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Illinoisans who employ domestic workers like nannies, caregivers
or housekeepers have new policies they must follow like paying
state’s minimum wage law. New rules finalized by the Illinois
Department of Labor announced effective Monday include ensuring
overtime pay, meal times and rest periods.
“The General Assembly has established that domestic workers
deserve the same core labor protections as workers in other
industries,” IDOL Acting Director Jane Flanagan said. “With
these rules, we hope to make domestic workers’ rights on-the-job
clearer and help domestic employers understand their obligations
under the law.”
The rules can be found in the Illinois Register and could be
reviewed by the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative
Rules, a legislative body that oversees administrative rule
making.
Among the updates, the rules define that a bona fide meal break
is 20 minutes and the employer shall maintain pay and time
records for domestic workers.
“In the absence of accurate employer time records, a domestic
worker need only produce sufficient evidence to demonstrate the
amount and extent of compensable time worked as a just and
reasonable inference,” the rule states. “Credible testimony by
the employee is sufficient evidence. The employer must then
produce evidence of the exact amount of work or time earned or
produce evidence to negate the reasonable inferences drawn from
the employee's evidence.”
Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and
other issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of
award-winning broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning
Newsfeed out of Springfield.
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