§ 11-20 — Employment registration; duty to accept employment

This Section applies to employment and training programs other than those for recipients of assistance under Article IV. (1) Each applicant or recipient and dependent member of the family age 16 or over who is able to engage in employment and who is unemployed, or employed for less than the full working time for the occupation in which he or she is engaged, shall maintain a current registration for employment or additional employment with the system of free public employment offices maintained in this State by the State Department of Employment Security under the Public Employment Office Act and shall utilize the job placement services and other facilities of such offices unless the Illinois Department otherwise provides by rule for programs administered by the Illinois Department. (2) Every person age 16 or over shall be deemed "able to engage in employment", as that term is used herein, unless (a) the person has an illness certified by the attending practitioner as precluding his or her engagement in employment of any type for a time period stated in the practitioner's certification; or (b) the person has a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, disease or loss of indefinite duration and of such severity that he or she cannot perform labor or services in any type of gainful work which exists in the national economy, including work adjusted for persons with physical or mental disabilities; or (c) the person is among the classes of persons exempted by paragraph 5 of this Section. A person described in clauses (a), (b) or (c) of the preceding sentence shall be classified as "temporarily unemployable". The Illinois Department shall provide by rule for periodic review of the circumstances of persons classified as "temporarily unemployable". (3) The Illinois Department shall provide through rules and regulations for sanctions against applicants and recipients of aid under this Code who fail or refuse to cooperate, without good cause, as defined by rule of the Illinois Department, to accept a bona fide offer of employment in which he or she is able to engage either in the community of the person's residence or within reasonable commuting distance therefrom. The Illinois Department may provide by rule for the grant or continuation of aid for a temporary period, if federal law or regulation so permits or requires, to a person who refuses employment without good cause if he or she accepts counseling or other services designed to increase motivation and incentives for accepting employment. (4) Without limiting other criteria which the Illinois Department may establish, it shall be good cause of refusal if (a) the wage does not meet applicable minimum wage requirements, (b) there being no applicable minimum wage as determined in (a), the wage is certified by the Illinois Department of Labor as being less than that which is appropriate for the work to be performed, or (c) acceptance of the offer involves a substantial threat to the health or safety of the person or any of his or her dependents. (5) The requirements of registration and acceptance of employment shall not apply (a) to a parent or other person needed at home to provide personal care and supervision to a child or children unless, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Illinois Department, suitable arrangements have been or can be made for such care and supervision during the hours of the day the parent or other person is out of the home because of employment; (b) to a person age 16 or over in regular attendance in school, as defined in Section 4-1.1; or (c) to a person whose presence in the home on a substantially continuous basis is required because of the illness or incapacity of another member of the household.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)