Employers with 100 or more employees in Illinois must apply to obtain an Equal Pay Registration Certificate (EPRC) from the state by March 23, 2024.
Details
In 2021, the state amended the Illinois Equal Pay Act (IEPA) to require that private employers report certain payroll information to the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) and obtain an EPRC. The requirement applies to any private employer that has 100 or more employees in Illinois and is required to file an annual EEO-1 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The IDOL has been assigning each employer a deadline by which it must submit its initial application for an EPRC. Employers that haven’t received a deadline from the IDOL or haven’t yet filed their initial application must do so by March 23, 2024. Covered employers must also obtain an EPRC every two years after their initial one.
To obtain an EPRC, covered employers must certify, among other things, that the average compensation for their female and certain other employees isn’t consistently below the average compensation for their counterparts within each of the major job categories in the EEO-1, taking into account factors such as length of service, requirements of specific jobs, experience, skill, effort, responsibility, working conditions of the job, education or training, job location, use of a collective bargaining agreement, or other mitigating factors.
Next steps
If you have 100 or more employees in Illinois and are required to file an annual EEO-1 with the EEOC, make sure you comply with the Illinois pay data reporting requirements by March 23, 2024.