Illinois Employment Law Update – December 2018

Equal Pay Act and African Americans

On November 28, 2018, the Illinois State Congress overrode the governor’s amendatory veto and amended the Equal Pay Act. With the amendment, the act now provides that where an African-American employee and a non-African-American employee perform the same or substantially similar work on jobs that require equal skill, effort, and responsibility under similar working conditions, an employer must pay both employees the same wages. However, the act does not cover when payment is made under:

• A seniority system;
• A merit system;
• A system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or
• A differential based on any other factor other than race, or a factor that would constitute unlawful discrimination under the Illinois Human Rights Act.

The law became effective November 28, 2018.

Read IL H.B. 4743