Equal Pay Registration Certificate (EPRC) Under the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003

The Equal Pay Registration Certificate program (“EPRC”) was created in 2021, when a new section was added to the IL EPA requiring all private businesses with 100 or more employees in Illinois to submit demographic, wage, and other data to - and obtain an Equal Pay Certificate (“EPRC”) from – IDOL. 820 ILCS 112/11. Designed to develop a big-picture look at the incidence of unequal pay due to sex or race among the State’s largest employers, the EPRC program also asks businesses how their average compensation for female and minority employees compares to that of male and non-minority employees, and how they review and address unequal pay due to sex and race. 820 ILCS 112/11(c). 

Businesses subject to EPRC are affirmatively required to obtain EPRC certification, and to do so every two years after their first submission. 820 ILCS 112/11(a), (b). The forms and data required in an EPRC submission are all submitted via a dedicated EPRC portal; instructions on application submissions and use of the portal, and other information and guidance on EPRC compliance are available below, and in the Department’s EPRC Training Slides and FAQs. A business that believes it is covered by Section 11 but has not been contacted by IDOL should fill out an IDOL survey of business contacts to receive further instructions. 

IDOL reviews each EPRC submission to ensure that it conforms to program requirements, and must approve or deny each submission within 45 days. An employer can seek administrative review of a denial of their EPRC certification. 820 ILCS 112/11(d). IDOL also may suspend or revoke an EPRC for failure to comply with EPRC or IL EPA requirements; an employer may seek administrative review of that IDOL action as well. 820 ILCS 112/11(e). If an employer subject to EPRC does not make their original or recertification submission as required, IDOL may issue a determination and order as a general violation of the IL EPA.

While the pay and other data IDOL collects under EPRC is confidential and not publicly available, a current employee of a business subject to Section 11 may request anonymized data regarding their job classification or title and the pay for that classification. 820 ILCS 112/11(h).

EPRC is required for “any private employer who has 100 or more employees in the State of Illinois, and does not include the State of Illinois or any political subdivision, municipal corporation, or other governmental unit or agency.” 820 ILCS 112/11.

Many businesses seek clarification on whether their particular entity constitutes a “private employer”, particularly if it is connected to another parent, subsidiary, or related entity.  Section 11 provides that a “business that has employees in multiple locations or facilities in Illinois shall submit a single application to the Department regarding all of its operations in Illinois.” 820 ILCS 112/11(c)(3).

Similarly, businesses often have questions about which of their employees are considered “employees in the State of Illinois”, particularly for employees who work remotely, or in more than one state or country.

Each business’s situation is distinct and fact-specific, and IDOL recommends that businesses consult with their own counsel for legal advice.

IDOL does offer guidance by publishing answers to frequently asked EPRC questions here. 

Section 11 sets out two explicit exemptions from EPRC requirements: private businesses with 99 or fewer employees, and the State of Illinois or any political subdivision, municipal corporation, or other governmental unit or agency.

When a business receives a notice from the Department to recertify for its equal pay registration certificate, if the business has fewer than 100 employees, the business must certify in writing to the Department that it is exempt from this Section. IDOL has a dedicated form for submitting an exemption request here; the form contains instructions on how to fill it out and submit it to IDOL.

Many questions arise about when and how exemptions apply, such as which employees count for exemption purposes, which corporate entities or sub-entities should be considered to constitute a “private employer” for counting employees, and what constitutes a “governmental unit or agency”. Each business’s situation is distinct and fact-specific, and IDOL recommends that businesses consult with their own counsel for legal advice.  IDOL does offer guidance by publishing answers to frequently asked EPRC questions here.

Frequently, a business on the receiving end of an EPRC notice contacts IDOL to report that the business itself should not have to submit EPRC because it is part of a larger entity, has been purchased by another entity, has a different name, or its EPRC data already was submitted under a parent or related entity. The same form that is used to seek an exemption is used in this instance, and can be found here; the form contains instructions on how to fill it out and submit it to IDOL. The EPRC FAQ also address name change issues.

A business that has not previously submitted an EPRC certification and that is seeking an exemption – or to submit a name change – is not required to create an account in the EPRC portal to submit its exemption/name change request. The exemption/name change form is completed outside of the portal and submitted directly to IDOL.

Section 11 provides explicitly that “[a]ny new business that is subject to this Section and authorized to conduct business in this State ...shall submit its contact information to the Department by January 1 of the following year and shall be assigned a date by which it must submit an application to obtain an equal pay registration certificate.” 820 ILCS 112/11(b).

A business that believes it is covered by Section 11 but has not been contacted by IDOL should fill out an IDOL survey of business contacts to receive further instructions.  EPRC staff routinely review new entries on the business survey and send each information on a specified deadline to make their EPRC submission.

The business survey is not used for entities that already registered for or obtained EPRC certification. See FAQ 4 for recertification requirements, and FAQ 29 for step-by-step instructions on recertification.

As noted above, businesses subject to EPRC have an affirmative obligation to obtain EPRC certification. IDOL’s failure to assign a business a registration date does not exempt the business from compliance with Section 11.  

The EPRC portal went live on April 12, 2022, and IDOL has been working to improve portal functionality for businesses continually since then. Step-by-step instructions are available in EPRC Training Slides.

Accessing the EPRC Portal

• The first step for a business is creating an Illinois Public ID Account, which is required.
  • To create an Illinois Public ID Account, click here. Do not close out of this page, after your account is created you will need to return here to log in to the online portal.
  • Click "Create a New Account" and complete the registration form.
  • Once your account is created, continue with the instructions below.

• EPRC Portal 
• After your Illinois Public ID Account is created, visit the FAQ page, then access the EPRC Portal.
• After clicking the link above, select "Public Account" and login using the username/password you just created.

Further instructions will be provided throughout the EPRC portal to assist you with the process.

IDOL strongly recommends adding primary and secondary users for each account, and also recommends that at least one of those users be associated with a general corporate/business email address. These steps can avoid or alleviate the business missing EPRC notices sent by email that may occur when original users turnover or leave the business.

The basic elements for an EPRC submission include a business’s entity information and address, a Compliance Statement, each employee’s demographic and pay data for the prior year, and a $150 fee.

Compliance Statement

A business subject to EPRC must certify to the following:

• That it is in compliance with the Illinois Equal Pay Act and other state and federal laws related to discrimination and pay;
• That average compensation for its, female and minority employees is not consistently below the average compensation for its male and non-minority employees within each job category for which an employee is expected to perform work, taking into account factors such as length of service, requirements of specific jobs, experience, skill, effort, responsibility, working conditions of the job, education or training, job location, use of a collective bargaining agreement, or other mitigating factors.
• That the business does not restrict employees of one sex to certain job classifications, and makes retention and promotion decisions without regard to sex;
• That wage and benefit disparities are corrected when identified to ensure compliance with the Illinois Equal Pay Act and other state and federal discrimination and wage statutes;
• How often it evaluates wages and benefits; and
• The approach it takes in determining what level of wages and benefits to pay its employees.

820 ILCS 112/11(c).   

The Compliance Statement must be signed/certified by a corporate officer, legal counsel, or authorized agent of the business.

Employee data

• Section 11 provides that businesses subject to EPRC must submit “a list of all employees during the past calendar year, separated by gender and the race and ethnicity categories, and the county in which the employee works, the date the employee started working for the business, any other information the Department deems necessary to determine if pay equity exists among employees, and report the total wages as defined by Section 2 of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act paid to each employee during the past calendar year, rounded to the nearest $100.” 820 ILCS 112/11(c)(1)(A).
• To facilitate consistent and usable data submissions, IDOL provides a template for businesses to utilize in submitting employee pay and demographic data.
• The current version of the template, released in March 2025, is available here.

It is important for businesses to ensure that they are using the most current version of the data template to include all required data fields.

IDOL receives many questions about employee data aspects related to wages, hours, employee status changes during a reporting period, and filling out the data template. Answers to many of these questions can be found in EPRC Training Slides and FAQ.

Staff in IDOL’s Equal Pay Unit view each EPRC submission via the portal’s administration functions, and ensure each includes the required elements. The most challenging aspect of EPRC submissions relates to completeness, readability, and quality of employee pay data. The vast majority of EPRC submissions are approved without incident.

If pay data in an EPRC submission is not complete and readable, or some other aspect of the submission does not comply with the EPRC requirements, EPRC staff will try to work collaboratively with the business to remedy the issue. If the business is not able to cure the issue, EPRC staff reject the application. 

Whether before the Department approves or after it rejects an application, a business has 30 days from when it first submitted its data to repair it in the EPRC portal; after 30 days, the business will not be able to change its data and will have to pay a new $150 filing fee to make updates or repairs.

An application may be rejected only if it does not comply with the requirements of Section 11, or the business is otherwise found to be in violation of the Illinois Equal Pay Act.

IDOL also assesses individual businesses’ wage data to identify apparent pay disparities in a given job title that could relate to sex or race, after adjusting for seniority in that title. IDOL may request additional information from a business before determining whether to grant or deny its EPRC application. Due to the volume of EPRC work and limited staff resources, IDOL often is not able to conduct substantive reviews within the 45-calendar-day statutory timeframe allowed for IDOL to approve or deny the submission, so IDOL may initially approve/deny an EPRC submission (based on compliance with technical requirements) and then later substantively review the data. IDOL’s approval of an EPRC submission should not be considered to represent the agency’s determination that the pay data is free of disparities due to sex or race.  

Section 11 states that “issuance of a registration certificate by [IDOL] shall not establish compliance with the Equal Pay Act of 2003 as to all Sections except Section 11 [and that] issuance of a registration certificate shall not be a defense against any Equal Pay Act violation found by the Department, nor a basis for mitigation of damages." 820 ILCS 112/11(d).

If IDOL rejects a submission, the business at issue can revise and resubmit its application;  If the business resubmits its application within 30 days, it need not pay another $150 fee. Businesses also may appeal a rejected EPRC submission administratively.  820 ILCS 112/11(d).

If a private employer with 100 or more employees in Illinois commits a violation of Section 11 – which could include not filing an EPRC application or recertification, not complying with the requirements of the EPRC process, or otherwise violating the Equal Pay Act – the statute provides for a number of possible agency actions.

IDOL may reject an EPRC initial or recertification application, suspend or revoke an existing EPRC certificate, and/or impose a civil penalty or fine of up to $10,000.  820 ILCS 112/30(c)(3). Pursuant to Sections 10(a) and 15(c) of the Equal Pay Act, and Section 320.200 of the Equal Pay Act administrative regulations, IDOL also may initiate its own investigation of possible violations of the Illinois Equal Pay Act. 

Failure to Certify or Re-Certify

Businesses have multiple opportunities to avoid a failure-to-certify or -recertify violation and related penalties.

• The EPRC portal sends automated reminders to a business that previously obtained EPRC certification 180 and 60 days before their certification will expire.
• If a previously-certified business’s EPRC expires, or a business that was sent a deadline via the business survey does not certify on time, IDOL will send a Notice of Delinquency to the business and provide them 30 calendar days to submit the missing application or recertification.
• If the situation is not remedied, IDOL will send the business a Notice of Violation that contains a sliding penalty scale based on the number of days it takes the business to cure the deficiencies and pay the penalty.
• If the business still does not submit the required application, IDOL will send a Notice of Determination and Order that can be enforced by the Office of the Attorney General if necessary.  
• Certification or recertification is required even if a business pays a penalty.

Suspension or Revocation of EPRC Certificate

IDOL may seek to suspend or revoke a previously-issued EPRC certificate if a business fails to make a good faith effort to comply with –or has multiple violations of – EPRC requirements or the substantive requirements of the Illinois Equal Pay Act and related discrimination and wage statutes.

If IDOL seeks supplemental data from a business after viewing its pay data, that process may not be complete within the 45-day statutory time to grant or deny an EPRC application. In that situation, IDOL may initially approve/deny an EPRC submission (based on compliance with technical requirements) and then later concludes from data or supplemental information that the employer appears to have violated the Equal Pay Act, IDOL may seek to suspend or revoke the EPRC certificate. IDOL’s approval of an EPRC submission should not be considered to represent the agency’s determination that the pay data is free of disparities due to sex or race.

Individual Claims

The Illinois Equal Pay Act does not provide an individual claim for a business’s failure to comply with, or violation of, its EPRC obligations.

An individual could, however, file an Illinois Equal Pay Act complaint if they were subjected to subjected to interference, discrimination or retaliation for exercising an IL EPA right related to EPRC, or for complaining about or reporting a business’s failure to comply with EPRC requirements, they can file a complaint with this form.

Section 11 provides that any EPRC data that could be associated with an individual business or person is required to be kept confidential, and is not subject to disclosure under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. 820 ILCS 112/11(h).

Employee Request for Data

A key exception to EPRC data confidentiality applies to current employees of a business subject to Section 11.

• Such an employee may submit a request to obtain anonymized data about pay rates of the business’s employees in the requester's job title or job classification in the same county where the requester works. No individually identifiable information may be provided to an employee making such a request.  
• To submit a request, a current employee would fill out an EPRC Request for Data Form.
• The request form must contain the employee’s name, date of hire, job title or classification, and the dates for the data being requested, along with a signed affidavit from the employee and evidence that the employee currently holds the specific job title at that business.
• Acceptable evidence includes pay stubs, work schedules, a hire letter, a work ID, business cards, and company website listings. 

If IDOL does not have an EPRC submission from business that is the subject of the employee’s request, or pay data for the job title or classification specified, IDOL will tell the requester that.

IDOL may compile aggregate data and reports based on EPRC wage data by job category and the average hourly wage by county for each gender, race, and ethnicity category on the EPRC applications. Aggregate reports are not required to be kept confidential, but they will not include any data that could be associated to any individual business or person. IDOL also may share EPRC data and identifiable information with the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Illinois Office of the Attorney General, in certain limited circumstances.