Bill Text: IL HB2698 | 2015-2016 | 99th General Assembly | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act. Provides that an employer that is able to pay wages and who refuses to pay is guilty of a Class 4 felony (rather than a misdemeanor). Provides that a subsequent failure to pay within 5 (rather than 2) years of a prior conviction is a Class 3 (rather than Class 4) felony.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2015-05-15 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [HB2698 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2015-HB2698-Engrossed.html

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HB2698 Engrossed LRB099 05179 JLS 25209 b
AN ACT concerning employment.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act is
amended by changing Section 14 as follows:
(820 ILCS 115/14) (from Ch. 48, par. 39m-14)
Sec. 14. (a) Any employee not timely paid wages, final
compensation, or wage supplements by his or her employer as
required by this Act shall be entitled to recover through a
claim filed with the Department of Labor or in a civil action,
but not both, the amount of any such underpayments and damages
of 2% of the amount of any such underpayments for each month
following the date of payment during which such underpayments
remain unpaid. In a civil action, such employee shall also
recover costs and all reasonable attorney's fees.
(a-5) In addition to the remedies provided in subsections
(a), (b), and (c) of this Section, any employer or any agent of
an employer, who, being able to pay wages, final compensation,
or wage supplements and being under a duty to pay, wilfully
refuses to pay as provided in this Act, or falsely denies the
amount or validity thereof or that the same is due, with intent
to secure for himself or other person any underpayment of such
indebtedness or with intent to annoy, harass, oppress, hinder,

HB2698 Engrossed - 2 - LRB099 05179 JLS 25209 b
delay or defraud the person to whom such indebtedness is due,
upon conviction, is guilty of:
(1) for unpaid wages, final compensation or wage
supplements in the amount of $5,000 or less, a Class 4
felony B misdemeanor; or
(2) for unpaid wages, final compensation or wage
supplements in the amount of more than $5,000, a Class 4
felony A misdemeanor.
Each day during which any violation of this Act continues
shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.
Any employer or any agent of an employer who violates this
Section of the Act a subsequent time within 5 2 years of a
prior criminal conviction under this Section is guilty, upon
conviction, of a Class 3 4 felony.
(b) Any employer who has been demanded or ordered by the
Department or ordered by the court to pay wages, final
compensation, or wage supplements due an employee shall be
required to pay a non-waivable administrative fee to the
Department of Labor in the amount of $250 if the amount ordered
by the Department as wages owed is $3,000 or less; $500 if the
amount ordered by the Department as wages owed is more than
$3,000, but less than $10,000; and $1,000 if the amount ordered
by the Department as wages owed is $10,000 or more. Any
employer who has been so demanded or ordered by the Department
or ordered by a court to pay such wages, final compensation, or
wage supplements and who fails to seek timely review of such a

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demand or order as provided for under this Act and who fails to
comply within 15 calendar days after such demand or within 35
days of an administrative or court order is entered shall also
be liable to pay a penalty to the Department of Labor of 20% of
the amount found owing and a penalty to the employee of 1% per
calendar day of the amount found owing for each day of delay in
paying such wages to the employee. All moneys recovered as fees
and civil penalties under this Act, except those owing to the
affected employee, shall be deposited into the Wage Theft
Enforcement Fund, a special fund which is hereby created in the
State treasury. Moneys in the Fund may be used only for
enforcement of this Act.
(b-5) Penalties and fees under this Section may be assessed
by the Department and recovered in a civil action brought by
the Department in any circuit court or in any administrative
adjudicative proceeding under this Act. In any such civil
action or administrative adjudicative proceeding under this
Act, the Department shall be represented by the Attorney
General.
(c) Any employer, or any agent of an employer, who
discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any
employee because that employee has made a complaint to his
employer, to the Director of Labor or his authorized
representative, in a public hearing, or to a community
organization that he or she has not been paid in accordance
with the provisions of this Act, or because that employee has

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caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this
Act, or because that employee has testified or is about to
testify in an investigation or proceeding under this Act, is
guilty, upon conviction, of a Class C misdemeanor. An employee
who has been unlawfully retaliated against shall be entitled to
recover through a claim filed with the Department of Labor or
in a civil action, but not both, all legal and equitable relief
as may be appropriate. In a civil action, such employee shall
also recover costs and all reasonable attorney's fees.
(Source: P.A. 98-527, eff. 1-1-14.)