Illinois Passes Stiff Wage Theft Law

According to Employment Law Watch, “The Illinois Wage Theft Enforcement Act, S.B. 3568 (the "Act"), signed into law July 30, 2010, increases both civil and criminal penalties for violating the state's wage payment law, imposes new risks for employers who ignore or unsuccessfully challenge employees' wage claims, and creates a new cause of action for employees who face retaliation for having complained about unpaid wages.  The Act will take effect January 1, 2011.”

This law is modeled after other recent wage theft laws in that it contains both civil and criminal penalties for misclassification and other forms of wage theft, but it contains an interesting twist in that “The law also allows employees to recover damages from any corporate officer or agent of an employer who knowingly permits the employer to violate the Wage Act.”

ConstructionCitizen.com will be watching to see how fast the suits are filed after the first of the year and how the industry players change to accommodate the new law.