Topic: Human Resources
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We are planning to hire a mortgage lender who would be compensated with commissions only. Are there any Illinois laws or regulations that we need to be aware of?
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No, we are not aware of any Illinois laws specific to compensation provided to a loan originator on a commission basis, outside of general employment laws applicable to any type of commissioned employee. Of course, federal law prohibits paying commissions to a loan originator that are “based on a term of a transaction,” such as…
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If we have a part-time employee, is it permissible under the Illinois Banking Act to allow the employee to have another part-time job with another employer? Is it also permissible for full-time employees?
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We are not aware of any regulatory prohibition on bank employees working on a part-time basis for another employer, regardless of whether an employee is a part-time or full-time employee of your bank. However, as with employers generally, we believe your bank may impose reasonable conditions on outside employment in its personnel policies, including a…
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Under the Illinois Employee Sick Leave Act, if a bank offers its employees unlimited sick leave, must it also extend unlimited sick leave to employees who are caring for sick family members?
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Yes, we believe that an employer offering unlimited sick leave to its employees also must provide unlimited sick leave to care for an eligible family member — a child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent. In general, the Employee Sick Leave Act requires employers to allow employees to use…
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Under recent revisions to the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act that become effective January 1, 2019, we are required to reimburse our employees for “necessary expenditures or losses” that are “directly related” to the services performed by the employee. For unlimited plans for cell phones, can we reimburse employees with a monthly allowance instead of requiring documentation of usage every month?
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Yes, we believe that your bank may pay employees a monthly allowance for their cell phone expenses, provided that your bank has adopted a written expense reimbursement policy that provides for the monthly allowance. The new requirements in the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act require employers to reimburse authorized employee expenses only if the…
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The recent federal regulatory reform legislation (S. 2155) included a new Senior Safe Act. Is this different than the Illinois elder financial exploitation training requirements? Are there any additional requirements? What does this mean for our bank?
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We do not believe that the Senior Safe Act will bring significant changes for your bank. Because it does not preempt or limit Illinois law, we believe that its protections will be additive to the existing liability protections under Illinois law. The Senior Safe Act confers somewhat limited protections for banks and other financial companies…
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Can an Illinois bank have a policy that prohibits the use of recording devices (cell phone or other) by employees?
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We believe that a blanket ban on employee use of recording devices could raise some risks of a potential labor law violation. We are aware of at least two federal courts that have found that the National Labor Relations Act protects employees from blanket bans on employees’ use of recording devices at work. However, we…
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Would any Federal Notices that our bank already has posted (like for example “the Equal Employment Opportunity is The Law” federal notice) meet the requirements of the Illinois Human Rights Act? Or should the Illinois Human Rights Act notice be posted in addition to other federal notices? We are a national bank regulated by the OCC.
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Yes, we believe your bank is required to post the Illinois Human Rights Act notice, in addition to the required federal notices. We are not aware of any federal banking or employment laws that would preempt notice or disclosure requirements in state employment laws for national banks. Nor do we think this particular notice requirement…
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Can our bank have a dress code that permits women to wear earrings, but not men?
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In our view, imposing different dress codes for male and female employees potentially could expose your bank to claims of discrimination based on sex stereotyping or sexual orientation, although your bank also potentially could have valid counterarguments to such claims. However, we recommend consulting with an employment law attorney for assistance in drafting your dress…
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We received a request to complete the Occupational Employment Statistics Report from the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). Are we required to provide this information? The request does not state whether it is mandatory.
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This request is not mandatory. We confirmed this by calling the IDES (without using a specific bank’s name) — an IDES employee told us that while they strongly encourage employers to participate in this data collection, it is not required.
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One of our tellers has a deposit account at our bank that was frozen due to past due debts. Do we need to do anything, such as restricting the employee’s access to cash? Also, if a front line staffer filed for bankruptcy, would we have to take any action to address that?
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We are not aware of any laws or regulations that would require a bank to take action if it becomes aware of a frontline employee’s loan default or bankruptcy (or other adverse information about an employee’s credit). If an employee is a mortgage loan originator (MLO) subject to Regulation Z’s screening requirements, your bank must…