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Illinois HB-690 Crisis For Business

HB-690 crisis for businessIllinois HB-690 Crisis for Business. If you haven’t heard, this bill is on the verge of driving business – critical business like Manufacturing – out of the state of Illinois. Take action – at the end of this blog you’ll find contact information for your state representative, state senator, and the Governor.

To be clear, the following is our assessment – not a legal opinion. You must draw your own conclusion and form your own opinion.  When you do, we’re sure you will agree that we all must rally and respond before this damages business and industry in Illinois. That means your business, our staffing business, and negatively effected employees. A typical unintended consequence of HB-690 crisis for business will send more critical jobs out of state ultimately hurting the people who live and work here.

The fact that the HB-690 crisis for business has made it this far in the state legislative process is hard to believe. The state’s coffers are empty, and the ongoing exodus of talent, good manufacturing jobs and critical tax-paying industry continues. Negative sentiment through the Illinois Record of Witness feedback system from the industrial tax base was high but was not enough to prevent the motion to move forward with the bill on 5/31/2017.

You can find the Illinois state legislature’s latest revision here: Illinois Legislation HB-690.  Another (more readable) up-to-date version of the bill can be found at LegiScan, here: 5/31/2017 Text posted at LegiScan of Motion to Concur Recommend Be Adopted Adopted (Illinois) Labor & Commerce Committee.

As a major supplier of staffing resources to a number of industries in the greater Chicago area we want to rally as much support to kill this HB-690 crisis for business bill before the momentum carries it through to become law.  PLEASE VOICE YOUR OPINION TO YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND STATE SENATOR.

If you are a manufacturer, logistics provider, or other Illinois-based company using temporary staffing services as part of your operational model, you have a lot to lose.  There are over a dozen critical provisions, but in summary, here’s what this bill will require and why you should care?

There is universal sentiment against the HB-690 crisis for business bill from all staffing industry associations at the national level (ASA) and at the Illinois state level (ISSA). Many state business and industry associations have come out against this bill that was formulated in Urbana. There are unsustainable, if not grave costs to implement.  Consider:

  • Any of the provisions of HB-690 will increase operational expenses for the staffing industry.
  • Those increased costs are ultimately paid by manufacturers, business, and industry that staffing serves.
  • All of the provisions of HB-690 are not practical to implement and likely cannot all be implemented.
  • Employees will be hurt the most when jobs continue to leave the state.
  • Nothing in HB-690 brings additional benefits to employees that good ethical staffing companies don’t already provide.
  • Staffing ERP software must be rewritten to record, track and report compliance – which could take years.
  • Recording, tracking and reporting using non-automated methods and generic technology is not cost effective.
  • Business and personal taxes will increase to support hiring state compliance agents to process paperwork.

Here’s the short summary of our interpretation of what is required under this law. list of what it proposes to make law:

  1. Notify in writing and in advance work schedule changes.  This defeats the purpose and value of staffing agencies ability to provide fast response to your changing needs.
  2. Notify in writing start and term of multi-day assignments.  This is an added cost that has not been an issue for the staffing industry in satisfying their clients needs while building long-term relationships with employees.
  3. Requires keeping records of ethnicity of all applicants and hires.  This presents a number of issues regarding discrimination and the protection of employees under federal law.
  4. Requires keeping record of where, date and time of application, interview, hire/no-hire decision, and communication to applicant.  We already do this in order to be efficient, effective and competitive. Does there really need to be a law to require it?
  5. Requires disclosure of operating expenses and client’s fee structures on Applicant paychecks.  This reduces a staffing agency’s unique value proposition, and and exposes trade secrets ultimately making us unable to serve our clients.
  6. Prohibits applicant from being charged for the cost of consumer credit, criminal background, drug screen, or other test. This is already law and a best practice and is part of the OpEx model for competitive staffing firms.
  7. Requires agency reporting to the IL DOL for total number of temp workers places in permanent positions (temp to hire numbers).  Additional reporting costs time, effort and money. It does not build business in the state.
  8. Requires pay rates to be equal to (no less than) same job at client paid to FTE. This is a fundamental flaw whereby people are paid for the level of skill, quality of work, and output. Your FTE’s should be paid more than the new employee learning the job as a temp to hire staffing employee.
  9. Requires Clients to perform formal job hazard analysis prior to requesting temporary labor – to include in job description. Effective staffing companies already to this. It’s a requirement in order to keep work comp insurance costs in check; why the need for a law?
  10. Extends liability to Client for statutory damages for any infraction under the IL Temp Services Act.  Presently this is a key staffing industry differentiator between good and bad staffing agencies that take this seriously today.
  11. Makes ANY “termination” or “disciplinary action” against a temporary worker w/in 90 days of exercising any rights under the IL Temp Services Act to be considered “retaliation.” Legal term: (“rebuttable presumption”). This provision would reduce the ability to respond to dynamic needs of industry using temporary services.

It’s easy to see that the burden of implementing HB-690 crisis for business is wrong and expensive to all parties including: (A) YOU (a manufacturer/logistics/or other industry using temporary staffing services); (B) Employees in the exponentially growing worker base that prefer to work as temporary workers for staffing companies; and (C) the Staffing Industry at large and all staffing agencies operating in the state of Illinois.

It’s time to expand the voice to all these parties in Springfield.  If you haven’t contacted your legislator, do it now! Find your State Representative at this link. If you haven’t voiced your opinion to the Governor do it now!  Voice your opinion to the Governor at this link.

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