Rights Act – A little about it…

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The Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights Act (IL Public Act 099-0758) for Illinois domestic employees goes into effect Jan. 1, 2017.
This Act grants rights to domestic workers afforded by four other Illinois pieces of legislation: the Illinois Human Rights Act, Illinois Minimum Wage Law, Illinoiw Wages of Women and Minors Act, and the Illinois One Day in Seven Act. If you, or someone you know is a domestic worker, or you employ people to work within your household, you’ll need to become familiar with this act.
Here’s a link to a pdf of the Act: http://www.ilga.gov/legisl…/publicacts/99/PDF/099-0758.pdf

Public Act 099-0758
HB1288 Enrolled LRB099 05152 JLS 25181 b
    AN ACT concerning employment.
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights Act.
    Section 5. Purpose and findings. Domestic workers play a
critical role in Illinois' economy, working to ensure the
health and prosperity of Illinois families and freeing others
to participate in the workforce. Despite the value of their
work, domestic workers have historically been excluded from the
protections under State law extended to workers in other
industries. Domestic workers are predominantly women who labor
to support families and children of their own and who receive
low pay and minimal or no benefits. Without clear standards
governing their workplaces, and working alone and behind closed
doors, domestic workers are among the most isolated and
vulnerable workforce in the State. Workforce projections are
one of growth for domestic workers, but the lack of decent pay
and other workplace protections undermines the likelihood of
building and maintaining a reliable and experienced workforce
that is able to meet the needs of Illinois families. Therefore,
the General Assembly finds that because domestic workers care
for the most important elements of Illinoisans' lives, our
families and our homes, it is in the interest of employees,
employers, and the people of Illinois to ensure that the rights
of domestic workers are respected, protected, and enforced and
that this Act shall be interpreted liberally to aid this
purpose.
    Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
    "Domestic work" means:
        (1) housekeeping;
        (2) house cleaning;
        (3) home management;
        (4) nanny services including childcare and child
    monitoring;
        (5) caregiving, personal care or home health services
    for elderly persons or persons with an illness, injury, or
    disability who require assistance in caring for
    themselves;
        (6) laundering;
        (7) cooking;
        (8) companion services;
        (9) chauffeuring; or
        (10) other household services for members of
    households or their guests in or about a private home or
    residence or any other location where the domestic work is
    performed.
    "Domestic worker" means a person employed to perform
domestic work. "Domestic worker" does not include: (i) a person
performing domestic work who is the employer's parent, spouse,
child, or other member of his or her immediate family,
exclusive of individuals whose primary work duties are
caregiving, companion services, personal care or home health
services for elderly persons or persons with an illness,
injury, or disability who require assistance in caring for
themselves; (ii) child and day care home providers
participating in the child care assistance program under
Section 9A-11 of the Illinois Public Aid Code; (iii) a person
who is employed by one or more employers in or about a private
home or residence or any other location where the domestic work
is performed for 8 hours or less in the aggregate in any
workweek on a regular basis, exclusive of individuals whose
primary work duties are caregiving, companion services,
personal care or home health services for elderly persons or
persons with an illness, injury, or disability who require
assistance in caring for themselves; or (iv) a person who the
employer establishes: (A) has been and will continue to be free
from control and direction over the performance of his or her
work, both under a contract of service and in fact; (B) is
engaged in an independently established trade, occupation,
profession or business; or (C) is deemed a legitimate sole
proprietor or partnership. A sole proprietor or partnership
shall be deemed to be legitimate if the employer establishes
that:
        (1) the sole proprietor or partnership is performing
    the service free from the direction or control over the
    means and manner of providing the service, subject only to
    the right of the employer for whom the service is provided
    to specify the desired result;
        (2) the sole proprietor or partnership is not subject
    to cancellation or destruction upon severance of the
    relationship with the employer;
        (3) the sole proprietor or partnership has a
    substantial investment of capital in the sole
    proprietorship or partnership beyond ordinary tools and
    equipment and a personal vehicle;
        (4) the sole proprietor or partnership owns the capital
    goods and gains the profits and bears the losses of the
    sole proprietorship or partnership;
        (5) the sole proprietor or partnership makes its
    services available to the general public on a continuing
    basis;
        (6) the sole proprietor or partnership includes
    services rendered on a Federal Income Tax Schedule as an
    independent business or profession;
        (7) the sole proprietor or partnership performs
    services for the contractor under the sole
    proprietorship's or partnership's name;
        (8) when the services being provided require a license
    or permit, the sole proprietor or partnership obtains and
    pays for the license or permit in the sole proprietorship's
    or partnership's name;
        (9) the sole proprietor or partnership furnishes the
    tools and equipment necessary to provide the service;
        (10) if necessary, the sole proprietor or partnership
    hires its own employees without approval of the employer,
    pays the employees without reimbursement from the employer
    and reports the employees' income to the Internal Revenue
    Service;
        (11) the employer does not represent the sole
    proprietorship or partnership as an employee of the
    employer to the public; and
        (12) the sole proprietor or partnership has the right
    to perform similar services for others on whatever basis
    and whenever it chooses.
    "Employ" includes to suffer or permit to work.
    "Employee" means a domestic worker.
    "Employer" means: any individual; partnership;
association; corporation; limited liability company; business
trust; employment and labor placement agency where wages are
made directly or indirectly by the agency or business for work
undertaken by employees under hire to a third party pursuant to
a contract between the business or agency with the third party;
the State of Illinois and local governments, or any political
subdivision of the State or local government, or State or local
government agency; for which one or more persons is gainfully
employed, express or implied, whether lawfully or unlawfully
employed, who employs a domestic worker or who exercises
control over the domestic worker's wage, remuneration, or other
compensation, hours of employment, place of employment, or
working conditions, or whose agent or any other person or group
of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an
employer in relation to the employee exercises control over the
domestic worker's wage, remuneration or other compensation,
hours of employment, place of employment, or working
conditions.
    Section 90. Severability. The provisions of this Act are
severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
    Section 92. The Illinois Human Rights Act is amended by
changing Section 2-101 as follows:
    (775 ILCS 5/2-101)  (from Ch. 68, par. 2-101)
    Sec. 2-101. Definitions. The following definitions are
applicable strictly in the context of this Article.
    (A) Employee.
        (1) "Employee" includes:
            (a) Any individual performing services for
        remuneration within this State for an employer;
            (b) An apprentice;
            (c) An applicant for any apprenticeship.
        For purposes of subsection (D) of Section 2-102 of this
    Act, "employee" also includes an unpaid intern. An unpaid
    intern is a person who performs work for an employer under
    the following circumstances:
            (i) the employer is not committed to hiring the
        person performing the work at the conclusion of the
        intern's tenure;
            (ii) the employer and the person performing the
        work agree that the person is not entitled to wages for
        the work performed; and
            (iii) the work performed:
                (I) supplements training given in an
            educational environment that may enhance the
            employability of the intern;
                (II) provides experience for the benefit of
            the person performing the work;
                (III) does not displace regular employees;
                (IV) is performed under the close supervision
            of existing staff; and
                (V) provides no immediate advantage to the
            employer providing the training and may
            occasionally impede the operations of the
            employer.
        (2) "Employee" does not include:
            (a) (Blank); Domestic servants in private homes;
            (b) Individuals employed by persons who are not
        "employers" as defined by this Act;
            (c) Elected public officials or the members of
        their immediate personal staffs;
            (d) Principal administrative officers of the State
        or of any political subdivision, municipal corporation
        or other governmental unit or agency;
            (e) A person in a vocational rehabilitation
        facility certified under federal law who has been
        designated an evaluee, trainee, or work activity
        client.
    (B) Employer.
        (1) "Employer" includes:
            (a) Any person employing 15 or more employees
        within Illinois during 20 or more calendar weeks within
        the calendar year of or preceding the alleged
        violation;
            (b) Any person employing one or more employees when
        a complainant alleges civil rights violation due to
        unlawful discrimination based upon his or her physical
        or mental disability unrelated to ability, pregnancy,
        or sexual harassment;
            (c) The State and any political subdivision,
        municipal corporation or other governmental unit or
        agency, without regard to the number of employees;
            (d) Any party to a public contract without regard
        to the number of employees;
            (e) A joint apprenticeship or training committee
        without regard to the number of employees.
        (2) "Employer" does not include any religious
    corporation, association, educational institution,
    society, or non-profit nursing institution conducted by
    and for those who rely upon treatment by prayer through
    spiritual means in accordance with the tenets of a
    recognized church or religious denomination with respect
    to the employment of individuals of a particular religion
    to perform work connected with the carrying on by such
    corporation, association, educational institution, society
    or non-profit nursing institution of its activities.
    (C) Employment Agency. "Employment Agency" includes both
public and private employment agencies and any person, labor
organization, or labor union having a hiring hall or hiring
office regularly undertaking, with or without compensation, to
procure opportunities to work, or to procure, recruit, refer or
place employees.
    (D) Labor Organization. "Labor Organization" includes any
organization, labor union, craft union, or any voluntary
unincorporated association designed to further the cause of the
rights of union labor which is constituted for the purpose, in
whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with
employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of
employment, or apprenticeships or applications for
apprenticeships, or of other mutual aid or protection in
connection with employment, including apprenticeships or
applications for apprenticeships.
    (E) Sexual Harassment. "Sexual harassment" means any
unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors or any
conduct of a sexual nature when (1) submission to such conduct
is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of
an individual's employment, (2) submission to or rejection of
such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for
employment decisions affecting such individual, or (3) such
conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering
with an individual's work performance or creating an
intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.
    (F) Religion. "Religion" with respect to employers
includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as
well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is
unable to reasonably accommodate an employee's or prospective
employee's religious observance or practice without undue
hardship on the conduct of the employer's business.
    (G) Public Employer. "Public employer" means the State, an
agency or department thereof, unit of local government, school
district, instrumentality or political subdivision.
    (H) Public Employee. "Public employee" means an employee of
the State, agency or department thereof, unit of local
government, school district, instrumentality or political
subdivision. "Public employee" does not include public
officers or employees of the General Assembly or agencies
thereof.
    (I) Public Officer. "Public officer" means a person who is
elected to office pursuant to the Constitution or a statute or
ordinance, or who is appointed to an office which is
established, and the qualifications and duties of which are
prescribed, by the Constitution or a statute or ordinance, to
discharge a public duty for the State, agency or department
thereof, unit of local government, school district,
instrumentality or political subdivision.
    (J) Eligible Bidder. "Eligible bidder" means a person who,
prior to a bid opening, has filed with the Department a
properly completed, sworn and currently valid employer report
form, pursuant to the Department's regulations. The provisions
of this Article relating to eligible bidders apply only to bids
on contracts with the State and its departments, agencies,
boards, and commissions, and the provisions do not apply to
bids on contracts with units of local government or school
districts.
    (K) Citizenship Status. "Citizenship status" means the
status of being:
        (1) a born U.S. citizen;
        (2) a naturalized U.S. citizen;
        (3) a U.S. national; or
        (4) a person born outside the United States and not a
    U.S. citizen who is not an unauthorized alien and who is
    protected from discrimination under the provisions of
    Section 1324b of Title 8 of the United States Code, as now
    or hereafter amended.
(Source: P.A. 97-877, eff. 8-2-12; 98-1037, eff. 1-1-15;
98-1050, eff. 1-1-15; revised 10-3-14.)
    Section 93. The Minimum Wage Law is amended by changing
Section 3 as follows:
    (820 ILCS 105/3)  (from Ch. 48, par. 1003)
    Sec. 3. As used in this Act:
    (a) "Director" means the Director of the Department of
Labor, and "Department" means the Department of Labor.
    (b) "Wages" means compensation due to an employee by reason
of his employment, including allowances determined by the
Director in accordance with the provisions of this Act for
gratuities and, when furnished by the employer, for meals and
lodging actually used by the employee.
    (c) "Employer" includes any individual, partnership,
association, corporation, limited liability company, business
trust, governmental or quasi-governmental body, or any person
or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the
interest of an employer in relation to an employee, for which
one or more persons are gainfully employed on some day within a
calendar year. An employer is subject to this Act in a calendar
year on and after the first day in such calendar year in which
he employs one or more persons, and for the following calendar
year.
    (d) "Employee" includes any individual permitted to work by
an employer in an occupation, and includes, notwithstanding
subdivision (1) of this subsection (d), one or more domestic
workers as defined in Section 10 of the Domestic Workers' Bill
of Rights Act, but does not include any individual permitted to
work:
        (1) For an employer employing fewer than 4 employees
    exclusive of the employer's parent, spouse or child or
    other members of his immediate family.
        (2) As an employee employed in agriculture or
    aquaculture (A) if such employee is employed by an employer
    who did not, during any calendar quarter during the
    preceding calendar year, use more than 500 man-days of
    agricultural or aquacultural labor, (B) if such employee is
    the parent, spouse or child, or other member of the
    employer's immediate family, (C) if such employee (i) is
    employed as a hand harvest laborer and is paid on a piece
    rate basis in an operation which has been, and is
    customarily and generally recognized as having been, paid
    on a piece rate basis in the region of employment, (ii)
    commutes daily from his permanent residence to the farm on
    which he is so employed, and (iii) has been employed in
    agriculture less than 13 weeks during the preceding
    calendar year, (D) if such employee (other than an employee
    described in clause (C) of this subparagraph): (i) is 16
    years of age or under and is employed as a hand harvest
    laborer, is paid on a piece rate basis in an operation
    which has been, and is customarily and generally recognized
    as having been, paid on a piece rate basis in the region of
    employment, (ii) is employed on the same farm as his parent
    or person standing in the place of his parent, and (iii) is
    paid at the same piece rate as employees over 16 are paid
    on the same farm.
        (3) (Blank). In domestic service in or about a private
    home.
        (4) As an outside salesman.
        (5) As a member of a religious corporation or
    organization.
        (6) At an accredited Illinois college or university
    employed by the college or university at which he is a
    student who is covered under the provisions of the Fair
    Labor Standards Act of 1938, as heretofore or hereafter
    amended.
        (7) For a motor carrier and with respect to whom the
    U.S. Secretary of Transportation has the power to establish
    qualifications and maximum hours of service under the
    provisions of Title 49 U.S.C. or the State of Illinois
    under Section 18b-105 (Title 92 of the Illinois
    Administrative Code, Part 395 - Hours of Service of
    Drivers) of the Illinois Vehicle Code.
    The above exclusions from the term "employee" may be
further defined by regulations of the Director.
    (e) "Occupation" means an industry, trade, business or
class of work in which employees are gainfully employed.
    (f) "Gratuities" means voluntary monetary contributions to
an employee from a guest, patron or customer in connection with
services rendered.
    (g) "Outside salesman" means an employee regularly engaged
in making sales or obtaining orders or contracts for services
where a major portion of such duties are performed away from
his employer's place of business.
    (h) "Day camp" means a seasonal recreation program in
operation for no more than 16 weeks intermittently throughout
the calendar year, accommodating for profit or under
philanthropic or charitable auspices, 5 or more children under
18 years of age, not including overnight programs. The term
"day camp" does not include a "day care agency", "child care
facility" or "foster family home" as licensed by the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services.
(Source: P.A. 94-1025, eff. 7-14-06; 95-945, eff. 1-1-09.)
    Section 94. The Wages of Women and Minors Act is amended by
changing Section 1 as follows:
    (820 ILCS 125/1)  (from Ch. 48, par. 198.1)
    Sec. 1. As used in this Act:
    "Department" means the Department of Labor.
    "Director" means the Director of the Department of Labor.
    "Wage Board" means a board created as provided in this Act.
    "Woman" means a female of 18 years or over.
    "Minor" means a person under the age of 18 years.
    "Occupation" means an industry, trade or business or branch
thereof or class of work therein in which women or minors are
gainfully employed, but does not include domestic service in
the home of the employer or labor on a farm.
    "An oppressive and unreasonable wage" means a wage which is
both less than the fair and reasonable value of the services
rendered and less than sufficient to meet the minimum cost of
living necessary for health.
    "A fair wage" means a wage fairly and reasonably
commensurate with the value of the services or class of service
rendered. In establishing a minimum fair wage for any service
or class of service under this Act the Department and the wage
board without being bound by any technical rules of evidence or
procedure (1) may take into account all relevant circumstances
affecting the value of the service or class of service
rendered, and (2) may be guided by like considerations as would
guide a court in a suit for the reasonable value of services
rendered where services are rendered at the request of an
employer without contract as to the amount of the wage to be
paid, and (3) may consider the wages paid in the State for work
of like or comparable character by employers who voluntarily
maintain minimum fair wage standards.
    "A directory order" means an order the nonobservance of
which may be published as provided in Section 9 of this Act.
    "A mandatory order" means an order the violation of which
is subject to the penalties prescribed in paragraph 2 of
Section 15 of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)
    Section 95. The One Day Rest In Seven Act is amended by
changing Section 2 as follows:
    (820 ILCS 140/2)  (from Ch. 48, par. 8b)
    Sec. 2. Hours and days of rest in every calendar week.
    (a) Every employer shall allow every employee except those
specified in this Section at least twenty-four consecutive
hours of rest in every calendar week in addition to the regular
period of rest allowed at the close of each working day.
    A person employed as a domestic worker, as defined in
Section 10 of the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights Act, shall
be allowed at least 24 consecutive hours of rest in every
calendar week. This subsection (a) does not prohibit a domestic
worker from voluntarily agreeing to work on such day of rest
required by this subsection (a) if the worker is compensated at
the overtime rate for all hours worked on such day of rest. The
day of rest authorized under this subsection (a) should,
whenever possible, coincide with the traditional day reserved
by the domestic worker for religious worship.
    (b) Subsection (a) This Section does not apply to the
following:
        (1) Part-time employees whose total work hours for one
    employer during a calendar week do not exceed 20; and
        (2) Employees needed in case of breakdown of machinery
    or equipment or other emergency requiring the immediate
    services of experienced and competent labor to prevent
    injury to person, damage to property, or suspension of
    necessary operation; and
        (3) Employees employed in agriculture or coal mining;
    and
        (4) Employees engaged in the occupation of canning and
    processing perishable agricultural products, if such
    employees are employed by an employer in such occupation on
    a seasonal basis and for not more than 20 weeks during any
    calendar year or 12 month period; and
        (5) Employees employed as watchmen or security guards;
    and
        (6) Employees who are employed in a bonafide executive,
    administrative, or professional capacity or in the
    capacity of an outside salesman, as defined in Section 12
    (a) (1) of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, as
    amended, and those employed as supervisors as defined in
    Section 2 (11) of the National Labor Relations Act, as
    amended; and
        (7) Employees who are employed as crew members of any
    uninspected towing vessel, as defined by Section 2101(40)
    of Title 46 of the United States Code, operating in any
    navigable waters in or along the boundaries of the State of
    Illinois.
(Source: P.A. 92-623, eff. 7-11-02.)
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
1, 2017.

 

Effective Date: 1/1/2017

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