​Beginning July 1, 2022, any Chicago employer who has work locations in Chicago must comply with new sexual harassment prevention training and other requirements.
The Chicago Commission on Human Relations recently amended Chicago’s Human Rights Ordinance.  The amended Ordinance enhances sexual harassment protections and requires employers to implement annual training programs for employees located in the City of Chicago. These rules are stricter than Illinois requirements.
What does the amended Ordinance entail?
Enhanced Definition of “Sexual Harassment” 
Under the amended Ordinance, “sexual harassment” now explicitly includes “sexual misconduct,” i.e., “any behavior of a sexual nature which also involves coercion, abuse of authority, or misuse of an individual’s employment position.” 
 
Covered employers are required to:

• Provide annual training for employees (1 hour) and supervisors (2 hours) on sexual harassment prevention and bystander intervention (1 hour).
• Adopt/update a written sexual harassment policy.
• Display a poster in a conspicuous area in the workplace

The first trainings must occur by June 30, 2023.
Sexual harassment policy.
All city of Chicago employers must have a written policy (by July 1, 2022) including:

• A statement that sexual harassment and retaliation for reporting same are illegal in Chicago;
• The definition of “sexual harassment” which, unlike federal or state law, includes sexual misconduct (“any behavior of a sexual nature involving coercion, abuse of authority, or misuse of an individual’s employment position.”)
• The annual training requirements for sexual harassment prevention and bystander intervention;
• Examples of conduct that constitutes sexual harassment; and
• Employee resources, including:
  • How to report allegations of sexual harassment internally (e.g. to a manager, corporate headquarters, or HR); and
  • Legal services, including governmental services, available to individuals who may have experienced sexual harassment.

The written policy must be available in employees’ primary language within the first week of their employment.
Poster. Conspicuously display (in English and Spanish), in at least 1 location where employees commonly gather (or online if remote), posters designed by the Chicago Commission on Human Relations (the Commission), which can be found on their website:
https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/cchr/supp_info/SexualHarassment/sh-poster/SHPosterBusinesses.pdf
Other Changes and Procedures 
Longer statute of limitations. Employees now have 365 days (not 300) after a violation to file a complaint.
Records. Businesses must retain for at least 5 years (or for the duration of any claim, civil action or investigation pending, if longer), records regarding their sexual harassment policy, training, and compliance with the ordinance.
Penalties. Fines range from $500 to $1,000 per violation. Every day that a violation continues is considered a separate and distinct offense.
Next Steps
If you are a covered employer, review/update or creation of a written sexual harassment policy is crucial. Obtain and display the posters by July 1. Next, make arrangements to provide the new training by June 30, 2023 (though the State of Illinois requires Sexual Harassment training each calendar year).
The updated training and bystander intervention training will be available through my alliance with EasyLlama by the end of July, 2022.
Please contact me for further information about required trainings and to update your policy. 

​Have you conducted your required (all Illinois employers are obligated to do so) sexual harassment training for 2020 yet? If not, you only have three months left to do so!
The Illinois Human Rights Act was amended last year to require all employers to conduct annual sexual harassment training, beginning in 2020. This training must be complete by December 31, 2020. The IL Dept. of Human Rights (IDHR) has made it clear that the December 31, 2020, deadline has not changed, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
While there are several content requirements, this training can easily be conducted online.
Full disclosure – you should be aware that the IDHR has released a model training program that contains the minimum necessary requirements. You can use this program to train your employees. However, R&R Human Resources Solutions is available to assist in the development and implementation of a training program customized to your workplace. We have provided anti-harassment training for many years. New in 2020, we are offering an additional option, we have teamed up with Dr. Lisa Kaplin, Psychologist/Coach to offer a state compliant program that combines what is required under the law along with understanding unconscious bias and providing tools to build and sustain a culturally sensitive work environment. Our program is entitled, "“Building a Sensitive Workplace, Promoting a Culture of Respect”. 

On April 30, Governor Pritzker issued an Executive Order extending Illinois’s Stay-at-Home mandate until May 30.

1. The order, effective May 1, requires all Illinois employers with employees physically reporting to the workplace to post direction regarding workplace safety during the pandemic. Click here for the notice.
2. Employers much provide employees with face coverings and require employees to wear such face coverings when maintaining a six-foot social distance is not possible at all times.
3. Businesses should enable remote work “when possible”.
4. In addition to the face covering requirement, the order states that if work circumstances require, businesses must provide employees with other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

In other news, the new Form I-9 is required to be used beginning May 1, 2020. The new form has minor changes but nonetheless all businesses are required to begin using it immediately. Click here for the new form. 

Additional guidance continues to be provided on the FFCRA which went into effect on April 1, 2020.
 
The Department of Labor (DOL) has published (at last count) 59 FAQ’s available here regarding paid sick and family leave requirements under the FFCRA.  I have found this source to be extremely helpful in interpreting the new laws.
 
Stay-At-Home Orders: The DOL has confirmed that an employee subject to Stay-At-Home, Shelter-InPlace, or other government quarantine order may not take paid sick leave where the employer does not have work for the employee, or if an employee subject to a quarantine or isolation order is able to telework.  Therefore, the employee may not take Emergency Paid Sick Leave, if (a) the employer has work for the employee to perform; (b) the employer permits the employee to perform that work from the location where the employee is being quarantined or isolated; and (c) there are no extenuating circumstances that prevent the employee from performing that work, such as a power outage preventing the employee from teleworking.
 
The regulations are clear that, while using emergency paid sick leave for any qualifying reason, an employer cannot require an employee to use other paid time off benefits at the same time, such as paid vacation or personal leave. Nor can the employer require an employee to use existing paid time off benefits before Emergency Paid Sick Leave. Other information includes:

• Leave to care for an “individual” only covers immediate family members, people in the household and other similar people.
• Where leave is to care for a child aged 15-18, and provided that work is during daylight hours, employee must provide special justification of their need for leave.
• In order for employers to receive the tax credits and for employees to receive paid leave, the employee must make a written request for paid leave and provide supporting documentation, after first providing oral notice of the need for leave. The written request and supporting documentation must be maintained for four years.  Advance notice is required only when the need for leave is to care for a child due to a school closure or This notice can be provided by an employee’s representative (e.g., spouse, adult family member, or other responsible party).
• A sample “Request for Emergency Paid Sick Leave” form for you to use is available here.

 
Small Business Exemption: The FFCRA provides that businesses with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt from the Act's paid sick and family leave requirements if providing such leave will "jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern" and an authorized officer determines:
1.  Such leave would cause the employer’s expenses and financial obligations to exceed available revenue and cause the business to cease operating at a minimal capacity;
2.  the absences would—for specified reasons—create a substantial risk to the business’s financial health or operational capabilities; or
3.  the employer would not be able to operate at a minimal capacity because it would have insufficient workers to perform the labor or services provided by the absent employees.
 
For the above reasons, the small employer may deny paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave to an otherwise eligible employee. Employers using this exemption should retain these records for their own files
 
Tax Credits Procedures: Employers will claim the credits on their quarterly federal payroll tax returns, but they can receive immediate reimbursement in anticipation of the credits by reducing their federal payroll tax deposits by the amount of any qualified sick leave or expanded FMLA leave paid to employees. If insufficient federal payroll taxes are withheld to cover the amount of the credits, an eligible employer may request an advance payment of the credits from the IRS by submitting a Form 7200. The IRS expects to begin processing these requests in April 2020.
 
Do you have additional HR questions?
Contact me at [email protected]

The most significant detail you need to know is that the WTA amends the Illinois Human Rights Act and requires ALL Illinois employers to provide annual sexual harassment prevention training to their employees. The training required must meet several content requirements, including:

• Be interactive;
• Explain sexual harassment and provide examples;
• Provide a summary of relevant federal and state provisions regarding sexual harassment, including remedies available to victims of sexual harassment;
• Describe the employer's responsibilities in the prevention, investigation, and corrective measures of sexual harassment.

​R&R Human Resources Solutions has provided anti-harassment training for many years. New in 2020, we are teaming up with Dr. Lisa Kaplin, Psychologist/Coach to offer a state compliant program that combines what is required under the law along with understanding unconscious bias and providing tools to build and sustain a culturally sensitive work environment. Our program is entitled, "“Building a Sensitive Workplace, Promoting a Culture of Respect”.

Please contact me for further details on providing this program to your organization.

​In cases involving unlawful discrimination based on pregnancy, disability or sexual harassment, the IHRA applies to employers with 1 or more employees. A new law passed in 2018 amends the posting and notice requirements of the IHRA. All employers are required to post this notice in their Illinois workplaces Illinois Human Rights Poster.

​
Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003

Most, if not all, employment application forms ask for an applicant’s salary history and plenty of employers discuss salary history during the interview process. On July 31, 2019, Governor JB Pritzker signed a bill into law amending the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 (“IEPA”). Illinois will join the growing number of states that prohibit employers from inquiring about an applicant’s wages or salary history. Employers must act quickly to comply, as the amendments will be effective on September 29, 2019.

Under the new IEPA amendments, Illinois employers may not:

• Screen job applicants based on their current or prior wage or salary histories (including benefits or other compensation) by requiring that such histories satisfy minimum or maximum criteria;
• Request or require (from an applicant or his/her current or former employer) an applicant’s wage or salary history as a condition of the applicant (a) being considered (or continuing to be considered) for employment or for an offer of compensation and/or (b) being interviewed; or
• Request or require that a job applicant disclose his/her wage or salary history as a condition of employment.
• Similarly, an employer may not refuse to hire an applicant, or take adverse action against an employee, for refusing to comply with any wage or salary history inquiry.

There is no exclusion that an employer cannot provide information about its wages, benefits or compensation or from discussing the applicant’s expectations regarding wages, benefits or compensation. Further, the employer will not violate the IEPA if the applicant “voluntarily and without prompting” discloses his or her current or prior wage or salary history, provided that the employer does not consider or rely on the voluntary disclosures as a factor in determining whether to make an offer.
With this, employers should:

• Review and remove wage and salary history questions from their hiring procedures and forms. Click here for a compliant employment application.
• Train personnel involved in the hiring process so they understand that they cannot solicit salary history from applicants and what they should do if applicants voluntarily disclose such information.