General Assembly acts on state employee back pay

After the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the back wages owed to state employees are not due without a legislative appropriation, AFSCME focused on securing back pay for state employees in the General Assembly.

AFSCME pressed for the back pay appropriation to be part of any funding bill considered by the General Assembly—and now a bill has been introduced that would accomplish that goal. SB 2046, legislation to address an array of critical needs in our state today, includes funding for state employee back pay.

The bill passed out of the House on April 12 and the Senate on April 13. It is now at Gov. Rauner's desk.

• House roll call
• Senate roll call
  

"Some 24,000 public-service workers in state government are owed an average of $2,500 each dating back to 2011," AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. "These are by far state government's oldest unpaid bills, owed to working families that face medical bills, school costs, rent or mortgage and car payments or other expenses.

The back pay issue arose in July 2011 when then-Governor Pat Quinn refused to pay wage increases that the union had previously agreed to temporarily defer in light of the state’s fiscal challenges at the time.

While employees in some agencies have been paid in full and all employees have received half of what is owed, five state agencies—the Illinois Department of Corrections, Department of Human Services, Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Natural Resources and Department of Public Health—still have not been paid the full wages due per their collective bargaining agreement.

"Our union will keep working to see that every employee is paid in full," Lynch said. "We urge lawmakers of both parties, the Governor and the Comptroller to support an appropriation that pays workers what they are owed for work they performed nearly five years ago."