Proposed rules for Illinois’ Day and Temporary Labor Services Act have been withdrawn by the Illinois Department of Labor, according to a report by the National Federation of Independent Business on Aug. 6. It said the rules had received widespread backlash.

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.

“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 move isn’t a surprise, said Ed Lenz, senior counsel at the American Staffing Association. The move by the state is a procedural process step.

“The changes that were made in the amendment to the law, they were fairly substantial changes,” Lenz said.

Changes in the law included reducing the waiting period for equal benefits to 720 hours (30 days) from 90 calendar days, he 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.

The American Staffing Association had filed suit against the law and a judge blocked the equal benefits portion of the law, though the state has filed an appeal, Lenz said. 

However, the rest of the law remains in effect.