Janus Legislation comes to Illinois

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Janus Legislation Comes to Illinois 


November 14, 2019

In a long anticipated legal development, the Illinois General Assembly finally has passed a law that is intended to counteract the perceived adverse effects on union membership caused by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018). On October 29, 2019, the Illinois House of Representatives passed S.B. 1784 by a 93-23 vote. On November 13, 2019, the Illinois Senate approved the bill by a similarly large margin (45 -9). With Governor Pritzker expected to sign the bill in short order, Illinois public employers will soon face a series of new legal obligations and prohibitions with regard to employee dues, disclosure of personal information, and a union’s ability to communicate with employees during work time. Not surprisingly, this new legislation provides for union rights far beyond the “basics” of the Janus decision.

Some of the more significant changes to the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act and Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act made by this legislation will include the following:
  • Employee Information to a Union: “At least once a month and upon request,” an employer will have to provide an Excel spreadsheet to an exclusive bargaining representative that includes each employee’s job title, worksite location, work telephone number, ID number, personal telephone or cell phone number, date of hire, work email address and home email address. The same information for new employees will have to be provided within 10 days of hire.  
  • Disclosure Prohibition: An employer will be prohibited from disclosing to third parties: employee home addresses, dates of birth, personal telephone numbers, personal email addresses, and other information. Written communications between employees and their union also cannot be disclosed. Such unauthorized disclosures will constitute an unfair labor practice, and possibly expose the employer to a state court lawsuit.
  • Union Access to Current Employees During Paid Time: Employers will have to allow union representatives to meet with employees on the employer’s premises in order to investigate and discuss grievances without deduction from the employees’ pay or leave banks. Union representatives also must be allowed to meet with employees on the employers’ premises during lunch and other non-work breaks to discuss other union-related matters, again, without deduction from the employees’ pay or leave banks.
  • Union Meeting with New Employees: Employers must allow unions to meet with all newly hired employees for up to one hour (on paid time) within 10 days of the employee’s hire date.
  • Unions’ Right to Use Bulletin Boards and Mail Boxes: Employers will also be required to allow unions to distribute collective bargaining materials via the employers’ bulletin boards and internal mailbox systems. 
  • Honor Dues Authorization Cards: Employers will be obligated to honor signed dues deduction cards “as written.” Authorization cards can limit an employee’s ability to terminate dues as long as the limitations are “reasonable.” One-year irrevocability periods with a narrow 10-day revocation window will be considered reasonable per se.
  • Dues Withholding During an Employee’s Challenge: Employers will commit an unfair labor practice if they cease collecting dues from an employee even if an employee has made a revocation request. Only when a union advises the employer that the employee’s dues revocation is valid can the employer legally stop withholding dues. An employee’s exclusive remedy for challenging the improper withholding of dues will be to file a claim with the Illinois Labor Relations Board (“ILRB”) or Educational Labor Relations Board (“IELRB”); during such challenges, the employer will be required to continue withholding dues and depositing them into an escrow account maintained by either the union or the labor board. 
  • Requirement for Employers to Refer Employees Inquiries to a Union: Employers may no longer be able to substantively respond to employee inquiries about union membership. Instead, “[t]he employer shall refer all inquiries about union membership to the exclusive bargaining representative, except that the employer may communicate with employees regarding payroll processes and procedures.”  
  • Creation of Policies That Block Third Party Use of Email Systems: Employers cannot intentionally permit third parties to use their email systems to discourage employees from becoming union members or paying unions dues. Employers have a legal obligation to “establish email policies in an effort to prohibit the use of its email system by outside sources.”  
This brief summary only begins to “scratch the surface” of the various rights, obligations, and legal liabilities that are contained in S.B. 1784. Questions remain regarding the interplay between this new law and existing collective bargaining agreements that may address some of the topics described above, such as union access, bulletin board and grievance processing provisions. Please consult with your attorneys at Clark Baird Smith in order to identify legal obligations associated with the new law, including any midterm bargaining obligations.

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The CBS LLP Legal Update is prepared for general information purposes only. Summaries of recent court opinions and other legal developments are not necessarily inclusive of all the recent legal authority of which you should be aware when making your legal decisions. Thus, while every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, you should not act on the information contained herein without seeking more specific legal advice on the application and interpretation of these developments to any particular situation. 
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