Full Text of SB2665 93rd General Assembly
SB2665enr 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning employment.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | 5 |
| Illinois Worker Adjustment and
Retraining Notification Act .
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| Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
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| (a) "Affected employees" means employees who may | 8 |
| reasonably be expected to experience an employment loss as a | 9 |
| consequence of a proposed plant closing or mass layoff by their | 10 |
| employer.
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| (b) "Employment loss" means: | 12 |
| (1) an employment termination, other than a discharge | 13 |
| for cause, voluntary departure, or retirement; | 14 |
| (2) a layoff exceeding 6 months; or | 15 |
| (3) a reduction in hours of work of more than 50% | 16 |
| during each month of any 6-month period.
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| "Employment loss" does not include instances when the plant | 18 |
| closing or layoff is the result of the relocation or | 19 |
| consolidation of part or all of the employer's business and, | 20 |
| before the closing or layoff, the employer offers to transfer | 21 |
| the employee to a different site of employment within a | 22 |
| reasonable commuting distance with no more than a 6-month break | 23 |
| in employment, or the employer offers to transfer the employee | 24 |
| to any other site of employment, regardless of distance, with | 25 |
| no more than a 6-month break in employment, and the employee | 26 |
| accepts within 30 days of the offer or of the closing or | 27 |
| layoff, whichever is later.
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| (c) "Employer" means any business enterprise that employs: | 29 |
| (1) 75 or more employees, excluding part-time | 30 |
| employees; or | 31 |
| (2) 75 or more employees who in the aggregate work at | 32 |
| least 4,000 hours per week (exclusive of hours of |
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| overtime).
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| (d) "Mass layoff" means a reduction in force which: | 3 |
| (1) is not the result of a plant closing; and | 4 |
| (2) results in an employment loss at the single site of | 5 |
| employment during any 30-day period for: | 6 |
| (A) at least 33% of the employees (excluding any | 7 |
| part-time employees) and at least 25 employees | 8 |
| (excluding any part-time employees); or | 9 |
| (B) at least 250 employees (excluding any | 10 |
| part-time employees).
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| (e) "Part-time employee" means an employee who is employed | 12 |
| for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or who has been | 13 |
| employed for fewer than 6 of the 12 months preceding the date | 14 |
| on which notice is required.
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| (f) "Plant closing" means the permanent or temporary | 16 |
| shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more | 17 |
| facilities or operating units within a single site of | 18 |
| employment, if the shutdown results in an employment loss at | 19 |
| the single site of employment during any 30-day period for 50 | 20 |
| or more employees excluding any part-time employees.
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| (g) "Representative" means an exclusive representative of | 22 |
| employees within the meaning of Section 9(a) or 8(f) of the | 23 |
| National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(a), 158(f)) or | 24 |
| Section 2 of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 152). | 25 |
| Section 10. Notice. | 26 |
| (a) An employer may not order a mass layoff, relocation, or | 27 |
| employment loss unless, 60 days before the order takes effect, | 28 |
| the employer gives written notice of the order to the | 29 |
| following: | 30 |
| (1) affected employees and representatives of affected | 31 |
| employees; and | 32 |
| (2) the Department of Commerce and Economic | 33 |
| Opportunity and the chief elected official of each | 34 |
| municipal and county government within which the | 35 |
| employment loss, relocation, or mass layoff occurs. |
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| (b) An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, | 2 |
| relocation, or employment loss under this Act shall include in | 3 |
| its notice the elements required by the federal Worker | 4 |
| Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et | 5 |
| seq.). | 6 |
| (c) Notwithstanding the requirements of subsection (a), an | 7 |
| employer is not required to provide notice if a mass layoff, | 8 |
| relocation, or employment loss is necessitated by a physical | 9 |
| calamity or an act of terrorism or war. | 10 |
| (d) The mailing of notice to an employee's last known | 11 |
| address or inclusion of notice in the employee's paycheck shall | 12 |
| be considered acceptable methods for fulfillment of the | 13 |
| employer's obligation to give notice to each affected employee | 14 |
| under this Act. | 15 |
| (e) In the case of a sale of part or all of an employer's | 16 |
| business, the seller shall be responsible for providing notice | 17 |
| for any plant closing or mass layoff in accordance with this | 18 |
| Section, up to and including the effective date of the sale. | 19 |
| After the effective date of the sale of part or all of an | 20 |
| employer's business, the purchaser shall be responsible for | 21 |
| providing notice for any plant closing or mass layoff in | 22 |
| accordance with this Section. Notwithstanding any other | 23 |
| provision of this Act, any person who is an employee of the | 24 |
| seller (other than a part-time employee) as of the effective | 25 |
| date of the sale shall be considered an employee of the | 26 |
| purchaser immediately after the effective date of the sale. | 27 |
| (f) An employer which is receiving State or local economic | 28 |
| development incentives for doing or continuing to do business | 29 |
| in this State may be required to provide additional notice | 30 |
| pursuant to Section 15 of the Business Economic Support Act. | 31 |
| (g) The rights and remedies provided to employees by this | 32 |
| Act are in
addition to, and not in lieu of, any other | 33 |
| contractual or statutory
rights and remedies of the employees, | 34 |
| and are not intended to alter or
affect such rights and | 35 |
| remedies, except that the period of notification
required by | 36 |
| this Act shall run concurrently with any period of
notification |
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| required by contract or by any other law. | 2 |
| (h) It is the sense of the General Assembly that an | 3 |
| employer who is not required to comply with the notice | 4 |
| requirements of this Section should, to the extent possible, | 5 |
| provide notice to its employees about a proposal to close a | 6 |
| plant or permanently reduce its workforce.
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| Section 15. Exceptions. | 8 |
| (a) In the case of a plant closing, an employer is not | 9 |
| required to comply with the notice requirement in subsection | 10 |
| (a) of Section 10 if: | 11 |
| (1) the Department of Labor determines: | 12 |
| (A) at the time that notice would have been | 13 |
| required, the employer was actively seeking capital or | 14 |
| business; and | 15 |
| (B) the capital or business sought, if obtained, | 16 |
| would have enabled the employer to avoid or postpone | 17 |
| the relocation or termination; and | 18 |
| (C) the employer reasonably and in good faith | 19 |
| believed that giving the notice required by subsection | 20 |
| (a) of Section 10 would have precluded the employer | 21 |
| from obtaining the needed capital or business; or | 22 |
| (2) the Department of Labor determines that the need | 23 |
| for a notice was not reasonably foreseeable at the time the | 24 |
| notice
would have been required. | 25 |
| (b) To determine whether the employer was actively seeking | 26 |
| capital or business, or that the need for notice was not | 27 |
| reasonably foreseeable under subsection (a), the employer | 28 |
| shall provide to the Department of Labor: | 29 |
| (1) a written record consisting of those documents | 30 |
| relevant to the determination of whether the employer was | 31 |
| actively seeking capital or business, or that the need for | 32 |
| notice was not reasonably foreseeable; and | 33 |
| (2) an affidavit verifying the contents of the | 34 |
| documents contained in the record. | 35 |
| (c) An employer is not required to comply with the notice |
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| requirement in subsection (a) of Section 10 if: | 2 |
| (1) the plant closing is of a temporary facility or the | 3 |
| plant closing or layoff is the result of the completion of | 4 |
| a particular project or undertaking, and the affected | 5 |
| employees were hired with the understanding that their | 6 |
| employment was limited to the duration of the facility or | 7 |
| the project or undertaking; or | 8 |
| (2) the closing or layoff constitutes a strike or | 9 |
| constitutes a lockout not intended to evade the | 10 |
| requirements of this Act. Nothing in this Act shall require | 11 |
| an employer to serve written notice when permanently | 12 |
| replacing a person who is deemed to be an economic striker | 13 |
| under the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et | 14 |
| seq.). Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to validate or | 15 |
| invalidate any judicial or administrative ruling relating | 16 |
| to the hiring of permanent replacements for economic | 17 |
| strikers under the National Labor Relations Act. | 18 |
| (d) An employer relying on this Section shall provide as | 19 |
| much notice as is practicable and at that time shall provide a | 20 |
| brief statement of the basis for reducing the notification | 21 |
| period.
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| Section 20. Extension of layoff period.
A layoff of more | 23 |
| than 6 months which, at its outset, was announced to be a | 24 |
| layoff of 6 months or less shall be treated as an employment | 25 |
| loss under this Act unless: | 26 |
| (1) the extension beyond 6 months is caused by business | 27 |
| circumstances (including unforeseeable changes in price or | 28 |
| cost) not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the initial | 29 |
| layoff; and
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| (2) notice is given at the time it becomes reasonably | 31 |
| foreseeable that the extension beyond 6 months will be | 32 |
| required.
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| Section 25. Determinations with respect to employment | 34 |
| loss. In determining whether a plant closing or mass layoff has |
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| occurred or will occur, employment losses for 2 or more groups | 2 |
| at a single site of employment, each of which is less than the | 3 |
| minimum number of employees specified in subsection (d) or (f) | 4 |
| of Section 5 of this Act but which in the aggregate exceed that | 5 |
| minimum number, and which occur within any 90-day period shall | 6 |
| be considered to be a plant closing or mass layoff unless the | 7 |
| employer demonstrates that the employment losses are the result | 8 |
| of separate and distinct actions and causes and are not an | 9 |
| attempt by the employer to evade the requirements of this Act.
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| Section 30. Powers of Director of Labor.
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| (a) Pursuant to the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act, | 12 |
| the Director of Labor shall prescribe such rules as may be | 13 |
| necessary to carry out this Act. The rules shall, at a minimum, | 14 |
| include provisions that allow the parties access to | 15 |
| administrative hearings for any actions of the Department under | 16 |
| this Act. The provisions of the Administrative Review Law, and | 17 |
| the rules adopted pursuant thereto, apply to and govern all | 18 |
| proceedings for the judicial review of decisions under this | 19 |
| Act. | 20 |
| (b) In any investigation or proceeding under this Act, the | 21 |
| Director of Labor has, in addition to all other powers granted | 22 |
| by law, the authority to examine the books and records of an | 23 |
| employer, but only to the extent to determine whether a | 24 |
| violation of this Act has occurred. | 25 |
| (c) Except as provided in this Section, information | 26 |
| obtained from any employer subject to this Act regarding the | 27 |
| books, records, or wages paid to workers during the | 28 |
| administration of this Act shall: | 29 |
| (1) be confidential; | 30 |
| (2) not be published or open to public inspection; | 31 |
| (3) not be used in any court in any pending action or | 32 |
| proceeding; and | 33 |
| (4) not be admissible in evidence in any action or | 34 |
| proceeding other than one arising out of this Act. | 35 |
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(d) No finding, determination, decision, ruling, or order |
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| (including any finding of fact, statement, or conclusion made | 2 |
| therein) issued pursuant to this Act shall be admissible or | 3 |
| used in evidence in any action other than one arising out of | 4 |
| this Act, nor shall it be binding or conclusive except as | 5 |
| provided in the Act, nor shall it constitute res judicata, | 6 |
| regardless of whether the actions were between the same or | 7 |
| related parties or involved the same facts.
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| (e) Any officer or employer of this State, any officer or | 9 |
| employee of any entity authorized to obtain information | 10 |
| pursuant to this Section, and any agent of this State or of | 11 |
| such entity who, except with authority of the Director under | 12 |
| this Section, discloses information is guilty of a Class B | 13 |
| misdemeanor and is disqualified from holding any appointment or | 14 |
| employment by the State. | 15 |
| (f) The Director of Labor has the authority to determine | 16 |
| any liabilities or civil penalties under Section 35 and Section | 17 |
| 40 of this Act.
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| Section 35. Violation; liability. | 19 |
| (a) An employer who fails to give notice as required by
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| paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Section 10 before ordering a
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| mass layoff, relocation, or employment loss is liable to each | 22 |
| employee
entitled to notice who lost his or her employment for:
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| (1) Back pay at the average regular rate of | 24 |
| compensation received
by the employee during the last three | 25 |
| years of his or her employment,
or the employee's final | 26 |
| rate of compensation, whichever is higher.
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| (2) The value of the cost of any benefits to which the | 28 |
| employee
would have been entitled had his or her employment | 29 |
| not been lost,
including the cost of any medical expenses | 30 |
| incurred by the employee
that would have been covered under | 31 |
| an employee benefit plan.
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| (b) Liability under this Section is calculated for the | 33 |
| period of
the employer's violation, up to a maximum of 60 days, | 34 |
| or one-half the
number of days that the employee was employed | 35 |
| by the employer,
whichever period is smaller.
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| (c) The amount of an employer's liability under subsection | 2 |
| (a) is
reduced by the following:
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| (1) Any wages, except vacation moneys accrued before | 4 |
| the period
of the employer's violation, paid by the | 5 |
| employer to the employee
during the period of the | 6 |
| employer's violation.
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| (2) Any voluntary and unconditional payments made by | 8 |
| the employer
to the employee that were not required to | 9 |
| satisfy any legal
obligation.
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| (3) Any payments by the employer to a third party or | 11 |
| trustee, such
as premiums for health benefits or payments | 12 |
| to a defined
contribution pension plan, on behalf of and | 13 |
| attributable to the
employee for the period of the | 14 |
| violation.
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| (4) Any liability paid by the employer under federal | 16 |
| law.
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| (d) Any liability incurred by an employer under subsection | 18 |
| (a) of this Section with respect to a defined benefit pension | 19 |
| plan may be reduced by crediting the employee with service for | 20 |
| all purposes under such a plan for the period of the violation.
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| (e) If an employer proves to the satisfaction of the | 22 |
| Director that the act or omission that violated this Act was in | 23 |
| good faith and that the employer had reasonable grounds for | 24 |
| believing that the act or omission was not a violation of this | 25 |
| Act, the Director may in his or her discretion reduce the | 26 |
| amount of liability provided for in this Section.
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| Section 40. Civil penalty. | 28 |
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(a) An employer who fails to give notice as required by | 29 |
| paragraph (2) of subsection (a)
of Section 10 is subject to a | 30 |
| civil penalty of not more than $500 for each day of the | 31 |
| employer's violation. The employer is not subject to a civil | 32 |
| penalty under this Section if the employer pays to all | 33 |
| applicable employees the amounts for which the employer is | 34 |
| liable under Section 35 within 3 weeks from the date the | 35 |
| employer orders the mass layoff, relocation, or employment |
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| loss.
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| (b) The total amount of penalties for which an employer may | 3 |
| be liable under this Section shall not exceed the maximum | 4 |
| amount of penalties for which the employer may be liable under | 5 |
| federal law for the same violation.
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| (c) Any penalty amount paid by the employer under federal | 7 |
| law shall be considered a payment made under this Act.
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| (d) If an employer proves to the satisfaction of the | 9 |
| Director that the act or omission that violated this Act was in | 10 |
| good faith and that the employer had reasonable grounds for | 11 |
| believing that the act or omission was not a violation of this | 12 |
| Act, the Director may in his or her discretion reduce the | 13 |
| amount of the penalty provided for in this Section.
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| Section 45. Advisory notice from Department of Commerce and | 15 |
| Economic Opportunity. Before September 30 of each year, the | 16 |
| Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, with the | 17 |
| cooperation of the Department of Employment Security, must | 18 |
| issue a written notice to each employer that reported to the | 19 |
| Department of Employment Security that the employer paid wages | 20 |
| to 75 or more individuals with respect to any quarter in the | 21 |
| immediately preceding calendar year. The notice must indicate | 22 |
| that the employer may be subject to this Act and must generally | 23 |
| advise the employer about the requirements of this Act and the | 24 |
| remedies provided for violations of this Act.
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| Section 50. Applicability. This Act applies to plant | 26 |
| closings or relocations occurring on or after January 1, 2005.
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| Section 55. Interpretation. Whenever possible, this Act | 28 |
| shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the federal | 29 |
| Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act and the | 30 |
| federal regulations and court decisions interpreting that Act | 31 |
| to the extent that the provisions of federal and State law are | 32 |
| the same.
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| (20 ILCS 1005/1005-60 rep.)
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| Section 85. The Department of Employment Security Law of | 3 |
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Civil Administrative Code of Illinois is amended by | 4 |
| repealing Section 1005-60. | 5 |
| Section 90. The Unemployment Insurance Act is amended by | 6 |
| adding Section 500.1 as follows: | 7 |
| (820 ILCS 405/500.1 new)
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| Sec. 500.1. Illinois Worker Adjustment and
Retraining | 9 |
| Notification Act; federal Worker
Adjustment and Retraining | 10 |
| Notification Act. Benefits payable under this Act may
not be | 11 |
| denied or reduced because of the receipt of payments related
to | 12 |
| an employer's violation of the Illinois Worker Adjustment and
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| Retraining Notification Act or the federal Worker
Adjustment | 14 |
| and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et
seq.). | 15 |
| Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are | 16 |
| severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January | 18 |
| 1, 2005.
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