Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
On July 31, 2019, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law HB834, which amends the Illinois Equal Pay Act by restricting employers’ ability to inqure about or use pay history in hiring and compensation decisions. Illinois becomes the eleventh state to enact legislation prohibiting salary history inquiries by private employers. Other states like Michigan and Wisconsin, however, have gone the opposite way passing legislation prohibiting local governments from enacting salary history inquiry ban laws. The No Salary History law, will take effect by October 1, 2019, giving employers just 60 days to adjust their policies and hiring procedures to ensure compliance with the new law.
Since 2003, the Equal Pay Act has prohibited Illinois employers from paying employees who perform “substantially similar work” different pay rates based on their sex or race, though employers are free to pay employees of different sexes or races differently provided that the pay differential is based on factors other than sex or race.
Under the amendments, employers may no longer screen job applicants by requiring that their current or past salary “satisfy minimum or maximum criteria; or to request or require such wage or salary history as a condition of being considered for employment.” Continue reading ›