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January 11, 2024
We previously reported on upcoming changes to Illinois law for 2024 (Illinois Expands Its Current Leave of Absence Laws and Paid Leave for All Workers Is Coming to Illinois, Effective January 1, 2024). Below are some other laws, which became effective on January 1, 2024, of which you should be aware.
Illinois Amends Its Gender Violence Act to Include Employers
What is the Gender Violence Act?
In effect since 2004, the Gender Violence Act created a civil cause of action for any person subjected to gender-related violence to sue the person who committed the act of violence and seek damages, injunctive relief, or other appropriate relief.
What is considered gender-related violence?
Gender-related violence is defined as a form of sex discrimination and includes any of the following:
The acts do not have to result in criminal charges, prosecution, or conviction to be considered gender-related violence under the statute.
How have the amendments changed the Gender Violence Act?
Effective January 1, 2024, liability under the Gender Violence Act extends to employers. However, an employer will be liable for gender-related violence only if it is committed “(i) while the employee was directly performing the employee’s job duties and the gender-related violence was the proximate cause of the injury; or (ii) while the agent of the employer was directly involved in the gender-related violence and the performance of the contracted work was the proximate cause of the injury.” Proximate cause is defined as a “substantial factor in causing the injury.”
Employer liability also is limited to situations where the employer (i) failed to supervise, train, or monitor the employee who engaged in the gender-related violence; or (ii) failed to investigate complaints or reports of similar conduct by the employee or agent that were provided directly to a supervisor, manager, owner, or another person that the employer has designated and failed to take remedial measures in response to such complaints or reports.
Actions against employers must be commenced within four years after the cause of action accrues unless the complainant is a minor, in which case the action must be commenced within four years after the complainant reaches 18 years of age.
Employer Takeaways
Employers: Make sure you are providing sexual harassment prevention training as required by the Illinois Human Rights Act. If you are, you may use that training as an affirmative defense to an action under the Gender Violence Act. In addition, take seriously any allegation of discrimination or harassment and conduct thoughtful, thorough, and documented investigations of them.
Illinois Requires Electronic Notice to Remote Workers Regarding Employment Laws
Effective January 1, 2024, Illinois employers that employ workers who do not report regularly to a physical workplace are required to provide work-related notices electronically. Employers can satisfy the electronic distribution requirement by sending notices via email or by posting the notices conspicuously on their website or intranet. See HB 3733.
The electronic distribution requirement applies to the following laws:
In addition to amending the four laws above, this new law amends the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act to require day and temporary labor service agencies that communicate with their workers by electronic means to provide all required notices by email or on a website. The notices must be in “English and any other language generally understood in the locale of the day and temporary labor service agency.”
Employers should review this new law and update their notification practices.
*Special thanks to Ava Petrellese, our Paralegal, for her contributions to this article.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Illinois, Pennsylvania, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
[1] The inclusion of acts of “domestic violence” is new to the statute as a result of the 2024 amendments.
