Statutes: Illinois

In this Act, except as otherwise expressly provided:

(1) “Commerce” includes trade, traffic, commerce, transportation, or communication; and “industry or activity affecting commerce” means any activity, business, or industry in commerce or in which a labor dispute would hinder or obstruct commerce or the free flow of commerce, and includes “commerce” and any “industry affecting commerce”.

(2) “Course of conduct” means a course of repeatedly maintaining a visual or physical proximity to a person or conveying oral or written threats, including threats conveyed through electronic communications, or threats implied by conduct.

(2.5) “Crime of violence” means any conduct proscribed by Articles 9, 11, 12, 26.5, 29D, and 33A of the Criminal Code of 2012 or a similar provision of the Criminal Code of 1961, in addition to conduct proscribed by Articles of the Criminal Code of 2012 referenced in other definitions in this Section.

(3) “Department” means the Department of Labor.

(4) “Director” means the Director of Labor.

(5) “Domestic violence, sexual violence, or gender violence” means domestic violence, sexual assault, gender violence, or stalking.

(6) “Domestic violence” means abuse, as defined in Section 103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986, by a family or household member, as defined in Section 103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986.

(7) “Electronic communications” includes communications via telephone, mobile phone, computer, e-mail, video recorder, fax machine, telex, pager, online platform (including, but not limited to, any public-facing website, web application, digital application, or social network), or any other electronic communication, as defined in Section 12-7.5 of the Criminal Code of 2012.

(8) “Employ” includes to suffer or permit to work.

(9) Employee.

(A) In general. “Employee” means any person employed by an employer.

(B) Basis. “Employee” includes a person employed as described in subparagraph (A) on a full or part-time basis, or as a participant in a work assignment as a condition of receipt of federal or State income-based public assistance.

(10) “Employer” means any of the following: (A) the State or any agency of the State; (B) any unit of local government or school district; or (C) any person that employs at least one employee.

(11) “Employment benefits” means all benefits provided or made available to employees by an employer, including group life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, sick leave, annual leave, educational benefits, pensions, and profit-sharing, regardless of whether such benefits are provided by a practice or written policy of an employer or through an “employee benefit plan”. “Employee benefit plan” or “plan” means an employee welfare benefit plan or an employee pension benefit plan or a plan which is both an employee welfare benefit plan and an employee pension benefit plan.

(12) “Family or household member”, for employees with a family or household member who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or any other crime of violence, means a spouse or party to a civil union, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling, or any other person related by blood or by present or prior marriage or civil union, other person who shares a relationship through a child, or any other individual whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship as determined by the employee, and persons jointly residing in the same household.

(12.5) “Gender violence” means:

(A) one or more acts of violence or aggression satisfying the elements of any criminal offense under the laws of this State that are committed, at least in part, on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sex or gender, regardless of whether the acts resulted in criminal charges, prosecution, or conviction;

(B) a physical intrusion or physical invasion of a sexual nature under coercive conditions satisfying the elements of any criminal offense under the laws of this State, regardless of whether the intrusion or invasion resulted in criminal charges, prosecution, or conviction; or

(C) a threat of an act described in item (A) or (B) causing a realistic apprehension that the originator of the threat will commit the act.

(13) (Blank).

(14) “Perpetrator” means an individual who commits or is alleged to have committed any act or threat of domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or any other crime of violence.

(15) “Person” means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, legal representative, or any organized group of persons.

(16) “Public agency” means the Government of the State or political subdivision thereof; any agency of the State, or of a political subdivision of the State; or any governmental agency.

(17) “Public assistance” includes cash, food stamps, medical assistance, housing assistance, and other benefits provided on the basis of income by a public agency or public employer.

(18) “Reduced work schedule” means a work schedule that reduces the usual number of hours per workweek, or hours per workday, of an employee.

(19) “Repeatedly” means on 2 or more occasions.

(20) “Sexual assault” means any conduct proscribed by: (i) Article 11 of the Criminal Code of 20121 except Sections 11-35 and 11-45; (ii) Sections 12-13, 12-14, 12-14.1, 12-15, and 12-16 of the Criminal Code of 2012; or (iii) a similar provision of the Criminal Code of 1961.

(20.5) “Sexual violence” means sexual assault.

(21) “Stalking” means any conduct proscribed by the Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012 in Sections 12-7.3, 12-7.4, and 12-7.5.

(22) “Victim” or “survivor” means an individual who has been subjected to domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or any other crime of violence. “Victim” also includes any person described as a victim, as defined under Section 2 of the Crime Victims Compensation Act.(23) “Victim services organization” means a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that provides assistance to victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or any other crime of violence or to advocates for such victims, including a rape crisis center, an organization carrying out a domestic violence program, an organization operating a shelter or providing counseling services, or a legal services organization or other organization providing assistance through the legal process.