Earlier this year the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) announced changes to its Equal Pay Registration Certificate (EPRC) race and gender reporting requirements, beginning with the imminent 2027 filing cycle. In this compliance alert, Sheri Brown explores what this change means for your organization’s pay data reporting obligations.
Summary
Back in July, we reported that an email communication from the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) had announced a series of administrative changes to its Equal Pay Registration Certificate (EPRC). Most importantly, (as explained in an FAQ published to IDOL’s site), “Prefers Not to Identify” has been removed as a selection option for race and gender. According to IDOL, the high number of employers submitting their data using this option made it difficult to analyze the data and draw the meaningful conclusions needed to fairly enforce the IL Equal Pay Act.
Critically, the FAQ goes on to note that:
- If you file your EPRC renewal/registration before1/1/2027 and it contains large numbers of employees with “prefers not to identify” selections, the IDOL will address the issue with your business directly.
- If you file your EPRC renewal/registration on or after 1/1/2027, and it contains any employees with “prefers not to identify” selections, the file will be rejected.
The IDOL recommends using other employment records or a visual ID to populate race and gender for employees who do not self-identify. They also state that employers can upload an explanatory statement as part of their submission to address issues with providing employee race and gender information.
Who Is Impacted and What Actions Are Required?
The EPRC and its applicable thresholds remain otherwise unchanged: all businesses with 100 or more employees who work in IL or report to a manager in IL must file this report and pay the $150 filing fee every two years. The filing deadline varies, so be sure to keep track of your filing date to avoid late-filing penalties.
The IDOL uses the data provided to analyze pay discrepancies and ensure that employers do not pay people differently based on race or gender. IDOL partnered with the University of Illinois’ Labor Education program to produce a report with its findings. You can read the full report here.
The IDOL FAQ page states that the agency hopes to make self-audit tools available soon. In the meantime, Affirmity recommends businesses take the following steps to ensure compliance:
- Be aware of your company’s Illinois EPRC filing dates.
- Examine existing employee race and gender data and work to populate missing values.
- Proactively perform a compensation and pay equity analysis to identify and address issues.
How Affirmity Can Help
To assist you in Illinois and beyond, Affirmity offers state-level pay data reporting and file submission support services, as well as software for the growing number of states that require it. We also provide:
- Compensation and pay equity analysis
- Talent decisions software
- Race and gender-based workforce analyses
Affirmity is on hand to help you deliver pay equity and address the issues you proactively uncover—contact us today to get started.
About the Author
Sheri Brown has 12 years of experience helping clients across multiple industries with creating non-discrimination programs and staying compliant with other federal and state reporting requirements.
Prior to joining Affirmity, Sheri worked for several years at Affirmity’s sister company, PeopleFluent. In that role, she helped clients design custom interfaces for their corporate career pages. Sheri earned her MBA from Wake Forest University and is SHRM-CP certified.