Although the state of Illinois has not published the final rules regarding the Illinois Equal Pay Act requirements, employers are advised to continue preparing to submit information. A portion of the required information will come from data submitted with EEO-1 reporting, which is set to open April 12.
The state of Illinois has been issuing notices on a rolling basis. To date, the state has issued two rounds of notices, which appear to have been sent to employers who had applied for a registration certificate through the state’s website. Employers receiving the notices have 120 days to submit the required information. Additional notices will continue to be issued, on a rolling basis, and employers with 100 or more employees will have until March 23, 2023, to comply.
Some common questions include:
Q: What information is required?
A: Employers should provide the following:
- A completed application for an Equal Pay Act Registration Certificate and a compliance statement signed by a corporate officer, legal counsel, or authorized agent
- The most recently filed EEO-1 report
- A report of employee-specific compensation data
- A $150 filing fee
Q: What additional information will be required for the employee-specific compensation data?
A: Pay information will need to be provided for all employees, regardless of status, for the last calendar year. This information must be broken down by gender, race/ethnicity, the county where work is performed, the first date of employment, and any additional information the IDOL feels is necessary to settle any questions of pay equity with employees. The IDOL has provided a template employers may use to enter the required information prior to submitting.
Q: What if I haven’t received a notice of my filing deadline from IDOL?
A: Employers who have not received a notice and feel they are required to submit information may still begin preparing to comply. They may:
- Conduct a pay equity audit.
- Address any discovered disparities.
- Review the data template, provided by the state, to ensure the information is available.
- Confirm they have successfully completed the application.
- Confirm the company meets the 100-employee threshold requirement.
Q: How do we determine if we meet the 100-employee threshold?
A: Employers should count any employee, regardless of full-time or part-time status, working in the state of Illinois. Remote employees, working in other states but reporting directly to a headquarters located in Illinois, should also be counted.
Employers falling just under 100 employees should be mindful that filing requirements will change if the employee count rises to or above 100. When that happens, an application will need to be submitted by January 1 the year after reaching that count.
Additional information can be found in the Equal Pay Act FAQ, published by the IDOL. Training slides with information to assist with completing the registration are also available.
Members may also contact the 24/7 HR Hotline at 866.474.6854 (866-HR-HOTLINE) or [email protected].
