Recent Change to Illinois Law Will Significantly Impact Employers; States CriminalBackgroundRecords.com
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On March 23, 2021 the Governor of Illinois signed into law new legislation that will immediately and significantly impact an employers’ ability to review criminal convictions during the pre-employment background screening, thereby creating an immediate call to action for all hiring managers and HR departments to review existing hiring policy. Adam Almeida, President and CEO of CriminalBackgroundRecords.com states: “The scope and immediacy of SB 1480 suggests that hiring managers and HR departments should immediately review all pre-employment background screening policies; subsequent best practice remains to work with a well-qualified third-part screening agency, such as CriminalBackgroundRecords.com to remain complaint with law.”
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Executive Summary: On March 23, 2021, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law Illinois Senate Bill 1480 which amends the Illinois Human Rights Act, the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003, and the Illinois Business Corporation Act, and imposes new obligations on employers. The amendments are available at: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/101/101-0656.htm. The changes include:
Consideration of Criminal Histories under Illinois Human Rights Act
Amendments to Illinois Business Corporations Act regarding employee demographics
New Equal Pay Requirements (including whistleblower protection for reporting violations of the new requirements)
Illinois Human Rights Act Amendment −
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Restrictions on inquiring into, or using, criminal history information are not new to Illinois employers. For years, Illinois employers been precluded from using an applicant’s arrest history when making hiring or other employment decisions. And, in 2015, Illinois joined the list of “ban the box” states by precluding employers with 15+ employees from inquiring into or considering the criminal record or criminal history of an applicant until after the applicant was selected for an interview or had received a conditional offer of employment.
Effective March 23, 2021, the restrictions have tightened again, through amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act (“IHRA”), which borrow concepts from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).
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Earlier this week, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law SB1480, which amended the Illinois Human Rights Act (the Act) in a way that will significantly affect how employers deal with employee conviction records.
What is Prohibited?
Under the amended Act, which takes effect immediately, it is a “civil rights violation” for an employer to use a “conviction record” as a basis for adverse employment decisions, unless:
There is a “substantial relationship” between one or more of the previous criminal offenses and the employment sought or held;
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With Governor Pritzker’s signature to Senate Bill 1480 on March 23, 2021, the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) now prohibits any employer’s use or reliance on a criminal conviction to support an adverse employment action outside of certain narrow exceptions. Indeed, the IHRA now provides that unless
otherwise authorized by law, an employer, when hiring, discharging, or disciplining an employee, may only consider an individual’s conviction history if there is a
substantial relationship between the criminal history and the position sought or held,
or if the employer can show that the individual’s employment raises an