Relating to bonding; declaring an emergency.

2025 Regular Session

Expands wages to include severance, back pay, front pay, and related relief, making these owed amounts recoverable as wages for former, current, and future employees.

In committee upon adjournment.

Main purpose

HB 3635 amends Section 2 of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (820 ILCS 115/2) to broaden the statutory definition of "wages" and to update the definition of "employee." The change makes severance-related and court/agency-ordered relief explicitly recoverable as wages under the Act, and clarifies that these protections apply to former, current, and future employees.

Note: The bill text provided addresses the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act; an alternate short title referencing "bonding" appears in the docket header and may be a clerical mismatch.

Key provisions

Expands the definition of "wages" to expressly include:

Severance pay
Back pay
Front pay
Any "concomitant relief" owed to an employee pursuant to:
A separation or severance agreement between employer and employee,
Employer policy,
A judicial ruling, or
An administrative ruling.

Specifies that this expanded definition applies to former, current, and future employees.

Conforming amendment to the definition of "employee" to include individuals to whom an employer owes severance, back pay, front pay, or concomitant relief under the same sources (agreement, policy, judicial or administrative ruling).

Retains existing language treating certain employer contributions to employee benefit trusts/funds as "wage supplements" subject to the Act’s collection provisions.

Leaves other existing terms and payroll card definitions intact.

Who is affected

Employees (including former employees): strengthens ability to collect severance, front/back pay, and related relief as recoverable wages.

Employers (all covered employers, including staffing/placement agencies under the Act): could face increased exposure to wage claims and enforcement when separation agreements, policies, or rulings create owed amounts.

Parties negotiating severance or settlement agreements: may need to account for the possibility that amounts will be treated as wages enforceable under the Act.

State and federal agencies and courts: judgments and administrative orders awarding these remedies may be collectible as wages.

Potential impacts

Increases enforceability of severance and judicial/administrative remedies through wage collection mechanisms (civil penalties, administrative enforcement).

May change employer practices in drafting separation/severance agreements and internal policies to limit unintended wage liability.

Could affect settlement strategy and valuation of claims if amounts are treated as statutory wages.

Procedural status & timeline

Introduced by Rep. Daniel Didech: Feb 18, 2025 (filed Feb 7 / first reading Feb 18).

Committee actions: assigned to Labor & Commerce; public hearing (Mar 11); work session (Mar 25); recommendation “do pass with amendments” and referred to Ways & Means (Mar 28).

Referred to Human Services; re-referred and in committee upon adjournment as of June 28, 2025.

Companion bill: SB 1654.

(No explicit effective date is provided in the text supplied.)

Bill