Opinion ID: 3170660
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The IWPCA

Text: The Illinois General Assembly passed the IWPCA in 1973 “to provide employees with a cause of action for the timely and complete payment of earned wages or final compensation, without retaliation from employers.” Byung Moo Soh v. Target Mktg. Sys., Inc., 817 N.E.2d 1105, 1107 (Ill. App. Ct. 2004) (quotation marks omitted). In particular, the IWPCA prohibits employers from taking deductions from employees’ wages unless the deductions are “(1) required by law; (2) to the benefit of the employee; (3) in response to a valid wage assignment or wage deduction order; [or] (4) made Nos. 15-1109 & 15-1110 7 with the express written consent of the employee, given freely at the time the deduction is made.” 820 ILCS 115/9. The IWPCA provides a broad definition of what constitutes an “employee” using a three-prong test commonly referred to as an ABC test. Id. 115/2. The test is conjunctive, meaning that if an employer cannot satisfy each of the prongs, then the individual must be classified as an employee for purposes of the IWPCA. See Novakovic v. Samutin, 820 N.E.2d 967, 973 (Ill. App. Ct. 2004). At issue in this case is the second prong of the ABC test. The second prong requires that to treat an individual as an independent contractor, the individual must “perform[] work which is … outside the usual course of business … of the employer.” 820 ILCS 115/2. Plaintiffs argued, and the district court found, that because BeavEx is a delivery company, its delivery couriers do not perform work outside the usual course of BeavEx’s business. Accordingly, the district court held, BeavEx’s couriers must be classified as employees within the meaning of the IWPCA.