115 ILCS 5/11.1

(115 ILCS 5/11.1)

Sec. 11.1. Dues collection.

(a) Employers shall make payroll deductions of employee organization dues, initiation fees, assessments, and other payments for an employee organization that is the exclusive representative. Such deductions shall be made in accordance with the terms of an employee's written authorization and shall be paid to the exclusive representative. Written authorization may be evidenced by electronic communications, and such writing or communication may be evidenced by the electronic signature of the employee as provided under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.

There is no impediment to an employee's right to resign union membership at any time. However, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary regarding authorization and deduction of dues or other payments to a labor organization, the exclusive representative and an educational employee may agree to reasonable limits on the right of the employee to revoke such authorization, including a period of irrevocability that exceeds one year. An authorization that is irrevocable for one year, which may be automatically renewed for successive annual periods in accordance with the terms of the authorization, and that contains at least an annual 10-day period of time during which the educational employee may revoke the authorization, shall be deemed reasonable. This Section shall apply to all claims that allege that an educational employer or employee organization has improperly deducted or collected dues from an employee without regard to whether the claims or the facts upon which they are based occurred before, on, or after December 20, 2019 (the effective date of Public Act 101-620) and shall apply retroactively to the maximum extent permitted by law.

(b) Upon receiving written notice of the authorization, the educational employer must commence dues deductions as soon as practicable, but in no case later than 30 days after receiving notice from the employee organization. Employee deductions shall be transmitted to the employee organization no later than 10 days after they are deducted unless a shorter period is mutually agreed to.

(c) Deductions shall remain in effect until:

(1) the educational employer receives notice that an educational employee has revoked his or her authorization in writing in accordance with the terms of the authorization; or

(2) the individual educational employee is no longer employed by the educational employer in a bargaining unit position represented by the same exclusive representative; provided that if such employee is, within a period of one year, employed by the same educational employer in a position represented by the same employee organization, the right to dues deduction shall be automatically reinstated.

Nothing in this subsection prevents an employee from continuing to authorize payroll deductions when no longer represented by the exclusive representative that would receive those deductions.

Should the individual educational employee who has signed a dues deduction authorization card either be removed from an educational employer's payroll or otherwise placed on any type of involuntary or voluntary leave of absence, whether paid or unpaid, the employee's dues deduction shall be continued upon that employee's return to the payroll in a bargaining unit position represented by the same exclusive representative or restoration to active duty from such a leave of absence.

(d) Unless otherwise mutually agreed by the educational employer and the exclusive representative, employee requests to authorize, revoke, cancel, or change authorizations for payroll deductions for employee organizations shall be directed to the employee organization rather than to the educational employer. The employee organization shall be responsible for initially processing and notifying the educational employer of proper requests or providing proper requests to the employer. If the requests are not provided to the educational employer, the employer shall rely on information provided by the employee organization regarding whether deductions for an employee organization were properly authorized, revoked, canceled, or changed, and the employee organization shall indemnify the educational employer for any damages and reasonable costs incurred for any claims made by educational employees for deductions made in good faith reliance on that information.

(e) Upon receipt by the exclusive representative of an appropriate written authorization from an individual educational employee, written notice of authorization shall be provided to the educational employer and any authorized deductions shall be made in accordance with law. The employee organization shall indemnify the educational employer for any damages and reasonable costs incurred for any claims made by an educational employee for deductions made in good faith reliance on its notification.

(f) The failure of an educational employer to comply with the provisions of this Section shall be a violation of the duty to bargain and an unfair labor practice. Relief for the violation shall be reimbursement by the educational employer of dues that should have been deducted or paid based on a valid authorization given by the educational employee or employees. In addition, the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement that contain the obligations set forth in this Section may be enforced in accordance with Section 10.

(g) The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board shall have exclusive jurisdiction over claims under Illinois law that allege an educational employer or employee organization has unlawfully deducted or collected dues from an educational employee in violation of this Act. The Board shall by rule require that in cases in which an educational employee alleges that an employee organization has unlawfully collected dues, the educational employer shall continue to deduct the employee's dues from the employee's pay, but shall transmit the dues to the Board for deposit in an escrow account maintained by the Board. If the exclusive representative maintains an escrow account for the purpose of holding dues to which an employee has objected, the employer shall transmit the entire amount of dues to the exclusive representative, and the exclusive representative shall hold in escrow the dues that the employer would otherwise have been required to transmit to the Board for escrow; provided that the escrow account maintained by the exclusive representative complies with rules adopted by the Board or that the collective bargaining agreement requiring the payment of the dues contains an indemnification provision for the purpose of indemnifying the employer with respect to the employer's transmission of dues to the exclusive representative.

(h) If a collective bargaining agreement that includes a dues deduction clause expires or continues in effect beyond its scheduled expiration date pending the negotiation of a successor agreement, then the employer shall continue to honor and abide by the dues deduction clause until a new agreement that includes a dues deduction clause is reached. Failure to honor and abide by the dues deduction clause for the benefit of any exclusive representative as set forth in this subsection (h) shall be a violation of the duty to bargain and an unfair labor practice. For the benefit of any successor exclusive representative certified under this Act, this provision shall be applicable, provided the successor exclusive representative presents the employer with employee written authorizations or certifications from the exclusive representative for the deduction of dues, assessments, and fees under this subsection (h).

(i)(1) If any clause, sentence, paragraph, or subdivision of this Section shall be adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, that judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, or subdivision of this Section directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.

(2) If any clause, sentence, paragraph, or part of a signed authorization for payroll deductions shall be adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, that judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder of the signed authorization, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, or part of the signed authorization directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.

(Source: P.A. 101-620, eff. 12-20-19; 102-38, eff. 6-25-21; 102-687, eff. 12-17-21.)