The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (IWPCA) provides both private and public employees a cause of action for the recovery or illegal deductions by the employer and the collection of wages or final compensation. In addition, the IWCPA makes it a criminal offense for an employer to retaliate against an employee's assertion of rights under the law. The other law, the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act (IPLRA) provides a comprehensive system of collective bargaining and contract administration for public employees and employers that takes precedence over any State law, order, or regulation relating to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment. However, the statutory language and legislative history of the IWPCA demonstrates that the legislature intended the law to guarantee minimum rights concerning the payment and collection of earned wages and final compensation. The legislature intended the IPLRA to accommodate an individual employee's minimum substantive rights concerning the terms and conditions of employment while also specifying the collective bargaining process and contract administration in the public sector. Therefore, courts or quasi-judicial agencies should carry out the legislature's intent by preserving a local government employee's rights under the IWPCA and directing the individual to the grievance procedure of the collective bargaining agreement to resolve all matters arising out of the contract, because the IWPCA guarantees rights that are independent and therefore not repealed by the IPLRA. Footnotes