Yes, your bank is subject to the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003, which applies to any employer with employees in Illinois. However, we believe that you are exempt from the equal pay registration certificate requirements in Section 11 of the Equal Pay Act, since you have fewer than one hundred employees — even though you are required to file an EEO-1.

The Equal Pay Act of 2003 was amended in 2021 to add a new equal pay registration certificate requirement and related reporting requirements. These requirements apply only if an employer has “more than 100 employees . . . and is required to file an Annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”

As your institution does not employ more than one hundred employees, you would not be subject to the equal pay registration certificate and reporting requirements in Section 11. Your institution would still be subject to the other requirements of the Equal Pay Act of 2003, including its prohibition of wage discrimination on the basis of gender, that are generally applicable to all Illinois employers. 

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Equal Pay Act of 2003, 820 ILCS 112/5 (“‘Employer’ means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, business, trust, person, or entity for whom employees are gainfully employed in Illinois and includes the State of Illinois, any state officer, department, or agency, any unit of local government, and any school district.”)

• Equal Pay Act of 2003, 820 ILCS 112/11 (“For the purposes of this Section 11 only, ‘business’ means any private employer who has more than 100 employees in the State of Illinois and is required to file an Annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but does not include the State of Illinois or any political subdivision, municipal corporation, or other governmental unit or agency.”)