise pay such service fee. If the affected employees and the bargaining representative are unable to reach an agreement on the matter, the Board may establish an approved list of charitable organizations to which such payments may be made.

(Source: P.A. 97-1172, eff. 4-5-13.)

(5 ILCS 315/7) (from Ch. 48, par. 1607)

Sec. 7. Duty to bargain. A public employer and the exclusive representative have the authority and the duty to bargain collectively set forth in this Section.

For the purposes of this Act, "to bargain collectively" means the performance of the mutual obligation of the public employer or his designated representative and the representative of the public employees to meet at reasonable times, including meetings in advance of the budget-making process, and to negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment, not excluded by Section 4 of this Act, or the negotiation of an agreement, or any question arising thereunder and the execution of a written contract incorporating any agreement reached if requested by either party, but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession.

The duty "to bargain collectively" shall also include an obligation to negotiate over any matter with respect to wages, hours and other conditions of employment, not specifically provided for in any other law or not specifically in violation of the provisions of any law. If any other law pertains, in part, to a matter affecting the wages, hours and other conditions of employment, such other law shall not be construed as limiting the duty "to bargain collectively" and to enter into collective bargaining agreements containing clauses which either supplement, implement, or relate to the effect of such provisions in other laws.

The duty "to bargain collectively" shall also include negotiations as to the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. The parties may, by mutual agreement, provide for arbitration of impasses resulting from their inability to agree upon wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment to be included in a collective bargaining agreement. Such arbitration provisions shall be subject to the Illinois "Uniform Arbitration Act" unless agreed by the parties.

The duty "to bargain collectively" shall also mean that no party to a collective bargaining contract shall terminate or modify such contract, unless the party desiring such termination or modification:

(1) serves a written notice upon the other party to the contract of the proposed termination or modification 60 days prior to the expiration date thereof, or in the event such contract contains no expiration date, 60 days prior to the time it is proposed to make such termination or modification;

(2) offers to meet and confer with the other party for the purpose of negotiating a new contract or a contract containing the proposed modifications;

(3) notifies the Board within 30 days after such notice of the existence of a dispute, provided no agreement has been reached by that time; and

(4) continues in full force and effect, without resorting to strike or lockout, all the terms and conditions of the existing contract for a period of 60 days after such notice is given to the other party or until the expiration date of such contract, whichever occurs later.

The duties imposed upon employers, employees and labor organizations by paragraphs (2), (3) and (4) shall become inapplicable upon an intervening certification of the Board, under which the labor organization, which is a party to the contract, has been superseded as or ceased to be the exclusive representative of the employees pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of Section 9, and the duties so imposed shall not be construed as requiring either party to discuss or agree to any modification of the terms and conditions contained in a contract for a fixed period, if such modification is to become effective before such terms and conditions can be reopened under the provisions of the contract.

Collective bargaining for home care and home health workers who function as personal assistants and individual maintenance home health workers under the Home Services Program shall be limited to the terms and conditions of employment under the State's control, as defined in Public Act 93-204 or this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly, as applicable.

Collective bargaining for child and day care home providers under the child care assistance program shall be limited to the terms and conditions of employment under the State's control, as defined in this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, whenever collective bargaining is for the purpose of establishing an initial agreement following original certification of units with fewer than 35 employees, with respect to public employees other than peace officers, fire fighters, and security employees, the following apply:

(1) Not later than 10 days after receiving a written request for collective bargaining from a labor organization that has been newly certified as a representative as defined in Section 6(c), or within such further period as the parties agree upon, the parties shall meet and commence to bargain collectively and shall make every reasonable effort to conclude and sign a collective bargaining agreement.

(2) If anytime after the expiration of the 90-day period beginning on the date on which bargaining is commenced the parties have failed to reach an agreement, either party may notify the Illinois Public Labor Relations Board of the existence of a dispute and request mediation in accordance with the provisions of Section 14 of this Act.

(3) If after the expiration of the 30-day period beginning on the date on which mediation commenced, or such additional period as the parties may agree upon, the mediator is not able to bring the parties to agreement by conciliation, either the exclusive representative of the employees or the employer may request of the other, in writing, arbitration and shall submit a copy of the request to the board. Upon submission of the request for arbitration, the parties shall be required to participate in the impasse arbitration procedures set forth in Section 14 of this Act, except the right to strike shall not be considered waived pursuant to Section 17 of this Act, until the actual convening of the arbitration hearing.

Notwithstanding any provision of this Act to the contrary, for negotiations regarding a bargaining unit with at least 30% of members who are security employees of a public employer, peace officer units, or units of fire fighters or paramedics, the duty "to bargain collectively" shall include an obligation to negotiate in good faith over any matter with respect to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment, not excluded by Section 4 of this Act, including, but not limited to, policy matters and terms of agreement directly affecting wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment as well as the impact thereon.

(Source: P.A. 97-1158, eff. 1-29-13; 98-1004, eff. 8-18-14.)

(5 ILCS 315/9) (from Ch. 48, par. 1609)

Sec. 9. Elections; recognition.

(a) Whenever in accordance with such regulations as may be prescribed by the Board a petition has been filed:

(1) by a public employee or group of public employees or any labor organization acting in their behalf demonstrating that 30% of the public employees in an appropriate unit (A) wish to be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by a labor organization as exclusive representative, or (B) asserting that the labor organization which has been certified or is currently recognized by the public employer as bargaining representative is no longer the representative of the majority of public employees in the unit; or

(2) by a public employer alleging that one or more labor organizations have presented to it a claim that they be recognized as the representative of a majority of the public employees in an appropriate unit,

the Board shall investigate such petition, and if it has reasonable cause to believe that a question of representation exists, shall provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. Such hearing shall be held at the offices of the Board or such other location as the Board deems appropriate. If it finds upon the record of the hearing that a question of representation exists, it shall direct an election in accordance with subsection (d) of this Section, which election shall be held not later than 120 days after the date the petition was filed regardless of whether that petition was filed before or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987; provided, however, the Board may extend the time for holding an election by an additional 60 days if, upon motion by a person who has filed a petition under this Section or is the subject of a petition filed under this Section and is a party to such hearing, or upon the Board's own motion, the Board finds that good cause has been shown for extending the election date; provided further, that nothing in this Section shall prohibit the Board, in its discretion, from extending the time for holding an election for so long as may be necessary under the circumstances, where the purpose for such extension is to permit resolution by the Board of an unfair labor practice charge filed by one of the parties to a representational proceeding against the other based upon conduct which may either affect the existence of a question concerning representation or have a tendency to interfere with a fair and free election, where the party filing the charge has not filed a request to proceed with the election; and provided further that prior to the expiration of the total time allotted for holding an election, a person who has filed a petition under this Section or is the subject of a petition filed under this Section and is a party to such hearing or the Board, may move for and obtain the entry of an order in the circuit court of the county in which the majority of the public employees sought to be represented by such person reside, such order extending the date upon which the election shall be held. Such order shall be issued by the circuit court only upon a judicial finding that there has been a sufficient showing that there is good cause to extend the election date beyond such period and shall require the Board to hold the election as soon as is feasible given the totality of the circumstances. Such 120 day period may be extended one or more times by the agreement of all parties to the hearing to a date certain without the necessity of obtaining a court order. Nothing in this Section prohibits the waiving of hearings by stipulation for the purpose of a consent election in conformity with the rules and regulations of the Board or an election in a unit agreed upon by the parties. Other interested employee organizations may intervene in the proceedings in the manner and within the time period specified by rules and regulations of the Board. Interested parties who are necessary to the proceedings may also intervene in the proceedings in the manner and within the time period specified by the rules and regulations of the Board.

(a-5) The Board shall designate an exclusive representative for purposes of collective bargaining when the representative demonstrates a showing of majority interest by employees in the unit. If the parties to a dispute are without agreement on the means to ascertain the choice, if any, of employee organization as their representative, the Board shall ascertain the employees' choice of employee organization, on the basis of dues deduction authorization or other evidence, or, if necessary, by conducting an election. All evidence submitted by an employee organization to the Board to ascertain an employee's choice of an employee organization is confidential and shall not be submitted to the employer for review. The Board shall ascertain the employee's choice of employee organization within 120 days after the filing of the majority interest petition; however, the Board may extend time by an additional 60 days, upon its own motion or upon the motion of a party to the proceeding. If either party provides to the Board, before the designation of a representative, clear and convincing evidence that the dues deduction authorizations, and other evidence upon which the Board would otherwise rely to ascertain the employees' choice of representative, are fraudulent or were obtained through coercion, the Board shall promptly thereafter conduct an election. The Board shall also investigate and consider a party's allegations that the dues deduction authorizations and other evidence submitted in support of a designation of representative without an election were subsequently changed, altered, withdrawn, or withheld as a result of employer fraud, coercion, or any other unfair labor practice by the employer. If the Board determines that a labor organization would have had a majority interest but for an employer's fraud, coercion, or unfair labor practice, it shall designate the labor organization as an exclusive representative without conducting an election. If a hearing is necessary to resolve any issues of representation under this Section, the Board shall conclude its hearing process and issue a certification of the entire appropriate unit not later than 120 days after the date the petition was filed. The 120-day period may be extended one or more times by the agreement of all parties to a hearing to a date certain.

(a-6) A labor organization or an employer may file a unit clarification petition seeking to clarify an existing bargaining unit. The Board shall conclude its investigation, including any hearing process deemed necessary, and issue a certification of clarified unit or dismiss the petition not later than 120 days after the date the petition was filed. The 120-day period may be extended one or more times by the agreement of all parties to a hearing to a date certain.

(b) The Board shall decide in each case, in order to assure public employees the fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed by this Act, a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining, based upon but not limited to such factors as: historical pattern of recognition; community of interest including employee skills and functions; degree of functional integration; interchangeability and contact among employees; fragmentation of employee groups; common supervision, wages, hours and other working conditions of the employees involved; and the desires of the employees. For purposes of this subsection, fragmentation shall not be the sole or predominant factor used by the Board in determining an appropriate bargaining unit. Except with respect to non-State fire fighters and paramedics employed by fire departments and fire protection districts, non-State peace officers and peace officers in the State Department of State Police, a single bargaining unit determined by the Board may not include both supervisors and nonsupervisors, except for bargaining units in existence on the effective date of this Act. With respect to non-State fire fighters and paramedics employed by fire departments and fire protection districts, non-State peace officers and peace officers in the State Department of State Police, a single bargaining unit determined by the Board may not include both supervisors and nonsupervisors, except for bargaining units in existence on the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1985.

In cases involving an historical pattern of recognition, and in cases where the employer has recognized the union as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent for a specified existing unit, the Board shall find the employees in the unit then represented by the union pursuant to the recognition to be the appropriate unit.

Notwithstanding the above factors, where the majority of public employees of a craft so decide, the Board shall designate such craft as a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.

The Board shall not decide that any unit is appropriate if such unit includes both professional and nonprofessional employees, unless a majority of each group votes for inclusion in such unit.

(c) Nothing in this Act shall interfere with or negate the current representation rights or patterns and practices of labor organizations which have historically represented public employees for the purpose of collective bargaining, including but not limited to the negotiations of wages, hours and working conditions, discussions of employees' grievances, resolution of jurisdictional disputes, or the establishment and maintenance of prevailing wage rates, unless a majority of employees so represented express a contrary desire pursuant to the procedures set forth in this Act.

(d) In instances where the employer does not voluntarily recognize a labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative for a unit of employees, the Board shall determine the majority representative of the public employees in an appropriate collective bargaining unit by conducting a secret ballot election, except as otherwise provided in subsection (a-5). Within 7 days after the Board issues its bargaining unit determination and direction of election or the execution of a stipulation for the purpose of a consent election, the public employer shall submit to the labor organization the complete names and addresses of those employees who are determined by the Board to be eligible to participate in the election. When the Board has determined that a labor organization has been fairly and freely chosen by a majority of employees in an appropriate unit, it shall certify such organization as the exclusive representative. If the Board determines that a majority of employees in an appropriate unit has fairly and freely chosen not to be represented by a labor organization, it shall so certify. The Board may also revoke the certification of the public employee organizations as exclusive bargaining representatives which have been found by a secret ballot election to be no longer the majority representative.

(e) The Board shall not conduct an election in any bargaining unit or any subdivision thereof within which a valid election has been held in the preceding 12-month period. The Board shall determine who is eligible to vote in an election and shall establish rules governing the conduct of the election or conduct affecting the results of the election. The Board shall include on a ballot in a representation election a choice of "no representation". A labor organization currently representing the bargaining unit of employees shall be placed on the ballot in any representation election. In any election where none of the choices on the ballot receives a majority, a runoff election shall be conducted between the 2 choices receiving the largest number of valid votes cast in the election. A labor organization which receives a majority of the votes cast in an election shall be certified by the Board as exclusive representative of all public employees in the unit.

(f) A labor organization shall be designated as the exclusive representative by a public employer, provided that the labor organization represents a majority of the public employees in an appropriate unit. Any employee organization which is designated or selected by the majority of public employees, in a unit of the public employer having no other recognized or certified representative, as their representative for purposes of collective bargaining may request recognition by the public employer in writing. The public employer shall post such request for a period of at least 20 days following its receipt thereof on bulletin boards or other places used or reserved for employee notices.

(g) Within the 20-day period any other interested employee organization may petition the Board in the manner specified by rules and regulations of the Board, provided that such interested employee organization has been designated by at least 10% of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit which includes all or some of the employees in the unit recognized by the employer. In such event, the Board shall proceed with the petition in the same manner as provided by paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Section.

(h) No election shall be directed by the Board in any bargaining unit where there is in force a valid collective bargaining agreement. The Board, however, may process an election petition filed between 90 and 60 days prior to the expiration of the date of an agreement, and may further refine, by rule or decision, the implementation of this provision. Where more than 4 years have elapsed since the effective date of the agreement, the agreement shall continue to bar an election, except that the Board may process an election petition filed between 90 and 60 days prior to the end of the fifth year of such an agreement, and between 90 and 60 days prior to the end of each successive year of such agreement.

(i) An order of the Board dismissing a representation petition, determining and certifying that a labor organization has been fairly and freely chosen by a majority of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit, determining and certifying that a labor organization has not been fairly and freely chosen by a majority of employees in the bargaining unit or certifying a labor organization as the exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit because of a determination by the Board that the labor organization is the historical bargaining representative of employees in the bargaining unit, is a final order. Any person aggrieved by any such order issued on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987 may apply for and obtain judicial review in accordance with provisions of the Administrative Review Law, as now or hereafter amended, except that such review shall be afforded directly in the Appellate Court for the district in which the aggrieved party resides or transacts business. Any direct appeal to the Appellate Court shall be filed within 35 days from the date that a copy of the decision sought to be reviewed was served upon the party affected by the decision.

(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-813, eff. 10-30-09.)

(5 ILCS 315/15) (from Ch. 48, par. 1615)

(Text of Section WITH the changes made by P.A. 98-599, which has been held unconstitutional)

Sec. 15. Act Takes Precedence.

(a) In case of any conflict between the provisions of this Act and any other law (other than Section 5 of the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971 and other than the changes made to the Illinois Pension Code by Public Act 96-889 and other than as provided in Section 7.5), executive order or administrative regulation relating to wages, hours and conditions of employment and employment relations, the provisions of this Act or any collective bargaining agreement negotiated thereunder shall prevail and control. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to replace or diminish the rights of employees established by Sections 28 and 28a of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Act, Sections 2.15 through 2.19 of the Regional Transportation Authority Act. The provisions of this Act are subject to Section 7.5 of this Act and Section 5 of the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to replace the necessity of complaints against a sworn peace officer, as defined in Section 2(a) of the Uniform Peace Officer Disciplinary Act, from having a complaint supported by a sworn affidavit.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (a) above, any collective bargaining contract between a public employer and a labor organization executed pursuant to this Act shall supersede any contrary statutes, charters, ordinances, rules or regulations relating to wages, hours and conditions of employment and employment relations adopted by the public employer or its agents. Any collective bargaining agreement entered into prior to the effective date of this Act shall remain in full force during its duration.

(c) It is the public policy of this State, pursuant to paragraphs (h) and (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution, that the provisions of this Act are the exclusive exercise by the State of powers and functions which might otherwise be exercised by home rule units. Such powers and functions may not be exercised concurrently, either directly or indirectly, by any unit of local government, including any home rule unit, except as otherwise authorized by this Act.

(Source: P.A. 98-599, eff. 6-1-14.)

(Text of Section WITHOUT the changes made by P.A. 98-599, which has been held unconstitutional)

Sec. 15. Act Takes Precedence.

(a) In case of any conflict between the provisions of this Act and any other law (other than Section 5 of the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971 and other than the changes made to the Illinois Pension Code by this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly), executive order or administrative regulation relating to wages, hours and conditions of employment and employment relations, the provisions of this Act or any collective bargaining agreement negotiated thereunder shall prevail and control. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to replace or diminish the rights of employees established by Sections 28 and 28a of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Act, Sections 2.15 through 2.19 of the Regional Transportation Authority Act. The provisions of this Act are subject to Section 5 of the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to replace the necessity of complaints against a sworn peace officer, as defined in Section 2(a) of the Uniform Peace Officer Disciplinary Act, from having a complaint supported by a sworn affidavit.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (a) above, any collective bargaining contract between a public employer and a labor organization executed pursuant to this Act shall supersede any contrary statutes, charters, ordinances, rules or regulations relating to wages, hours and conditions of employment and employment relations adopted by the public employer or its agents. Any collective bargaining agreement entered into prior to the effective date of this Act shall remain in full force during its duration.

(c) It is the public policy of this State, pursuant to paragraphs (h) and (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution, that the provisions of this Act are the exclusive exercise by the State of powers and functions which might otherwise be exercised by home rule units. Such powers and functions may not be exercised concurrently, either directly or indirectly, by any unit of local government, including any home rule unit, except as otherwise authorized by this Act.

(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-889, eff. 1-1-11.)

(5 ILCS 315/21.5)

Sec. 21.5. Termination of certain agreements after constitutional officers take office.

(a) No collective bargaining agreement entered into, on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly between an executive branch constitutional officer or any agency or department of an executive branch constitutional officer and a labor organization may extend beyond June 30th of the year in which the terms of office of executive branch constitutional officers begin.

(b) No collective bargaining agreement entered into, on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly between an executive branch constitutional officer or any agency or department of an executive branch constitutional officer and a labor organization may provide for an increase in salary, wages, or benefits starting on or after the first day of the terms of office of executive branch constitutional officers and ending June 30th of that same year.

(c) Any collective bargaining agreement in violation of this Section is terminated and rendered null and void by operation of law.

(d) For purposes of this Section, "executive branch constitutional officer" has the same meaning as that term is defined in the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act.

(Source: P.A. 96-1529, eff. 2-16-11.)

Section 10. The School Code is amended by changing Section 34-3.5 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/34-3.5)

Sec. 34-3.5. Partnership agreement on advancing student achievement; No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

(a) The General Assembly finds that the Chicago Teachers Union, the Chicago Board of Education, and the district's chief executive officer have a common responsibility beyond their statutory collective bargaining relationship to institute purposeful education reforms in the Chicago Public Schools that maximize the number of students in the Chicago Public Schools who reach or exceed proficiency with regard to State academic standards and assessments. The General Assembly further finds that education reform in the Chicago Public Schools must be premised on a commitment by all stakeholders to redefine relationships, develop, implement, and evaluate programs, seek new and additional resources, improve the value of educational programs to students, accelerate the quality of teacher training, improve instructional excellence, and develop and implement strategies to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110).

The Chicago Board of Education and the district's chief executive officer shall enter into a partnership agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union to allow the parties to work together to advance the Chicago Public Schools to the next level of education reform. This agreement must be entered into and take effect within 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly. As part of this agreement, the Chicago Teachers Union, the Chicago Board of Education, and the district's chief executive officer shall jointly file a report with the General Assembly at the end of each school year with respect to the nature of the reforms that the parties have instituted, the effect of these reforms on student achievement, and any other matters that the parties deem relevant to evaluating the effectiveness of the agreement.

(b) Decisions concerning matters of inherent managerial policy necessary to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110), including such areas of discretion or policy as the functions of the employer, the standards and delivery of educational services and programs, the district's overall budget, the district's organizational structure, student assignment, school choice, and the selection of new employees and direction of employees, and the impact of these decisions on individual employees or the bargaining unit shall be permissive subjects of bargaining between the educational employer and the exclusive bargaining representative and are within the sole discretion of the educational employer to decide to bargain. This subsection (b) is exclusive of the parties' obligations and responsibilities under Section 4.5 of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (provided that any dispute or impasse that may arise under this subsection (b) shall be resolved exclusively as set forth in subsection (b) of Section 12 of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act in lieu of a strike under Section 13 of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act).

(Source: P.A. 93-3, eff. 4-16-03.)

Section 15. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act is amended by changing Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, and 12 as follows:

(115 ILCS 5/1) (from Ch. 48, par. 1701)

Sec. 1. Policy. It is the public policy of this State and the purpose of this Act to promote orderly and constructive relationships between all educational employees and their employers. Unresolved disputes between the educational employees and their employers are injurious to the public, and the General Assembly is therefore aware that adequate means must be established for minimizing them and providing for their resolution. It is the purpose of this Act to regulate labor relations between educational employers and educational employees, including the designation of educational employee representatives, negotiation of wages, hours and other conditions of employment and resolution of disputes arising under collective bargaining agreements. The General Assembly recognizes that substantial differences exist between educational employees and other public employees as a result of the uniqueness of the educational work calendar and educational work duties and the traditional and historical patterns of collective bargaining between educational employers and educational employees and that such differences demand statutory regulation of collective bargaining between educational employers and educational employees in a manner that recognizes these differences. Recognizing that harmonious relationships are required between educational employees and their employers, the General Assembly has determined that the overall policy may best be accomplished by (a) granting to educational employees the right to organize and choose freely their representatives; (b) requiring educational employers to negotiate and bargain with employee organizations representing educational employees and to enter into written agreements evidencing the result of such bargaining; and (c) establishing procedures to provide for the protection of the rights of the educational employee, the educational employer and the public.

(Source: P.A. 83-1014.)

(115 ILCS 5/2) (from Ch. 48, par. 1702)

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act:

(a) "Educational employer" or "employer" means the governing body of a public school district, including the governing body of a charter school established under Article 27A of the School Code or of a contract school or contract turnaround school established under paragraph 30 of Section 34-18 of the School Code, combination of public school districts, including the governing body of joint agreements of any type formed by 2 or more school districts, public community college district or State college or university, a subcontractor of instructional services of a school district (other than a school district organized under Article 34 of the School Code), combination of school districts, charter school established under Article 27A of the School Code, or contract school or contract turnaround school established under paragraph 30 of Section 34-18 of the School Code, an Independent Authority created under Section 2-3.25f-5 of the School Code, and any State agency whose major function is providing educational services. "Educational employer" or "employer" does not include (1) a Financial Oversight Panel created pursuant to Section 1A-8 of the School Code due to a district violating a financial plan or (2) an approved nonpublic special education facility that contracts with a school district or combination of school districts to provide special education services pursuant to Section 14-7.02 of the School Code, but does include a School Finance Authority created under Article 1E or 1F of the School Code and a Financial Oversight Panel created under Article 1B or 1H of the School Code. The change made by this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly to this paragraph (a) to make clear that the governing body of a charter school is an "educational employer" is declaratory of existing law.

(b) "Educational employee" or "employee" means any individual, excluding supervisors, managerial, confidential, short term employees, student, and part-time academic employees of community colleges employed full or part time by an educational employer, but shall not include elected officials and appointees of the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, firefighters as defined by subsection (g-1) of Section 3 of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, and peace officers employed by a State university. For the purposes of this Act, part-time academic employees of community colleges shall be defined as those employees who provide less than 3 credit hours of instruction per academic semester. In this subsection (b), the term "student" includes graduate students who are research assistants primarily performing duties that involve research or graduate assistants primarily performing duties that are pre-professional, but excludes graduate students who are teaching assistants primarily performing duties that involve the delivery and support of instruction and all other graduate assistants.

(c) "Employee organization" or "labor organization" means an organization of any kind in which membership includes educational employees, and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, employee-employer disputes, or wages , rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work, but shall not include any organization which practices discrimination in membership because of race, color, creed, age, gender, national origin or political affiliation.

(d) "Exclusive representative" means the labor organization which has been designated by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board as the representative of the majority of educational employees in an appropriate unit, or recognized by an educational employer prior to January 1, 1984 as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit or, after January 1, 1984, recognized by an employer upon evidence that the employee organization has been designated as the exclusive representative by a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit.

(e) "Board" means the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

(f) "Regional Superintendent" means the regional superintendent of schools provided for in Articles 3 and 3A of The School Code.

(g) "Supervisor" means any individual having authority in the interests of the employer to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, reward or discipline other employees within the appropriate bargaining unit and adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend such action if the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature but requires the use of independent judgment. The term "supervisor" includes only those individuals who devote a preponderance of their employment time to such exercising authority.

(h) "Unfair labor practice" or "unfair practice" means any practice prohibited by Section 14 of this Act.

(i) "Person" includes an individual, educational employee, educational employer, legal representative, or employee organization.

(j) "Wages" means only total base wages and excludes any other compensation, which includes but is not limited to overtime, premium pay, merit pay, performance pay, supplemental compensation, pay schedules, and automatic pay progressions. salaries or other forms of compensation for services rendered.

(k) "Professional employee" means, in the case of a public community college, State college or university, State agency whose major function is providing educational services, the Illinois School for the Deaf, and the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, (1) any employee engaged in work (i) predominantly intellectual and varied in character as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical, or physical work; (ii) involving the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment in its performance; (iii) of such character that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time; and (iv) requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study in an institution of higher learning or a hospital, as distinguished from a general academic education or from an apprenticeship or from training in the performance of routine mental, manual, or physical processes; or (2) any employee, who (i) has completed the courses of specialized intellectual instruction and study described in clause (iv) of paragraph (1) of this subsection, and (ii) is performing related work under the supervision of a professional person to qualify himself or herself to become a professional as defined in paragraph (l).

(l) "Professional employee" means, in the case of any public school district, or combination of school districts pursuant to joint agreement, any employee who has a certificate issued under Article 21 or Section 34-83 of the School Code, as now or hereafter amended.

(m) "Unit" or "bargaining unit" means any group of employees for which an exclusive representative is selected.

(n) "Confidential employee" means an employee, who (i) in the regular course of his or her duties, assists and acts in a confidential capacity to persons who formulate, determine and effectuate management policies with regard to labor relations or who (ii) in the regular course of his or her duties has access to information relating to the effectuation or review of the employer's collective bargaining policies.

(o) "Managerial employee" means an individual who is engaged predominantly in executive and management functions and is charged with the responsibility of directing the effectuation of such management policies and practices.

(p) "Craft employee" means a skilled journeyman, craft person, and his or her apprentice or helper.

(q) "Short-term employee" is an employee who is employed for less than 2 consecutive calendar quarters during a calendar year and who does not have a reasonable expectation that he or she will be rehired by the same employer for the same service in a subsequent calendar year. Nothing in this subsection shall affect the employee status of individuals who were covered by a collective bargaining agreement on the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1991.

(Source: P.A. 97-429, eff. 8-16-11; 98-1155, eff. 1-9-15.)

(115 ILCS 5/3) (from Ch. 48, par. 1703)

Sec. 3. Employee rights.

(a) It shall be lawful for educational employees to organize, form, join, or assist in employee organizations or engage in lawful concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection or bargain collectively through representatives of their own free choice and, except as provided in Section 11, such employees shall also have the right to refrain from any or all such activities.

(b) Representatives selected by educational employees in a unit appropriate for collective bargaining purposes shall be the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit to bargain on wages, hours, terms and conditions of employment. However, any individual employee or a group of employees may at any time present grievances to their employer and have them adjusted without the intervention of the bargaining representative as long as the adjustment is not inconsistent with the terms of a collective bargaining agreement then in effect, provided that the bargaining representative has been given an opportunity to be present at such adjustment.

(Source: P.A. 83-1014.)

(115 ILCS 5/4) (from Ch. 48, par. 1704)

(Text of Section WITH the changes made by P.A. 98-599, which has been held unconstitutional)

Sec. 4. Employer rights. Employers shall not be required to bargain over matters of inherent managerial policy, which shall include such areas of discretion or policy as the functions of the employer, standards of services, its overall budget, the organizational structure and selection of new employees and direction of employees. Employers, however, shall be required to bargain collectively with regard to policy matters directly affecting wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment as well as the impact thereon upon request by employee representatives, except as provided in Section 10.5. To preserve the rights of employers and exclusive representatives which have established collective bargaining relationships or negotiated collective bargaining agreements prior to the effective date of this Act, employers shall be required to bargain collectively with regard to any matter concerning wages, hours or conditions of employment about which they have bargained for and agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement prior to the effective date of this Act, except as provided in Section 10.5.

(Source: P.A. 98-599, eff. 6-1-14.)

(Text of Section WITHOUT the changes made by P.A. 98-599, which has been held unconstitutional)

Sec. 4. Employer rights. Employers shall not be required to bargain over matters of inherent managerial policy, which shall include such areas of discretion or policy as the functions of the employer, standards of services, its overall budget, the organizational structure and selection of new employees and direction of employees. Employers, however, shall be required to bargain collectively with regard to policy matters directly affecting wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment as well as the impact thereon upon request by employee representatives. To preserve the rights of employers and exclusive representatives which have established collective bargaining relationships or negotiated collective bargaining agreements prior to the effective date of this Act, employers shall be required to bargain collectively with regard to any matter concerning wages, hours or conditions of employment about which they have bargained for and agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement prior to the effective date of this Act.

(Source: P.A. 83-1014.)

(115 ILCS 5/7) (from Ch. 48, par. 1707)

Sec. 7. Recognition of exclusive bargaining representatives - unit determination. The Board is empowered to administer the recognition of bargaining representatives of employees of public school districts, including employees of districts which have entered into joint agreements, or employees of public community college districts, or any State college or university, and any State agency whose major function is providing educational services, making certain that each bargaining unit contains employees with an identifiable community of interest and that no unit includes both professional employees and nonprofessional employees unless a majority of employees in each group vote for inclusion in the unit.

(a) In determining the appropriateness of a unit, the Board shall decide in each case, in order to ensure employees the fullest freedom in exercising the rights guaranteed by this Act, the unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining, based upon but not limited to such factors as historical pattern of recognition, community of interest, including employee skills and functions, degree of functional integration, interchangeability and contact among employees, common supervision, wages, hours and other working conditions of the employees involved, and the desires of the employees. Nothing in this Act, except as herein provided, shall interfere with or negate the current representation rights or patterns and practices of employee organizations which have historically represented employees for the purposes of collective bargaining, including but not limited to the negotiations of wages, hours and working conditions, resolutions of employees' grievances, or resolution of jurisdictional disputes, or the establishment and maintenance of prevailing wage rates, unless a majority of the employees so represented expresses a contrary desire under the procedures set forth in this Act. This Section, however, does not prohibit multi-unit bargaining. Notwithstanding the above factors, where the majority of public employees of a craft so decide, the Board shall designate such craft as a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.

The sole appropriate bargaining unit for tenured and tenure-track academic faculty at each campus of the University of Illinois shall be a unit that is comprised of non-supervisory academic faculty employed more than half-time and that includes all tenured and tenure-track faculty of that University campus employed by the board of trustees in all of the campus's undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools and degree and non-degree programs (with the exception of the college of medicine, the college of pharmacy, the college of dentistry, the college of law, and the college of veterinary medicine, each of which shall have its own separate unit), regardless of current or historical representation rights or patterns or the application of any other factors. Any decision, rule, or regulation promulgated by the Board to the contrary shall be null and void.

(b) An educational employer shall voluntarily recognize a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes if that organization appears to represent a majority of employees in the unit. The employer shall post notice of its intent to so recognize for a period of at least 20 school days on bulletin boards or other places used or reserved for employee notices. Thereafter, the employer, if satisfied as to the majority status of the employee organization, shall send written notification of such recognition to the Board for certification. Any dispute regarding the majority status of a labor organization shall be resolved by the Board which shall make the determination of majority status.

Within the 20 day notice period, however, any other interested employee organization may petition the Board to seek recognition as the exclusive representative of the unit in the manner specified by rules and regulations prescribed by the Board, if such interested employee organization has been designated by at least 15% of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit which includes all or some of the employees in the unit intended to be recognized by the employer. In such event, the Board shall proceed with the petition in the same manner as provided in paragraph (c) of this Section.

(c) A labor organization may also gain recognition as the exclusive representative by an election of the employees in the unit. Petitions requesting an election may be filed with the Board:

(1) by an employee or group of employees or any labor organizations acting on their behalf alleging and presenting evidence that 30% or more of the employees in a bargaining unit wish to be represented for collective bargaining or that the labor organization which has been acting as the exclusive bargaining representative is no longer representative of a majority of the employees in the unit; or

(2) by an employer alleging that one or more labor organizations have presented a claim to be recognized as an exclusive bargaining representative of a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit and that it doubts the majority status of any of the organizations or that it doubts the majority status of an exclusive bargaining representative.

The Board shall investigate the petition and if it has reasonable cause to suspect that a question of representation exists, it shall give notice and conduct a hearing. If it finds upon the record of the hearing that a question of representation exists, it shall direct an election, which shall be held no later than 90 days after the date the petition was filed. Nothing prohibits the waiving of hearings by the parties and the conduct of consent elections.

(c-5) The Board shall designate an exclusive representative for purposes of collective bargaining when the representative demonstrates a showing of majority interest by employees in the unit. If the parties to a dispute are without agreement on the means to ascertain the choice, if any, of employee organization as their representative, the Board shall ascertain the employees' choice of employee organization, on the basis of dues deduction authorization or other evidence, or, if necessary, by conducting an election. All evidence submitted by an employee organization to the Board to ascertain an employee's choice of an employee organization is confidential and shall not be submitted to the employer for review. The Board shall ascertain the employee's choice of employee organization within 120 days after the filing of the majority interest petition; however, the Board may extend time by an additional 60 days, upon its own motion or upon the motion of a party to the proceeding. If either party provides to the Board, before the designation of a representative, clear and convincing evidence that the dues deduction authorizations, and other evidence upon which the Board would otherwise rely to ascertain the employees' choice of representative, are fraudulent or were obtained through coercion, the Board shall promptly thereafter conduct an election. The Board shall also investigate and consider a party's allegations that the dues deduction authorizations and other evidence submitted in support of a designation of representative without an election were subsequently changed, altered, withdrawn, or withheld as a result of employer fraud, coercion, or any other unfair labor practice by the employer. If the Board determines that a labor organization would have had a majority interest but for an employer's fraud, coercion, or unfair labor practice, it shall designate the labor organization as an exclusive representative without conducting an election. If a hearing is necessary to resolve any issues of representation under this Section, the Board shall conclude its hearing process and issue a certification of the entire appropriate unit not later than 120 days after the date the petition was filed. The 120-day period may be extended one or more times by the agreement of all parties to a hearing to a date certain.

(c-6) A labor organization or an employer may file a unit clarification petition seeking to clarify an existing bargaining unit. The Board shall conclude its investigation, including any hearing process deemed necessary, and issue a certification of clarified unit or dismiss the petition not later than 120 days after the date the petition was filed. The 120-day period may be extended one or more times by the agreement of all parties to a hearing to a date certain.

(d) An order of the Board dismissing a representation petition, determining and certifying that a labor organization has been fairly and freely chosen by a majority of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit, determining and certifying that a labor organization has not been fairly and freely chosen by a majority of employees in the bargaining unit or certifying a labor organization as the exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit because of a determination by the Board that the labor organization is the historical bargaining representative of employees in the bargaining unit, is a final order. Any person aggrieved by any such order issued on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987 may apply for and obtain judicial review in accordance with provisions of the Administrative Review Law, as now or hereafter amended, except that such review shall be afforded directly in the Appellate Court of a judicial district in which the Board maintains an office. Any direct appeal to the Appellate Court shall be filed within 35 days from the date that a copy of the decision sought to be reviewed was served upon the party affected by the decision.

No election may be conducted in any bargaining unit during the term of a collective bargaining agreement covering such unit or subdivision thereof, except the Board may direct an election after the filing of a petition between January 15 and March 1 of the final year of a collective bargaining agreement. Nothing in this Section prohibits the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement covering a period not exceeding 3 years. A collective bargaining agreement of less than 3 years may be extended up to 3 years by the parties if the extension is agreed to in writing before the filing of a petition under this Section. In such case, the final year of the extension is the final year of the collective bargaining agreement. No election may be conducted in a bargaining unit, or subdivision thereof, in which a valid election has been held within the preceding 12 month period.

(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-813, eff. 10-30-09.)

(115 ILCS 5/10) (from Ch. 48, par. 1710)

Sec. 10. Duty to bargain. (a) An educational employer and the exclusive representative have the authority and the duty to bargain collectively as set forth in this Section. Collective bargaining is the performance of the mutual obligations of the educational employer and the representative of the educational employees to meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment, and to execute a written contract incorporating any agreement reached by such obligation, provided such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or require the making of a concession.

(b) The parties to the collective bargaining process shall not effect or implement a provision in a collective bargaining agreement if the implementation of that provision would be in violation of, or inconsistent with, or in conflict with any statute or statutes enacted by the General Assembly of Illinois. The parties to the collective bargaining process may effect or implement a provision in a collective bargaining agreement if the implementation of that provision has the effect of supplementing any provision in any statute or statutes enacted by the General Assembly of Illinois pertaining to wages, hours or other conditions of employment; provided however, no provision in a collective bargaining agreement may be effected or implemented if such provision has the effect of negating, abrogating, replacing, reducing, diminishing, or limiting in any way any employee rights, guarantees or privileges pertaining to wages, hours or other conditions of employment provided in such statutes. Any provision in a collective bargaining agreement which has the effect of negating, abrogating, replacing, reducing, diminishing or limiting in any way any employee rights, guarantees or privileges provided in an Illinois statute or statutes shall be void and unenforceable, but shall not affect the validity, enforceability and implementation of other permissible provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.

(c) The collective bargaining agreement negotiated between representatives of the educational employees and the educational employer shall contain a grievance resolution procedure which shall apply to all employees in the unit and shall provide for binding arbitration of disputes concerning the administration or interpretation of the agreement. The agreement shall also contain appropriate language prohibiting strikes for the duration of the agreement. The costs of such arbitration shall be borne equally by the educational employer and the employee organization.

(d) Once an agreement is reached between representatives of the educational employees and the educational employer and is ratified by both parties, the agreement shall be reduced to writing and signed by the parties.

(Source: P.A. 84-832.)

(115 ILCS 5/12) (from Ch. 48, par. 1712)

Sec. 12. Impasse procedures.

(a) This subsection (a) applies only to collective bargaining between an educational employer that is not a public school district organized under Article 34 of the School Code and an exclusive representative of its employees. If the parties engaged in collective bargaining have not reached an agreement by 90 days before the scheduled start of the forthcoming school year, the parties shall notify the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board concerning the status of negotiations. This notice shall include a statement on whether mediation has been used.

Upon demand of either party, collective bargaining between the employer and an exclusive bargaining representative must begin within 60 days of the date of certification of the representative by the Board, or in the case of an existing exclusive bargaining representative, within 60 days of the receipt by a party of a demand to bargain issued by the other party. Once commenced, collective bargaining must continue for at least a 60 day period, unless a contract is entered into.

If Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this Section, if after a reasonable period of negotiation and within 90 days of the scheduled start of the forth-coming school year, the parties engaged in collective bargaining have reached an impasse, either party may petition the Board to initiate mediation. Alternatively, the Board on its own motion may initiate mediation during this period. However, mediation shall be initiated by the Board at any time when jointly requested by the parties and the services of the mediators shall continuously be made available to the employer and to the exclusive bargaining representative for purposes of arbitration of grievances and mediation or arbitration of contract disputes. If requested by the parties, the mediator may perform fact-finding and in so doing conduct hearings and make written findings and recommendations for resolution of the dispute. Such mediation shall be provided by the Board and shall be held before qualified impartial individuals. Nothing prohibits the use of other individuals or organizations such as the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service or the American Arbitration Association selected by both the exclusive bargaining representative and the employer.

If the parties engaged in collective bargaining fail to reach an agreement within 45 days of the scheduled start of the forthcoming school year and have not requested mediation, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board shall invoke mediation.

Whenever mediation is initiated or invoked under this subsection (a), the parties may stipulate to defer selection of a mediator in accordance with rules adopted by the Board.

(a-5) This subsection (a-5) applies only to collective bargaining between a public school district or a combination of public school districts, including, but not limited to, joint cooperatives, that is not organized under Article 34 of the School Code and an exclusive representative of its employees.

(1) Any time 15 days after mediation has commenced, either party may initiate the public posting process. The mediator may initiate the public posting process at any time 15 days after mediation has commenced during the mediation process. Initiation of the public posting process must be filed in writing with the Board, and copies must be submitted to the parties on the same day the initiation is filed with the Board.

(2) Within 7 days after the initiation of the public posting process, each party shall submit to the mediator, the Board, and the other party in writing the most recent offer of the party, including a cost summary of the offer. Seven days after receipt of the parties' offers, the Board shall make public the offers and each party's cost summary dealing with those issues on which the parties have failed to reach agreement by immediately posting the offers on its Internet website, unless otherwise notified by the mediator or jointly by the parties that agreement has been reached. On the same day of publication by the Board, at a minimum, the school district shall distribute notice of the availability of the offers on the Board's Internet website to all news media that have filed an annual request for notices from the school district pursuant to Section 2.02 of the Open Meetings Act. The parties' offers shall remain on the Board's Internet website until the parties have reached and ratified an agreement.

(a-10) This subsection (a-10) applies only to collective bargaining between a public school district organized under Article 34 of the School Code and an exclusive representative of its employees.

(1) For collective bargaining agreements between an educational employer to which this subsection (a-10) applies and an exclusive representative of its employees, if the parties fail to reach an agreement after a reasonable period of mediation, the dispute shall be submitted to fact-finding in accordance with this subsection (a-10). Either the educational employer or the exclusive representative may initiate fact-finding by submitting a written demand to the other party with a copy of the demand submitted simultaneously to the Board.

(2) Within 3 days following a party's demand for fact-finding, each party shall appoint one member of the fact-finding panel, unless the parties agree to proceed without a tri-partite panel. Following these appointments, if any, the parties shall select a qualified impartial individual to serve as the fact-finder and chairperson of the fact-finding panel, if applicable. An individual shall be considered qualified to serve as the fact-finder and chairperson of the fact-finding panel, if applicable, if he or she was not the same individual who was appointed as the mediator and if he or she satisfies the following requirements: membership in good standing with the National Academy of Arbitrators, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, or American Arbitration Association for a minimum of 10 years; membership on the mediation roster for the Illinois Labor Relations Board or Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board; issuance of at least 5 interest arbitration awards arising under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act; and participation in impasse resolution processes arising under private or public sector collective bargaining statutes in other states. If the parties are unable to agree on a fact-finder, the parties shall request a panel of fact-finders who satisfy the requirements set forth in this paragraph (2) from either the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service or the American Arbitration Association and shall select a fact-finder from such panel in accordance with the procedures established by the organization providing the panel.

(3) The fact-finder shall have the following duties and powers:

(A) to require the parties to submit a statement of disputed issues and their positions regarding each issue either jointly or separately;

(B) to identify disputed issues that are economic in nature;

(C) to meet with the parties either separately or in executive sessions;

(D) to conduct hearings and regulate the time, place, course, and manner of the hearings;

(E) to request the Board to issue subpoenas requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses or the production of evidence;

(F) to administer oaths and affirmations;

(G) to examine witnesses and documents;

(H) to create a full and complete written record of the hearings;

(I) to attempt mediation or remand a disputed issue to the parties for further collective bargaining;

(J) to require the parties to submit final offers for each disputed issue either individually or as a package or as a combination of both; and

(K) to employ any other measures deemed appropriate to resolve the impasse.

(4) If the dispute is not settled within 75 days after the appointment of the fact-finding panel, the fact-finding panel shall issue a private report to the parties that contains advisory findings of fact and recommended terms of settlement for all disputed issues and that sets forth a rationale for each recommendation. The fact-finding panel, acting by a majority of its members, shall base its findings and recommendations upon the following criteria as applicable:

(A) the lawful authority of the employer;

(B) the federal and State statutes or local ordinances and resolutions applicable to the employer;

(C) prior collective bargaining agreements and the bargaining history between the parties;

(D) stipulations of the parties;

(E) the interests and welfare of the public and the students and families served by the employer;

(F) the employer's financial ability to fund the proposals based on existing available resources, provided that such ability is not predicated on an assumption that lines of credit or reserve funds are available or that the employer may or will receive or develop new sources of revenue or increase existing sources of revenue;

(G) the impact of any economic adjustments on the employer's ability to pursue its educational mission;

(H) the present and future general economic conditions in the locality and State;

(I) a comparison of the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of the employees involved in the dispute with the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of employees performing similar services in public education in the 10 largest U.S. cities;

(J) the average consumer prices in urban areas for goods and services, which is commonly known as the cost of living;

(K) the overall compensation presently received by the employees involved in the dispute, including direct wage compensation; vacations, holidays, and other excused time; insurance and pensions; medical and hospitalization benefits; the continuity and stability of employment and all other benefits received; and how each party's proposed compensation structure supports the educational goals of the district;

(L) changes in any of the circumstances listed in items (A) through (K) of this paragraph (4) during the fact-finding proceedings;

(M) the effect that any term the parties are at impasse on has or may have on the overall educational environment, learning conditions, and working conditions with the school district; and

(N) the effect that any term the parties are at impasse on has or may have in promoting the public policy of this State.

(5) The fact-finding panel's recommended terms of settlement shall be deemed agreed upon by the parties as the final resolution of the disputed issues and incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement executed by the parties, unless either party tenders to the other party and the chairperson of the fact-finding panel a notice of rejection of the recommended terms of settlement with a rationale for the rejection, within 15 days after the date of issuance of the fact-finding panel's report. If either party submits a notice of rejection, the chairperson of the fact-finding panel shall publish the fact-finding panel's report and the notice of rejection for public information by delivering a copy to all newspapers of general circulation in the community with simultaneous written notice to the parties.

(b) (Blank). If, after a period of bargaining of at least 60 days, a dispute or impasse exists between an educational employer whose territorial boundaries are coterminous with those of a city having a population in excess of 500,000 and the exclusive bargaining representative over a subject or matter set forth in Section 4.5 of this Act, the parties shall submit the dispute or impasse to the dispute resolution procedure agreed to between the parties. The procedure shall provide for mediation of disputes by a rotating mediation panel and may, at the request of either party, include the issuance of advisory findings of fact and recommendations.

(c) The costs of fact finding and mediation shall be shared equally between the employer and the exclusive bargaining agent, provided that, for purposes of mediation under this Act, if either party requests the use of mediation services from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the other party shall either join in such request or bear the additional cost of mediation services from another source. All other costs and expenses of complying with this Section must be borne by the party incurring them.

(c-5) If an educational employer or exclusive bargaining representative refuses to participate in mediation or fact finding when required by this Section, the refusal shall be deemed a refusal to bargain in good faith.

(d) Nothing in this Act prevents an employer and an exclusive bargaining representative from mutually submitting to final and binding impartial arbitration unresolved issues concerning the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement.

(Source: P.A. 97-7, eff. 6-13-11; 97-8, eff. 6-13-11; 98-513, eff. 1-1-14.)

(115 ILCS 5/4.5 rep.)

Section 20. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act is amended by repealing Section 4.5.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.