A year of workers’ rights in Illinois

By ELIZABETH DONALD
Illinois Correspondent

Springfield, IL – 2023 was a major year for Labor in Illinois, following 2022’s passage of the Workers’ Rights Amendment with a series of new laws and major court cases that have added more protections for union members and families.

One of the most significant developments in Illinois is the continued increases in the minimum wage. Illinois’ minimum wage rose from $8.25 in 2019 to $13 as of 2023, on track to hit $15 in 2025. When it rises to $14 on Jan. 1, tipped workers will rise to $8.40 an hour and young people under 18 working less than 650 hours a year will rise to $12 an hour.

“Since day one as governor, I’ve made it my mission to put Springfield back on the side of working families,” said Gov. JB Pritzker. “With this new minimum wage increase, we are once again making Illinois a more affordable and equitable place to live for all of our residents.”

LAWS TO BENEFIT WORKERS
But these were hardly the only laws to benefit workers this past year. Here are several more:

• The state legislature approved a requirement that all employers must allow employees five days of paid leave each year for any reason, the first state in the Midwest to mandate such leave. The law took effect on Jan. 1, though some municipalities and employers are attempting to exempt themselves from the law.
  “I couldn’t be prouder that Illinois is officially becoming the first state in the Midwest to mandate paid leave for any reason,” said Pritzker. From raising the minimum wage to enshrining the right to collective bargaining in our state constitution, my administration will continue to support and protect Illinois’ workforce at every turn.”
• Another new law requires employers of more than 50 people must provide six-12 weeks of unpaid leave for parents who lose a child to suicide or homicide; 10 days to serve as an organ donor; and two weeks for employees who lose a family or household member to violence.
• “The loss of a loved one due to violence is a life-changing trauma,” said Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton. “We have a responsibility to lead with empathy and compassion in the wake of such heartache.”
• Illinois passed the Temp Worker Fairness and Safety Act, which requires day and temporary labor service agencies to pay their workers the same as the lowest-paid direct employee of the client company. The act also allowed temporary workers to refuse assignment to companies with an active labor dispute, to avoid becoming scabs during a strike. Gov. JB Pritzker signed the act in August.
• The Freelance Worker Protection Act now requires that freelance workers are to be paid within 30 days of completing their work or as prescribed by the contract, and allows the state to investigate reports of nonpayment.
• The governor signed into law protections for striking workers, who can no longer be sued for unintentional property damage occurring because of a strike; and to allow laborers paid below the prevailing wage the right to recover those lost wages.
• The state amended the Equal Pay Act to require that all employers with 15 or more employees must include the anticipated salary range and benefits on job postings and to circulate the opportunities among current workers. That law takes effect a year from now.
• Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft must provide the same liability coverage as common carriers like taxicabs.
• Interference with picket lines will now be a Class A misdemeanor with a minimum fine of $500, thanks to House Bill 3396.

“The list of successes is long, and we tackled issues that impact working families from creating new opportunities to increase pay equity and transparency with the Equal Pay Scale Act to new prevailing wage provisions and safety protections for our essential workers in the transit industry,” said Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea at the close of the legislative session in June.

OTHER MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Other major developments in Labor included:

• 2023 was the first year under the One Day Rest in Seven Act, which requires at least 24 hours of rest every seven consecutive days for workers. Employees also must be given a meal period of at least 20 minutes for every 7.5-hour shift and a second break if working 12 hours or longer.
• Illinois joined 19 other states in defending the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s authority to establish and enforce workplace safety rules. Allstates Refractory Contractors had sued the federal government, arguing that OSHA was unconstitutional, but Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the other attorneys general argued that OSHA has decreased workplace fatalities by 66 percent and states need to partner with the federal government to help further protect workers from hazards. The appeals court ruled in OSHA’s favor in August.
  “For decades, workplace safety standards have prevented injuries and deaths at job sites in Illinois and across America by holding employers accountable for their workplace conditions,” Raoul said when he announced the Allstates case. “We can’t turn our back on workers and their rights.”
• In July, the state attorney general’s office settled a case investigating GrapeTree Medical Staffing for deducting fees from employees when they missed a shift. GrapeTree was charging a penalty of $50 to $200 on top of reduced wages whenever employees failed to show or canceled within 72 hours. GrapeTree paid nearly $1 million in back wages and interest to 3,000 current and former employees.
• A tip from IBEW Local 197 led to a joint investigation by the attorney general’s office and the Illinois Department of Labor alleging that Rivian Automotive failed to pay overtime wages to Mexican workers at its new construction site in Normal, Ill. Several other corporations were involved, including two in Mexico, one based in Florida and the other in China, and the companies were required to pay $315,000 to 59 workers who were denied their earned wages.
• The Department of Labor subpoenaed records from U.S. Steel after its decision to lay off workers at the Granite City plant, to determine whether the steel company violated the WARN Act by failing to give sufficient notice to laid-off workers.
• In addition to enforcement and adding new laws, the Department of Labor partnered with five community groups across the state to raise women’s awareness of equal pay rights and holding roundtable meetings with groups to help identify and support students at risk for child labor violations.
• In Baro v. Lake County Federation of Teachers Local 504, the courts ruled that the union did not violate the First Amendment by deducting union dues for a teacher who signed up to join a union and then alleged she did not know it was optional under the Janus decision. Union rules required that the teacher had to wait until the following August to resign and cease dues collection, and the teacher sued under the Janus v. AFSCME decision of 2018. The court of appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss the case, as the paperwork clearly stated it was voluntary.

In his remarks to the Southwestern Illinois Central Labor Council on Dec. 19, council President Scot Luchtefeld called on Metro East Labor leaders to pay close attention to politics and legislation in the coming year, especially with the presidential election looming.

“This president has done more for Labor than probably any president since Johnson in just the short time he’s been here,” Luchtefeld said. “He’s really done it for Labor, and we need to remember that… If we don’t (educate our members), we will be paying the price.”