AI Frontier Institute

SURVEILLANCE-BASED WAGES

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Illinois HB4987, the Surveillance-Based Wage Discrimination Act (Section 1), prohibits employers from using surveillance data as part of an automated decision system to set individualized wages for employees (Section 10). 'Surveillance data' is broadly defined in Section 5 to include data gathered through observation, inference, or surveillance related to an employee's personal characteristics, behaviors, or biometric information. Exemptions exist under Section 10 if wages are based solely on data directly tied to the employee's job tasks or differences in the cost of providing labor, and if the employer discloses in plain language before hiring what data is used and how, and provides employees with reasonable procedures to verify the accuracy of that data. The Act is enforced by the Attorney General (Section 15), who may impose civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation per employee and recover attorney's fees. Section 20 also grants a private right of action, allowing aggrieved employees or groups to sue for the greater of actual damages, $3,000 per violation, or triple damages if bad faith or intentional violations are proven. Section 25 clarifies the Act does not preempt other legal rights or remedies, and Section 30 authorizes the Attorney General to adopt implementing rules.

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