(A) No municipal official, municipal agency, municipal employee or municipal agency or office shall take any retaliatory action against any municipal employee due to a municipal employee’s:
(1) Disclosure or threatened disclosure of any violation of this policy;
(2) The provision of information related to or testimony before any public body conducting an investigation, hearing or inquiry into any violation of this policy; or
(3) Assistance or participation in a proceeding to enforce the provisions of this policy.
(B) For the purposes of this policy, RETALIATORY ACTION means the reprimand, discharge, suspension, demotion, denial of promotion or transfer or change in the terms or conditions of employment of any municipal employee that is taken in retaliation for a municipal employee’s involvement in protected activity pursuant to this policy.
(C) No individual making a report will be retaliated against even if a report made in good faith is not substantiated. In addition, any witness will be protected from retaliation.
(D) Similar to the prohibition against retaliation contained herein, the state’s Officials and Employees Ethics Act (5 ILCS 430/15-10) provides whistleblower protection from retaliatory action such as reprimand, discharge, suspension, demotion or denial of promotion or transfer that occurs in retaliation for an employee who does any of the following:
(1) Discloses or threatens to disclose to a supervisor or to a public body an activity, policy or practice of any officer, member, state agency or other state employee that the state employee reasonably believes is in violation of a law, rule or regulation;
(2) Provides information to or testifies before any public body conducting an investigation, hearing or inquiry into any violation of a law, rule or regulation by any officer, member, state agency or other state employee; or
(3) Assists or participates in a proceeding to enforce the provisions of the state’s Officials and Employees Ethics Act.
(E) Pursuant to the Whistleblower Act (740 ILCS 174/15(a)), an employer may not retaliate against an employee who discloses information in a court, an administrative hearing or before a legislative commission or committee, or in any other proceeding, where the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of a state or federal law, rule or regulation. In addition, an employer may not retaliate against an employee for disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency, where the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of a state or federal law, rule or regulation (740 ILCS 174/15(b)).
(F) According to the state’s Human Rights Act (775 ILCS 5/6-101), it is a civil rights violation for a person, or for two or more people to conspire, to retaliate against a person because he or she has opposed that which he or she reasonably and in good faith believes to be sexual harassment in employment, because he or she has made a charge, filed a complaint, testified, assisted or participated in an investigation, proceeding or hearing under the state’s Human Rights Act.
(G) An employee who is suddenly transferred to a lower paying job or passed over for a promotion after filing a complaint with IDHR or EEOC, may file a retaliation charge, due within 150 days (IDHR) or 300 days (EEOC) of the alleged retaliation.
(Ord. 18-O-2191, passed 1-12-2018)