820 ILCS 405/1801.1

(820 ILCS 405/1801.1)

Sec. 1801.1. Directory of New Hires.

A. The Director shall establish and operate an automated directory of newly hired employees which shall be known as the "Illinois Directory of New Hires" which shall contain the information required to be reported by employers to the Department under subsection B. In the administration of the Directory, the Director shall comply with any requirements concerning the Employer New Hire Reporting Program established by the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The Director is authorized to use the information contained in the Directory of New Hires to administer any of the provisions of this Act.

B. Each employer in Illinois, except a department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States, shall file with the Department a report in accordance with rules adopted by the Department (but in any event not later than 20 days after the date the employer hires the employee or, in the case of an employer transmitting reports magnetically or electronically, by 2 monthly transmissions, if necessary, not less than 12 days nor more than 16 days apart) providing the following information concerning each newly hired employee: the employee's name, address, and social security number, the date services for remuneration were first performed by the employee, and the employer's name, address, Federal Employer Identification Number assigned under Section 6109 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and such other information as may be required by federal law or regulation, provided that each employer may voluntarily file the address to which the employer wants income withholding orders to be mailed, if it is different from the address given on the Federal Employer Identification Number. An employer in Illinois which transmits its reports electronically or magnetically and which also has employees in another state may report all newly hired employees to a single designated state in which the employer has employees if it has so notified the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services in writing. An employer may, at its option, submit information regarding any rehired employee in the same manner as information is submitted regarding a newly hired employee. Each report required under this subsection shall, to the extent practicable, be made on an Internal Revenue Service Form W-4 or, at the option of the employer, an equivalent form, and may be transmitted by first class mail, by telefax, magnetically, or electronically.

C. An employer which knowingly fails to comply with the reporting requirements established by this Section shall be subject to a civil penalty of $15 for each individual whom it fails to report. An employer shall be considered to have knowingly failed to comply with the reporting requirements established by this Section with respect to an individual if the employer has been notified by the Department that it has failed to report an individual, and it fails, without reasonable cause, to supply the required information to the Department within 21 days after the date of mailing of the notice. Any individual who knowingly conspires with the newly hired employee to cause the employer to fail to report the information required by this Section or who knowingly conspires with the newly hired employee to cause the employer to file a false or incomplete report shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor with a fine not to exceed $500 with respect to each employee with whom the individual so conspires.

D. As used in this Section, "newly hired employee" means an individual who (i) is an employee within the meaning of Chapter 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 including an individual under an independent contractor arrangement, and (ii) either has not previously been employed by the employer or was previously employed by the employer but has been separated from that prior employment for at least 60 consecutive days; however, "newly hired employee" does not include an employee of a federal or State agency performing intelligence or counterintelligence functions, if the head of that agency has determined that the filing of the report required by this Section with respect to the employee could endanger the safety of the employee or compromise an ongoing investigation or intelligence mission.

Notwithstanding Section 205, and for the purposes of this Section only, the term "employer" has the meaning given by Section 3401(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and includes any governmental entity and labor organization as defined by Section 2(5) of the National Labor Relations Act, and includes any entity (also known as a hiring hall) which is used by the organization and an employer to carry out the requirements described in Section 8(f)(3) of that Act of an agreement between the organization and the employer.

(Source: P.A. 103-343, eff. 1-1-24.)