CHICAGO - There have been so many changes to Illinois employment regulations in recent months, employers may find it difficult to keep up.
Alexander Reich, an attorney with the firm of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr, told the Cook County Record that some of these changes may hurt small businesses most of all.
“There has been just a rush of changes across the board in Illinois employment laws that it is really important that employers stay on top of the changes and (remain) compliant,” he said. “There have been so many changes lately that I think some are bound to slip through the cracks - especially for smaller employers and employers with less-sophisticated HR systems. It is just tough to keep up with all of these changes.”
Alexander Reich
| Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr
One such change allows employees with discrimination complaints to opt out of the investigation process conducted by the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR).
Reich said it did not remove IDHR from the equation, “because before anyone can file a charge of discrimination there is still a requirement that you ‘exhaust administrative remedies.’ That means before an employee can file a lawsuit they have to file an administrative charge.
"That hoop is still there to jump through. They still have to clear that burden. The difference now is that as soon as you file in the IDHR, you can immediately say ‘Okay, now I want to file a lawsuit,'” Reich said.
The benefits of staying along the IDHR path would be for an employee who did not want to cause too much damage to the relationship with the employer, Reich said.
“Someone might stay in the IDHR if perhaps they wanted to work out an agreeable settlement without alienating the employer," he explained. "So, for instance, if somebody wants to settle their claim and may want to continue working for that employer. They don’t want too much friction by filing a lawsuit so they may remain in the IDHR.”
Employers also must be mindful of the state Supreme Court's recent decision regarding the ability of employees and others to bring legal actions under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
“Plaintiffs don’t need actual damages to sustain a lawsuit in violation of this act,” Reich said. “It applies to employers, for example, if employers use employee thumbprints to clock in and out for hourly employees.”
He added that there were a lot of rules about how you can treat the biometric digital material.
“Any employer that does not follow those rules precisely are open to a lawsuit,” he said.
A potential upcoming change that employers can watch for is a proposed amendment to the state’s Human Rights Act, which has only applied to employers with 15 or more workers, according to Reich.
He said the proposed amendment “would make this law applicable to all employers regardless of how many employees they have.” He noted that could hurt a lot of smaller employers, but it was still unclear if it would pass.
“I think it could face some trouble because it would be so expansive, but what we have been seeing is a trend towards more employee-friendly regulation,” he said.
Reich advised employers to get in touch with a labor attorney to have their documents reviewed.