Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

The Workplace Rights Bureau enforces a wide range of Illinois laws protecting Illinois workers, including wage-and-hour statutes, anti-discrimination laws, and protections against employee misclassification and benefit denial. Created by statute in 2019, the Bureau has robust investigatory tools—including pre-litigation subpoena authority—to pursue enforcement actions against unscrupulous employers who mistreat workers. The Bureau focuses its enforcement efforts on serious or persistent violations of worker-protection laws, with particular emphasis on violations impacting low- and moderate-income workers who would otherwise struggle to obtain legal recourse. In 2024, the Bureau recovered over $20 million in unpaid wages and penalties on behalf of Illinois workers utilizing a wide range of Illinois statutes, including wage-and-hour, antitrust, and consumer protection laws. Recent enforcement actions have targeted employee misclassification schemes in construction and the building trades, wage-fixing and no-poach conspiracies among temporary staffing agencies, overtime violations by “gig” companies, and child labor violations in the food processing industry. In addition to initiating and conducting investigations and litigation, the Bureau drafts amicus curiae briefs on significant issues in employment law and comments on proposed state and federal regulatory changes. The Bureau also review, monitors, and proposes employment-related legislation. Additionally, the Bureau conducts outreach, hosts events, and partners with other governmental entities, community groups, unions, and businesses.

Responsibilities:

The Bureau Chief advises the Attorney General’s Office on a wide variety of labor and employment issues; oversees investigations and cases handled by the Workplace Rights Bureau; supervises the Workplace Rights Bureau's Assistant Attorneys General and paralegals; advises, proposes and comments on legislation related to labor and employment rights issues; and represents the Attorney General’s Office at outreach events throughout the State of Illinois.

Qualifications:

Candidates must be licensed in the State of Illinois and should have at least eight years’ experience, be a skilled litigator, be committed to aggressively enforcing state and federal employment and labor laws, and have excellent communication and management skills. 

Salary:  Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience and ranges from $125,000 to $131,000.