Follow us on LinkedIn to see future Client Alerts.
August 28, 2023
On August 4, 2023, Illinois expanded its Day and Temporary Labor Services Act to include equal pay, safety, and other important provisions, and enacted the Freelance Worker Protection Act.
Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (DTLSA)
Illinois made sweeping changes to its existing Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (DTLSA). The amendments went into effect upon the Governor’s signature on August 4, 2023.
What is the DTLSA?
The DTLSA provides for the regulation of day and temporary labor agencies, establishes worker rights and protections, specifies the duties and responsibilities of day and temporary labor agencies and third party clients, sets forth penalties and enforcement procedures for violations of the law, and requires third party clients that contract with day or temporary labor agencies to verify that they are registered with the Department of Labor or face monetary penalties.
What is day or temporary labor?
The DTLSA defines day and temporary labor as “work performed by a day or temporary laborer at a third party client,” but excludes work “of a professional or clerical nature.”
New equal pay provisions
The amendments to the DTLSA provide that day and temporary workers who are assigned to a client for more than 90 calendar days must receive equal compensation and benefits as compared to their counterparts who are employed directly by the client.
Right to refuse assignment where labor troubles exist
The amendments also require staffing agencies to provide written notice to workers, before dispatch, if they will be working at a jobsite that is experiencing a strike or a lockout. The notice must be written in the workers’ language and must advise workers of their right to refuse the assignment without impacting their receipt of another assignment.
New safety provisions
The amendments further contain safety-related responsibilities for both staffing agencies and their client companies. Prior to assigning a temporary worker to a jobsite, the staffing agency must inquire into the safety and health practices of the client company, inform the temporary worker about known job hazards, offer general safety training about recognized industry hazards, document the training, and advise workers how they can report safety concerns to the client company and to the Illinois Department of Labor.
Additionally, client companies must disclose any anticipated job hazards; review the safety and health awareness training received by the temporary workers from their staffing agencies to ensure it is relevant to their specific industry hazards; offer specific worksite hazard training; and maintain records of such training. Client companies also must provide the training records to the staffing agency within three business days of a worker’s completion of the training.
New enforcement mechanisms and increased penalties
Enforcement mechanisms have changed. The DTLSA amendments allow not just for aggrieved persons to bring a civil action for violations of the statute, but also for “interested parties” to do so. An “interested party” is defined as “an organization that monitors or is attentive to compliance with public or worker safety laws, wage and hour requirements, or other statutory requirements.”
Penalties for violations of the statute also have increased. Staffing agencies and client companies who violate the notice requirements face fines from $100 to $18,000 for the first offense (formerly $6,000) and $250 to $7,500 for repeat violations within three years (formerly $2,500). For violations that impact public health, the Illinois Attorney General may request that the court revoke or suspend the staffing agency’s registration.
Freelance Worker Protection Act (FWPA)
With the recent passing of the Freelance Worker Protection Act (FWPA), Illinois became the first state in the United States to offer protections to freelance workers.
The FWPA defines a freelance worker as a worker who is hired or retained as an independent contractor to provide services in Illinois or for any Illinois-based entity in exchange for at least $500. It specifically does not include: workers performing construction services; workers who perform services as an employee for a construction contractor; workers who are engaged in the traditional employer-employee relationship defined by the Illinois Wage Payment and Collections Act; and all federal, foreign, state, and local governments, which includes school districts.
The FWPA describes three requirements for hiring or retaining a freelance worker:
Freelance workers can seek recourse against contracting entities for violations of the FWPA by filing a complaint with the Illinois Department of Labor or filing a complaint in Illinois circuit court.
The new law becomes effective on July 1, 2024 and will only apply to contracts that take effect after the effective date (i.e., it is not retroactive).
Employers are encouraged to seek counsel when working with day/temporary or freelance workers to ensure compliance with these new laws.
*Special thanks to Brooke Palma, our Office Administrator, 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.
