If you are part of an Illinois company with 4 or more employees, you are required to abide by the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003. This act stipulates how employees' wages must compare with one another, and specifies the circumstances under which there may be a discrepancy in wage equality among employees. Its most fundamental premise is that employees may not be paid differently on the basis of gender, and that men and women with equal skill levels, who perform the same or substantially similar work under the same condition, must be paid the same wages and enjoy equal rights.
Under this law, the following types of wage disparities may be considered to be acceptable and legal, assuming that they are completely unrelated to an employee's sex:
- If wage disparities are the result of one employee's or one group's seniority over another group or individual, this is considered legal and acceptable.
- If one individual or group earns a pay rise or bonus as the result of improved performance, productivity, or other merit, and this is not as the result of the individual's gender, this is an acceptable practice.
- If disparities in pay rates between two or more plants, campuses, or offices within the same company are the result of differing job responsibilities at those separate locations, or are due to a differing standard wage/local average rate pay at those geographical locations, or are the result of additional hazard pay at one location, this is still considered to be acceptable and legal under this Act, so long as the disparities have nothing to do with gender.
- If any employee is docked wages or loses benefits as the result of demerits related to poor performance or a violation of an employer's policies, this is still considered to be legal, so long as these demerits are not in any way based upon an individual's gender.
- Any differences in pay related to additional training or education completed by one employee or by a group of employees, as compared to another employee lacking such training, is considered to be acceptable practice, so long as the opportunity for such training is not limited to employees of one sex.
- Differences in pay based on the performance of additional/hazardous duties is acceptable and legal under the articles of this Act, so long as the opportunity to perform these additional duties is no limited to employees of one sex or offered only to one employee or group of employees based exclusively on gender.
Additionally, the Equal Pay Act of 2003 lays out a framework for enforcement of these provisions. Included in the Act are provisions for the Illinois Department of Labor to perform inspections of any Illinois employer/workplace in order to assure compliance. The powers of the Illinois Department of Labor also include the right to subpoena any employee as a witness in an investigation regarding violations of the Act. Also, workplaces are required to educate their employees on this Act and the rights afforded to them under it, and this education must include the prominent display of specific posters informing employees to their rights. Furthermore, the Act includes provisions preventing any employee from being disciplined, intimidated, or dismissed for attempting to discuss, question, or report pay disparities, or for testifying in any investigation regarding these disparities.
If you have any questions regarding the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003, please visit the Illinois Department of Labor website, or call their toll-free hotline at 1-866-EPA-IDOL.