Illinois Governor Signs One Day Rest in Seven Act Amendment Into Law

On Might 13, 2022, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed into regulation Senate Invoice (SB) 3146, an modification to the One Day Relaxation In Seven Act (ODRISA). ODRISA gives meal breaks to all staff and a consecutive twenty-four hour relaxation interval to most staff. The amendments are efficient January 1, 2023.

New Definition of the Consecutive Twenty-4 Hour Relaxation Interval

At present, employers are required to supply most staff with a minimum of twenty-four consecutive hours of relaxation in each “calendar week,” which is outlined as Sunday at 12:01 a.m. to midnight on Saturday. The modification has deleted “calendar week” and as an alternative gives that starting subsequent 12 months, employers should permit most staff “a minimum of twenty-four consecutive hours of relaxation in each consecutive seven-day interval.”

Extra Meal Breaks

ODRISA additionally requires a compulsory unpaid twenty-minute meal break for any worker who’s to work for seven-and-one-half steady hours or longer, which should be supplied inside the first 5 hours of labor.

The modification gives that “[a]n worker who works in extra of 7½ steady hours shall be entitled to an further 20-minute meal interval for each further 4½ steady hours labored.” (Emphasis added.) The modification specifies that “a meal interval doesn’t embody cheap time spent utilizing the restroom amenities.”

New Notification Necessities

The amended ODRISA would require employers to “put up and hold posted, in a number of conspicuous locations” the place notices are usually posted, a discover supplied by the director of the Illinois Division of Labor (IDOL) “summarizing the necessities of [ODRISA] and data pertaining to the submitting of a criticism.” For “staff who don’t repeatedly report back to a bodily office, and as an alternative work remotely or journey for work,” employers shall be required to “present the discover by e-mail … or on a web site, repeatedly utilized by the employer to speak work-related data, that every one staff are capable of repeatedly entry, freely and with out interference.”

New Penalties for Violations

Essentially the most vital adjustments to ODRISA are the brand new penalties for violations of the remaining and meal break intervals. Particularly, the modification gives that an employer that violates ODRISA’s relaxation and meal break provisions “shall be responsible of a civil offense” (beforehand, a “petty offense”). The penalties are as follows:

• “For an employer with fewer than 25 staff, a penalty to not exceed $250 per offense, payable to the Division of Labor, and damages of as much as $250 per offense, payable to the worker or staff affected.”

• “For an employer with 25 or extra staff, a penalty to not exceed $500 per offense, payable to the Division of Labor, and damages of as much as $500 per offense, payable to the worker or staff affected.”

An “offense” underneath ODRISA “shall be decided on a person foundation for every worker whose rights are violated” as follows:

• “Every week that an worker is discovered to not have been allowed 24 consecutive hours of relaxation … shall represent a separate offense.”

• “Every day that an worker is discovered to not have been supplied a meal interval … shall represent a separate offense.”

A violation of the notification necessities will represent a single offense and be topic to a civil penalty to not exceed $250, payable to the IDOL.

IDOL Director’s Authority

The modification gives that the director of the IDOL “shall implement [ODRISA] in accordance with the Illinois Administrative Process Act.” For contested circumstances, the IDOL director shall have the authority afforded underneath the Illinois Administrative Process Act, which incorporates, “however [is] not restricted to, provisions for depositions, subpoena energy and procedures, and discovery and protecting order procedures.”