By Laurie Silvey, President, Center for Business Management, Illinois Chamber of Commerce
The Illinois legislature was very busy during 2019, leaving HR professionals across the state in need of updated policies, and information on how to handle the multitude of new laws. The Illinois Chamber co-hosted the Sixth Annual New Laws Forum on December 4, in partnership with the Illinois State Council of SHRM. The agenda gave an overview of several important topics by knowledgeable speakers.
The day started off with Jeffrey Risch, partner at SmithAmundsen LLC, giving an update on the variety of new Illinois laws and regulations. He included discussion of the minimum wage increase and overtime law changes, workers’ compensation, and the video interview act. He spoke about the changes to prevailing wage, the BIPA supreme court ruling, and Equal Pay.
Next on stage was Mike Wong of SmithAmundsen, who gave an in-depth review of the legalization of recreational marijuana coming to Illinois in January 2020. Employers want to know if they can continue their zero tolerance drug-free workplace and Mike dissected the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act to make it easier to understand. He also reviewed the medical cannabis law and the specifics. He reviewed legal exposure items that employers need to look at and the fact that marijuana is still an illegal drug under federal law.
During the lunch hour, we were honored to have Jim Bennett, Director of Illinois Department of Human Rights on hand, along with two of his colleagues. They invited the audience to be sure they got all their questions answered on the Amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act.
Vice President of Policy Engagement for SHRM Lisa Horn spoke on the Washington Outlook for Workplace Public Policy. She reviewed the advocacy areas that Congress and the Senate have been looking at over the past year. Workplace flexibility and leave were discussed. She noted that the exempt ruling updates are now in effect. She spoke about proposed sick leave mandates being debated with a paid leave requirement a possibility.
She also spoke about debate regarding workplace immigration, including updates to work visas and proposed E-verify changes. Workforce development is an important issue, with possibilities of employer educational assistance and job training initiatives. The big discussion was about health care and adjustments to the Affordable Care Act including postponement of the Cadillac tax. She also discussed harassment, compensation equity, and culture changes.
Bev Alfon with SmithAmundsen LLC presented on the Anti- Harassment/Omnibus Bill and other EEO Updates. She spoke in-depth about the upcoming requirement for mandatory anti-harassment training, the Workplace Transparency Act, and expansion of employee protections for unlawful discrimination.
She gave multiple practical tips on enforcement of harassment policies. She discussed the specific additional requirements for hotel and casino employers. She finished with the amendments to the Illinois Equal Pay Act.
The event finished with each table of attendees being given a scenario to read and discuss with the audience and the moderators. Jeff Risch was joined by Executive Director of Employment Law Council for the Illinois Chamber Jay Shattuck. They lead a lively discussion about hypothetical situations involving each of the topics that had been discussed today.
The day finished with door prize drawings from our exhibitors. Thank you to SHRM for being our lunch sponsor for the day and to Traliant for sponsoring the break. We also appreciate our exhibitors, Illinois ESGR, IX Solutions, Feel Good, Inc. and SmithAmundsen.