SB3566 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 20513 AJO 36195 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
SB3566

Introduced 2/10/2010, by Sen. William Delgado

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Abusive Work Environment Act. Provides findings and purposes of the Act; definitions; unlawful employment practices, including abusive work environment and retaliation; employer liability and affirmative defense; employee liability and affirmative defense; relief; procedures and limitations; effect of the Act on other legal relationships; and other matters.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning employment.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Abusive Work Environment Act.

Section 5. Findings and purpose.

(a) Findings. The General Assembly finds that:

(1) The social and economic well-being of the State is dependent upon healthy and productive employees.

(2) Between 37% and 59% of employees directly experience health-endangering workplace bullying, abuse, and harassment, and this mistreatment is approximately 4 times more prevalent than sexual harassment alone.

(3) Workplace bullying, mobbing, and harassment can inflict serious harm upon targeted employees, including feelings of shame and humiliation, severe anxiety, depression, suicidal tendencies, an impaired immune system, hypertension, an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder.

(4) Abusive work environments can have serious consequences for employers, including reduced employee productivity and morale, higher turnover and absenteeism rates, and increases in medical and workers' compensation claims.

(5) If mistreated employees who have been subjected to abusive treatment at work cannot establish that the behavior was motivated by race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, or age, they are unlikely to be protected by the law against such mistreatment.

(6) Legal protection from abusive work environments should not be limited to behavior grounded in protected class status as that provided for under employment discrimination statutes.

(7) Existing workers' compensation plans and common-law tort actions are inadequate to discourage this behavior or to provide adequate relief to employees who have been harmed by abusive work environments.

(b) Purposes. The purposes of this Act are:

(1) to provide legal relief for employees who have been harmed, psychologically, physically, or economically, by being deliberately subjected to abusive work environments; and

(2) to provide legal incentive for employers to prevent and respond to abusive mistreatment of employees at work.

Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

(a) "Abusive work environment" means an environment that exists when the defendant, acting with malice, subjects an employee to abusive conduct so severe that it causes tangible harm to the employee.

(1) "Abusive conduct" means conduct, including acts, omissions, or both, that a reasonable person would find hostile, based on the severity, nature, and frequency of the defendant's conduct. Abusive conduct may include, but is not limited to: repeated infliction of verbal abuse such as the use of derogatory remarks, insults, and epithets; verbal or physical conduct of a threatening, intimidating, or humiliating nature; the sabotage or undermining of an employee's work performance; or attempts to exploit an employee's known psychological or physical vulnerability. A single act normally will not constitute abusive conduct, but an especially severe and egregious act may meet this standard.

(2) "Malice" means the desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another.

(b) "Tangible harm" means psychological harm or physical harm.

(1) "Psychological harm" means the material impairment of a person's mental health, as established by competent evidence.

(2) "Physical harm" means the material impairment of a person's physical health or bodily integrity, as established by competent evidence.

(c) "Adverse employment action" means an action that includes, but is not limited to, a termination, demotion, unfavorable reassignment, failure to promote, disciplinary action, or reduction in compensation.

(d) "Constructive discharge" exists where: (1) the employee reasonably believed he or she was subjected to abusive conduct; (2) the employee resigned because of that abusive conduct; and (3) prior to resigning, the employee brought to the employer's attention the existence of the abusive conduct and the employer failed to take reasonable steps to correct the situation. A constructive discharge shall be considered a termination, and, therefore, an adverse employment action within the meaning of this Act.

(e) "Employer" includes the State or any subdivision thereof, any county, municipality, unit of local government, school district, community college district, municipal or public corporation, or State university.

Section 15. Unlawful employment practices.

(a) Abusive work environment. It shall be an unlawful employment practice under this Act to subject an employee to an abusive work environment as defined by this Act.

(b) Retaliation. It shall be an unlawful employment practice under this Act to retaliate in any manner against an employee who has opposed any unlawful employment practice under this Act, or who has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation or proceeding under this Act, including, but not limited to, internal complaints and proceedings, arbitration and mediation proceedings, and legal actions.

Section 20. Employer liability and defense.

(a) Employer liability. An employer shall be vicariously liable for an unlawful employment practice, as defined by this Act, committed by its employee.

(b) Employer's affirmative defense. Where the alleged unlawful employment practice does not include an adverse employment action, it shall be an affirmative defense for an employer only that:

(1) the employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any actionable behavior; and

(2) the complainant employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of appropriate preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.

Section 25. Employee liability and defense.

(a) Employee liability. An employee may be individually liable for an unlawful employment practice as defined by this Act.

(b) Employee affirmative defense. It shall be an affirmative defense for an employee only that the employee committed an unlawful employment practice, as defined in this Act, at the direction of the employer, under threat of an adverse employment action.

Section 30. Affirmative defenses. It shall be an affirmative defense that:

(1) the complaint is based on an adverse employment action reasonably made for poor performance, misconduct, or economic necessity;

(2) the complaint is based on a reasonable performance evaluation; or

(3) the complaint is based on an employer's reasonable investigation about potentially illegal or unethical activity.

Section 35. Relief.

(a) Relief generally. Where a defendant has been found to have committed an unlawful employment practice under this Act, the court may enjoin the defendant from engaging in the unlawful employment practice and may order any other relief that is deemed appropriate, including, but not limited to, reinstatement, removal of the offending party from the complainant's work environment, back pay, front pay, medical expenses, compensation for emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorney's fees.

(b) Employer liability. Where an employer has been found to have committed an unlawful employment practice under this Act that did not culminate in an adverse employment action, its liability for damages for emotional distress shall not exceed $25,000, and it shall not be subject to punitive damages. This provision does not apply to an individually named employee defendant.

Section 40. Procedures.

(a) Private right of action. This Act shall be enforced solely by a private right of action.

(b) Time limitations. An action under this Act must be commenced no later than one year after the last act that constitutes the alleged unlawful employment practice.

Section 45. Effect on other legal relationships. The remedies provided for in this Act shall be in addition to any remedies provided under any other law, and nothing in this Act shall relieve any person from any liability, duty, penalty or punishment provided by any other law, except that if an employee receives workers' compensation for medical costs for the same injury or illness pursuant to both this Act and the Workers' Compensation Act, or compensation under both this Act and that Act in cash payments for the same period of time not working as a result of the compensable injury or illness or the unlawful employment practice, the payments of workers' compensation shall be reimbursed from compensation paid under this Act.