Illinois Publishes Business Toolkit For Phase 3 Re-Opening

On Sunday, May 24, 2020, Governor Pritzker, working in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Illinois Department of Public Health, along with input from industry leaders and business owners, issued industry-specific guidelines for businesses re-opening as the state progresses into Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan. The Phase 3 Business Toolkit can be found here. This Toolkit follows our recent article entitled:
Legal Considerations For Employers Planning to Return To Work

The Toolkit guidelines focus on the reopening of businesses in the following industries:

• Retail
• Offices
• Manufacturing
• Barbershops and salons
• Service counters
• Fitness centers
• Summer programs and youth sports
• Various outdoor recreation activities
• Bars and restaurants for outdoor dining

The guidelines provide uniform recommendations across all businesses and industries, including as to general health (most pertinent being employees wearing face coverings), while then providing industry specific minimum guidelines and encouraged best practices, including as to physical workspaces, HR policies, disinfectant / cleaning procedures, staffing and attendance, and external interactions. For examples, manufacturers are encouraged to reconfigure workspaces to allow for 6-foot social distancing and to eliminate common touchpoints. Restaurants and bars may provide for in-person outdoor dining with parties of six or less, with tables maintaining 6-foot distancing. Fitness centers should configure workout stations or implement protocols (e.g. decommissioning equipment) to allow for 10-ft. social distancing between individuals without barriers or 6-ft. separation between individuals with barriers.

The guidelines also provide common guidance for office spaces, including making temperature checks available for employees, wellness screening programs, limiting elevator capacity, removal of personal items from desks to allow for easier cleaning, modifying traffic flow to minimize contact, reducing use of shared work spaces and equipment, maximum office capacity of 50%, coordinating employee arrival and departure times to adjust for limited elevator capacity, and restrictions upon visitors, vendors, or external suppliers entering the office.

The industry specific guidelines may be found here. 

As part of the guidelines, the State also provided various helpful tools to assist businesses in re-opening, as following:

A checklist to follow to ensure compliance with the guidelines may be found here. 

Best practices for employee wellness screening may be found here. 

Industry specific posters and signage may be found here.

Guidelines

Best Practices