On April 9, 2022, the Illinois Senate passed House Amendment 1 to SB 3616, joining the Illinois House, in unanimously passing legislation referred to as the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair) Act. It is expected that Governor J.B. Pritzker will sign the bill into law. Assuming this to be the case, the CROWN Act creates a definition of “race” under the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) to include “traits associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists.”
Previously, on August 13, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed into law a version of a CROWN Act which, due to various amendments, ended up only applying to schools and not places of employment, despite the “CROWN” acronym referencing a respectful and open “workplace.” (Some more broadly refer to the “W” in CROWN as “world” rather than “workplace.”) The original version of SB 3616 would have added the new definition of “race” under the definition of “Unlawful Discrimination” found in the General Definitions section of the IHRA, but specifically limited to use in Article 2 of the IHRA relating to employment. In the House amendment, the definition of “race” stands on its own in the General Definitions section, which means that it also applies to all other areas of the IHRA that prohibit discrimination, including, among other areas, housing, public accommodation, and real estate transactions.
Assuming the law is signed by...
The Health Minister says talk of treatment delays at Starship hospital has been blown out of proportion. The Auckland children's hospital's confirmed about 20 chemotherapy cycles have been delayed...