Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker on Aug. 9 signed into law SB 3650, which amends the state’s controversial Day and Temporary Labor Services Act. The legislation is aimed at industrial staffing firms and includes provisions for equal pay and benefits for temporary workers as compared to directly employed workers.

The Illinois Department of Labor recently withdrew proposed rules for the legislation in anticipation of the new bill being signed, according to an Aug. 6 report by the National Federation of Independent Business.

“Since First Notice publication of these proposed amendments, the General Assembly has passed Senate Bill 3650 of the 103rd General Assembly, which made further changes to this statute,” according to the notification of withdrawal. “Therefore, the department is withdrawing the proposed amendments and anticipates re-filing a revised proposal that incorporates the recent statutory changes, upon the bill becoming law.”

The withdrawal of the proposed rules by the state was a procedural process step, according to Ed Lenz, senior counsel at the American Staffing Association, who said the changes to the law within SB 3650 are “fairly substantial.” Changes in the law included reducing the waiting period for equal benefits to 720 hours (30 days) from 90 calendar days, Lenz said. Another significant change was that staffing firms have the option of going to a US Bureau of Labor Statistics Database and finding comparable job classifications to determine what amount would represent equal pay instead of having to get data from clients.

SB 3650 imposes requirements on staffing firms and third-party user clients that use temporary labor in Illinois including equal pay and benefits mandates, a collective bargaining agreement exception, and an updated employee notice requirement and new applicant receipt mandate, according to a JD Supra blog post by law firm Amundsen Davis.

It also clarifies that staffing firms cannot send a temporary laborer to a place where a strike, lockout or work stoppage exists without notifying the worker in writing of any such labor dispute at the time of dispatch and their right to refuse the assignment without prejudice to receiving another assignment.