Effective January 1, 2016, certain business and establishments are required to post a new notice in connection with human trafficking and slavery prevention. Affected businesses must post the notice in a conspicuous place near its public entrance or in clear view of the public and employees on its premises. If a business fails to post the new notice, it is subject to a $500 penalty for a first time offense and $1,000 for each future offense.

What is Required?

The required notice must be at least 8.5 by 11 inches with 16-point font and state the following: “If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave, whether it is commercial sex, housework, farm work, construction, factory, retail, or restaurant work, or any other activity, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 to access help and services.

Victims of slavery and human trafficking are protected under United States and Illinois law. The hotline is:

• Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Toll-free.
• Operated by nonprofit nongovernmental organizations.
• Anonymous and confidential.
• Accessible in more than 160 languages.
• Able to provide help, referral to services, training, and general information.

In addition, the notice must be printed in English and Spanish. If another language is most widely spoken in the county where the business is located, the notice must also be printed in such third language.

The Illinois Department of Human Services released a model notice available for download at: www.dhs.state.il.us

What Businesses & Establishments are Required to Post?

Any businesses or establishments in Illinois that are:

1. On premise consumption retailer licensees, whose principal business is the sale of alcoholic liquor, primary to the sale of food
2. Adult Entertainment Facilities
3. Primary Airports
4. Intercity passenger rail or light rail stations
5. Bus stations
6. Truck Stops
7. Emergency rooms within general acute care hospitals
8. Urgent care centers
9. Farm Labor Contractors
10. Private job recruitment centers

Although the Act defines a few of the above establishments, many are ambiguous and left to the reader’s interpretation. Without more clarity, a business may be unaware it is required to post the new notice. The limited guidance that is available says the following:

**On Premise Consumption Retailer Licensees. **An “on premise consumption retailer licensee” is a business or establishment that is licensed by the State of Illinois that sells or offers alcoholic beverages for consumption on its premises. Most notably, a bar (serving food only incidental to the service of alcohol) would fall under this classification. On the Illinois Liquor Control Commission’s website, you can search through all liquor licensee records by city and sort by retail license type.

**Adult Entertainment Facility. **The Act references Section 5-10975.5 of the Counties Code to define “Adult Entertainment Facility.” Although definitions may vary on a county level, Illinois state law (55 ILCS 5/5-1097.5) provides an Adult Entertainment Facility is “(i) a striptease club or pornographic movie theatre whose business is the commercial sale, dissemination, or distribution of sexually explicit material, shows, or other exhibitions or (ii) an adult bookstore or adult video store whose primary business is the commercial sale, dissemination, or distribution of sexually explicit material, shows, or other exhibitions.”

**Primary Airport. **As defined by 49 U.S.C. 47102(16), “Primary Airport” means a commercial service airport the Secretary determines to have more than 10,000 passenger boardings each year. To identify Illinois Primary Airports, go to the Federal Aviation Administration’s website and download the most recent Passenger Boarding (Enplanement) at all commercial service airports by rank and sort by state (http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_ capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/passenger/).

**Truck Stop. **The Act defines a “Truck Stop” as a privately owned and operated facility that provides fuel, food, shower or other sanitary facilities and lawful overnight truck parking. Although defined, Illinois does not provide a comprehensive list of privately owned and operated truck stops.

**Emergency Rooms within General Acute Care Hospitals. **To identify affected hospitals with emergency rooms, visit the Illinois Health Data Portal at https://data.illinois.gov/ILHealthData and explore the most current licensed hospitals list, filtering by “hospital type.”

**Farm Labor Contractor. **The Act defines a “Farm Labor Contractor” as any person who for a fee recruits, supplies, or hires (or transports in connection therewith) into or within Illinois, any farmworker not of the contractor’s immediate family to work for, or under the direction or control of, a third person or (ii) any person who for a fee recruits, supplies, or hires into or within Illinois, any farmworker not of the contractor’s immediate family and for a fee directs, supervises or controls all or any part of the farmworker’s work or disburses wages to the farmerworker. Farm Labor Contractor does not include full-time regular employees of food processing companies when the employees are not compensated according to the number of farmworkers they recruit. Although defined, there is no centralized source to search for Farm Labor Contractors in Illinois.

**Urgent Care Centers. **Urgent care centers may be identified through insurance websites or internet searches. However, results cannot be relied upon as a complete listing.

**Privately Owned Job Recruitment Centers. **“Privately owned job recruitment centers” are neither defined by the Act nor regulated by a central organization. As such, it is unclear what businesses qualify as “job recruitment centers” or even what a “center” is. It is likely, however, that a temporary staffing agency falls within the ambiguous classification’s scope.

**Bus and Rail Stations. **Likewise, “bus station” and “intercity passenger rail or light rail station” seem like simple classifications but without further clarification, the Act does not differentiate between a “station” and a “stop.” Moreover, since the Act is silent as to the stations’ ownership, we must assume both privately and publicly owned stations are subject to the Act. If you are unsure whether your business or establishment is subject to the Act, it is best to contact an attorney and seek additional information from a local government agency.