Illinois has enacted legislation that clarifies a requirement for employers with 100 or more employees working in Illinois to obtain an Equal Pay Registration Certificate (EPRC). The legislation (House Bill 3733) takes effect Jan. 1, 2024.
Details
In 2021, the state amended the Illinois Equal Pay Act (IEPA) to require that private employers report certain payroll information to the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) and obtain an EPRC. The requirement applies to any private employer that has 100 or more employees in Illinois and is required to file an annual EEO-1 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The pay data reporting requirements had originally called for covered employers to file their federal EEO-1 with the IDOL, but the IDOL had administratively suspended the EEO-1 filing requirement for employers who were given an initial filing deadline in the calendar year 2023.
House Bill 3733 codifies that change for future years. As such, employers won’t be required to submit their federal EEO-1 when they apply for an EPRC in 2024 or thereafter.
To obtain an EPRC, covered employers must certify, among other things, that the average compensation for their female and certain other employees isn’t consistently below the average compensation for their counterparts within each of the major job categories in the EEO-1, taking into account factors such as length of service, requirements of specific jobs, experience, skill, effort, responsibility, working conditions of the job, education or training, job location, use of a collective bargaining agreement, or other mitigating factors.
House Bill 3733 clarifies that for the purposes of the above provision, "compensation" means remuneration or compensation an employee receives in return for services rendered to an employer, including hourly wages, overtime wages, commissions, piece rate work, salary, bonuses, or any other basis of calculation for services performed.
Next steps
If you have 100 or more employees in Illinois and are required to file an annual EEO-1 with the EEOC, make sure you comply with the Illinois pay data reporting requirements, as amended.
Thank you,
ADP