Illinois Labor Laws 2026: A Complete Guide for HR & Employer Compliance

Accurate as of May 1, 2026. This guide is informational and not legal advice. For specific situations, consult licensed Illinois employment counsel.

Illinois has built one of the densest employment law frameworks in the country, and three regimes set it apart from every other state: the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), the Paid Leave for All Workers Act, and the Equal Pay Registration Certificate program. BIPA imposes statutory damages on employers who collect a fingerprint, retina scan, or voiceprint without a written release. The Paid Leave for All Workers Act gives every Illinois employee 40 hours a year of paid leave for any reason, regardless of employer size. The Equal Pay Registration Certificate forces every private business with 100 or more Illinois employees to submit pay and demographic data to the state on a biennial cycle. None of those rules has a federal analog at remotely the same scope.

The state moved hard during 2024 and 2025. The General Assembly amended BIPA to limit per-scan damages, expanded the Whistleblower Act, expanded the Personnel Records Review Act, added "family responsibilities" and "reproductive health decisions" as protected classes under the Illinois Human Rights Act, extended the IHRA charge-filing window from 300 days to two years, restricted captive-audience meetings, banned new noncompetes for construction workers and certain mental health professionals, and rolled out an AI-discrimination ban that took effect January 1, 2026. The Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance came online July 1, 2024 with separate accrual columns. Cook County's Paid Leave Ordinance applies to most municipalities outside Chicago that haven't opted out.

This guide walks through the Illinois employment law landscape an HR or compliance team needs to operate in the state in 2026. It covers wages and hours, leave, harassment training, biometrics and genetic privacy, pay equity, posting requirements, classification, retaliation, and the layered Chicago and Cook County overlays, with effective dates and statute citations grounded in primary sources. For the federal baseline that Illinois law builds on, the federal labor law guide is the right starting point.

The 2026 Illinois Employment Law Updates HR Teams Should Know First

The volume of change in Illinois between 2024 and the start of 2026 is unusual even by Illinois standards. Several of these updates rewrite long-standing exposures, and a few create new compliance work that didn't exist a year ago.

• BIPA per-scan damages eliminated (SB 2979). Signed August 2, 2024, the amendment treats repeated collection of the same biometric identifier from the same person using the same method as a single violation, with a single damage recovery. The Seventh Circuit has held the change applies retroactively.
• Family responsibilities and reproductive health decisions added to the IHRA (HB 2161; HB 4867). Effective January 1, 2025, employers cannot discriminate against employees based on caring for a family member with serious health needs or based on reproductive health decisions like contraception, fertility care, or abortion.
• IHRA charge window extended to two years (HB 4867). Effective January 1, 2025, employees have two years (not 300 days) to file with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.
• Pay transparency in job postings (HB 3129). Effective January 1, 2025, employers with 15 or more employees must include pay scale and benefits information in any job posting for a role performed at least partly in Illinois or reporting to an Illinois supervisor or worksite.
• Whistleblower Act expansion (HB 5561). Effective January 1, 2025, the law covers good-faith disclosures of conduct the employee believes violates the law or threatens public health or safety, broadens "adverse employment action" to anything that could dissuade a reasonable worker, and adds a $10,000 civil penalty plus interest on unpaid wages.
• Personnel Records Review Act expanded (HB 3763). Effective January 1, 2025, employees can submit electronic requests, employers must respond within seven working days (with one seven-day extension), and the law adds documents covering benefits, contracts, handbooks, and policies to the production list.
• Captive-audience meetings restricted (Worker Freedom of Speech Act). Effective January 1, 2025, Illinois employers cannot require attendance at meetings that communicate the employer's position on political or religious matters, public policy, or unionization.
• E-Verify limits (SB 508). Effective January 1, 2025, the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act prohibits employers from imposing work authorization requirements beyond federal law, and adds notice-and-cure procedures when an E-Verify "no match" arises.
• AI discrimination ban. Effective January 1, 2026, it is a civil rights violation under the IHRA for an employer to use AI in a way that subjects employees to discrimination based on protected class, to use ZIP code as a proxy for protected class, or to fail to notify employees of AI use in employment decisions.
• Workplace Transparency Act amendments. Effective for any agreement signed, modified, or extended on or after January 1, 2026, employers must affirmatively state that the agreement does not restrict participation in proceedings about unlawful employment practices, and the WTA's coverage of NDAs reaches virtually every state and federal workplace law violation.
• Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act. Effective January 1, 2026, lactation breaks are paid at the employee's regular rate, with no offset against other paid leave.
• Blood and Organ Donation Leave. Effective January 1, 2026, part-time employees are eligible for up to 10 days of leave in a 12-month period to serve as organ donors.
• IDHR procedural updates. Effective January 1, 2026, mandatory fact-finding conferences are eliminated (discretionary), and maximum civil penalties rise to $70,000 for two or more violations within seven years.

The detail on each item, plus the rest of the Illinois framework, follows below.

Illinois Minimum Wage and the Chicago and Cook County Overlays

The Illinois Minimum Wage Law (820 ILCS 105) sets the statewide floor and overtime trigger. Illinois reached $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2025, and the state rate stays at $15.00 throughout 2026. Tipped employees can be paid $9.00 per hour in cash wages with up to a $6.00 tip credit (40% of the regular minimum), as long as tips bring the worker to at least $15.00 per hour.

Chicago and Cook County add separate municipal floors. Chicago indexes annually each July; Cook County indexes most years on July 1. Both can move above the state rate, and Chicago has eliminated the tip credit entirely.

What is the Chicago minimum wage in 2026?

Effective July 1, 2026, the Chicago minimum wage is $16.20 per hour for all employers covered by the Chicago Minimum Wage Ordinance. Tipped workers in Chicago must receive the full $16.20 hourly minimum: the city has phased out the subminimum tipped wage, so no tip credit applies.

Chicago coverage reaches employers with at least four employees who perform at least two hours of work in any two-week period inside the city. Domestic workers are covered with no minimum-employee threshold.

What is the Cook County minimum wage?

As of July 1, 2025, Cook County's minimum wage is $15.00 per hour (matching the state rate after Illinois caught up to the county). The tipped wage in Cook County is $9.00 per hour. More than 100 Cook County municipalities have opted out of the Cook County Minimum Wage Ordinance, so the rate inside an opted-out village reverts to the state rate. Inside Chicago city limits, Chicago's higher rate controls.

When does daily versus weekly overtime kick in?

Illinois has weekly overtime, not daily overtime. Section 4a of the Illinois Minimum Wage Law requires non-exempt employees to receive 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. There is no state-level daily overtime threshold and no built-in seventh-day overtime, although the One Day Rest in Seven Act constrains the workweek's shape. Holiday and Sunday work do not by themselves trigger Illinois overtime.

Coverage tests for the Illinois Minimum Wage Law

The IMWL covers any employer with one or more employees, which is broader than the FLSA's enterprise coverage test. The state law's exemptions include automobile, truck, and farm-implement dealership employees, agricultural workers, and certain radio and television employees, in addition to the FLSA exemptions. Where Illinois law and the FLSA both apply, employers follow the rule that produces the higher pay or stronger protection for the employee.

Hours of Work, Meal Breaks, and One Day Rest in Seven

The One Day Rest in Seven Act (ODRISA, 820 ILCS 140) sets the rest-day and meal-break floor for non-exempt Illinois workers. SB 3146, effective January 1, 2023, materially expanded its coverage and tightened its penalties. Illinois HR teams that haven't reviewed timekeeping rules since 2022 should treat ODRISA as a current compliance item.

What does ODRISA require?

ODRISA imposes two structural rules. First, every non-exempt employee is entitled to 24 consecutive hours of rest in every consecutive seven-day period, replacing the prior calendar-week formulation. Second, employees who work a continuous shift of 7.5 hours or more get a 20-minute unpaid meal break no later than five hours into the shift, with an additional 20-minute meal break for each additional 4.5 hours worked. A 12-hour shift earns two meal breaks; a 16.5-hour shift earns three.

Employers cannot count restroom time as a meal period. Employees who choose to monitor a workstation or remain on call during a "meal period" must be paid for that time as it is no longer an unpaid break.

What are the ODRISA penalties?

Civil offenses under amended ODRISA carry fines of up to $250 per offense for employers with fewer than 25 employees and up to $500 per offense for employers with 25 or more employees. Damages payable to affected employees mirror the same scale. Employers must also post a written notice prepared by the Illinois Department of Labor that summarizes the law and explains how to file a complaint. Pattern violations across a workforce often surface during a scheduled HR compliance audit.

The Paid Leave for All Workers Act

The Paid Leave for All Workers Act (820 ILCS 192), effective January 1, 2024, is the headline Illinois leave statute. It applies to virtually every employer with one or more Illinois employees, and entitles each employee to up to 40 hours of paid leave per 12-month period usable for any reason. The employee does not have to disclose the reason and the employer cannot demand documentation.

How does accrual work under the Paid Leave for All Workers Act?

Employers can either accrue leave at one hour for every 40 hours worked, capped at 40 hours per 12-month period, or front-load 40 hours at the start of the 12-month period. Front-loaded leave does not have to carry over; accrued leave does, although the employer can cap usage at 40 hours per period.

Employees can begin using paid leave on the 90th day of employment or after March 31, 2024 for incumbent workers. Employers must allow leave in increments no greater than two hours unless an alternate increment fits the employee's regular shift.

When does PLFAW pre-emption kick in?

The Act exempts any employer that, as of January 1, 2024, was already covered by a municipal or county paid leave (or paid sick leave) ordinance. That carve-out is the reason Chicago and Cook County employers follow their local ordinances rather than the state Act. Outside the Chicago and Cook County footprints, PLFAW is the operative rule. If a Cook County municipality opts out of the county ordinance, employers there fall back to the state Act unless the village passes a more generous ordinance.

What are the penalties?

Employees can file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Labor within three years of an alleged violation. Employers found in violation are liable for underpayments, compensatory damages, civil penalties between $500 and $1,000, attorney and expert witness fees, and the costs of legal action. Failure to comply with notice and posting requirements is independently subject to penalties.

Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance

Chicago's Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance took effect July 1, 2024 after multiple delays. It runs in parallel: every covered employee earns paid leave for any reason and paid sick leave for protected reasons, on separate accrual ledgers. The combined accrual generates significantly more time off than the state Act.

How does Chicago accrual work?

Covered employees accrue one hour of paid leave and one hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked, up to 40 hours of each per year. Annual usable totals reach 80 hours when the two columns combine. Coverage applies to any employee who works at least 80 hours for an employer in Chicago in any 120-day period.

Employees can use accrued paid sick leave starting the 30th day after hire and accrued paid leave starting the 90th day. Both buckets compensate at the employee's regular rate of pay during covered hours.

Payout at separation

The Chicago ordinance imposes payout obligations that depend on employer size. Larger Chicago employers must pay out unused paid-leave hours at separation; paid sick leave does not have to be paid out. Smaller-employer rules phase in over time. The Chicago Office of Labor Standards publishes the current employer-size thresholds and effective dates, and HR teams should re-verify the cutoff before processing a Chicago final paycheck.

Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance

Cook County's Paid Leave Ordinance, effective December 31, 2023 (with revised final rules in 2024), applies to employees working in Cook County outside of Chicago, in municipalities that have not affirmatively opted out. The ordinance tracks the state Act in volume (40 hours per 12-month period for any reason) but adds Cook County-specific notice and recordkeeping obligations and creates a private right of action.

More than 60 Cook County municipalities have affirmatively opted out, including suburbs like Schaumburg, Mount Prospect, Oak Lawn, Tinley Park, Hoffman Estates, and Wilmette. Employees in opted-out villages fall back to the state Paid Leave for All Workers Act unless the village has passed its own paid leave ordinance.

Equal Pay Act of 2003 and the Equal Pay Registration Certificate

The Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 prohibits paying employees of one sex less than employees of another sex (or paying African American employees less than non-African American employees) for the same or substantially similar work. The 2021 amendments added the Equal Pay Registration Certificate (EPRC), one of the most aggressive pay equity reporting regimes in the country.

Who has to file an EPRC?

Every private business with 100 or more Illinois employees on December 31 of the year before the reporting deadline must apply for and obtain an Equal Pay Registration Certificate from the Illinois Department of Labor. Illinois employees include workers physically based in Illinois plus 100% remote employees who report to Illinois management. The threshold is calculated separately from federal EEO-1 reporting.

What does the EPRC require?

An EPRC application includes a copy of the most recent EEO-1 report, a list of every Illinois employee with sex, race/ethnicity, total wages paid in the prior year, county worked in, and start date, the total wages paid by sex and race/ethnicity classification, and a signed compliance statement attesting that the business follows the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and the Illinois Human Rights Act. The IDOL retains the right to audit submissions and demand additional records.

When is recertification due?

Once an employer has filed its first EPRC, it must recertify every two years from the date of certification. Employers that filed in 2024 are due in 2026. The IDOL has issued multiple rounds of notices of violation against employers that missed deadlines, and civil penalties for non-compliance can reach significant amounts per violation.

Pay transparency in job postings

HB 3129, effective January 1, 2025, layers a posting-disclosure obligation on top of the EPRC. Employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale (or pay range) and a general description of benefits and other compensation in any job posting, including third-party platform listings, for a position that will be performed at least partly in Illinois or that will report to a supervisor or worksite in Illinois. Bonuses, commissions, and equity awards have to be described.

The law also requires employers to notify current employees of all promotion opportunities no later than 14 calendar days after the employer makes an external posting for the same role. Civil penalties scale with the violation: $250 for a first-time offense involving an inactive listing, climbing to $10,000 for a third or subsequent offense involving any listing. The Illinois Department of Labor enforces.

For pay equity audit workflows, the EEOC pay data collection breakdown covers how Illinois data submission interlocks with federal reporting.

Salary History Ban

Illinois prohibits employers from asking applicants about wage or salary history (820 ILCS 112/10). Employers cannot screen applicants based on prior wages, require disclosure of pay history as a condition of hiring, or seek pay history from a current or former employer. The law also forbids retaliation against applicants who refuse to provide salary history.

Voluntary, unprompted disclosure by the applicant is allowed, but the employer still cannot use prior pay to set new pay. The exception is a candidate's unprompted, voluntary disclosure of expected compensation; that the employer can consider. Combined with HB 3129, Illinois has effectively shifted compensation conversations away from "what did you make" toward "what is the role worth."

Illinois Human Rights Act and Harassment Training

The Illinois Human Rights Act (775 ILCS 5) covers employers with one or more employees in Illinois for discrimination, harassment, and reasonable accommodation purposes, a far broader sweep than Title VII's 15-employee floor. The IHRA prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, order of protection status, citizenship, disability, military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, pregnancy, family responsibilities, reproductive health decisions, conviction record, work authorization status, and more.

What's new for 2025 and 2026?

Three IHRA changes drive most of the 2025-2026 compliance work:

• Family responsibilities became a protected class on January 1, 2025 (HB 2161). Employers cannot discriminate against employees based on actual or perceived provision of personal care to a covered family member. The law does not require accommodations or scheduling modifications, but it does forbid disparate treatment based on the caregiving role itself.
• Reproductive health decisions became a protected class on January 1, 2025 (HB 4867). Decisions about contraception, fertility care, abortion, and related care are protected.
• Charge-filing window extended from 300 days to two years, effective January 1, 2025. Employers face longer exposure on every IHRA matter.

Effective January 1, 2026, the IHRA's procedural updates eliminate mandatory fact-finding conferences (the IDHR can still hold them at its discretion or by joint request) and raise civil penalties to up to $70,000 for two or more violations within seven years.

What does the AI discrimination ban require?

Effective January 1, 2026, it is a civil rights violation under the IHRA for an employer to use AI that has the effect of subjecting an employee or applicant to discrimination based on a protected class, to use a ZIP code as a proxy for a protected class, or to fail to notify employees that the employer is using AI in any decision affecting recruitment, hiring, promotion, discipline, termination, or terms of employment. The notification rule applies even to AI tools that do not produce a discriminatory outcome. The disclosure obligation is independent.

The Illinois Department of Human Rights has authority to enforce the new section through the regular IHRA charge process.

Sexual harassment training

Every Illinois employer must provide annual sexual harassment prevention training that meets the IDHR model standards under Section 2-110 of the IHRA. The training applies to every employee regardless of role. Restaurants and bars must provide supplemental training tailored to their work environment, plus a written sexual harassment prevention policy in English and Spanish, distributed to each employee within the first calendar week of employment.

Chicago layers an additional set of training rules on top. Effective July 1, 2023, Chicago employers must annually provide one hour of sexual harassment prevention training for all employees, two hours for supervisors and managers, and one hour of bystander training for all employees. The Chicago Commission on Human Relations enforces.

For training programs and policy frameworks, the EEOC harassment definitions guide covers the substantive content training has to address, and the quid pro quo harassment explainer walks through the most-litigated fact pattern.

BIPA: The Biometric Information Privacy Act

The Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14) is the single most distinctive Illinois employment statute. It regulates the collection, storage, use, and disclosure of biometric identifiers (fingerprints, retina or iris scans, voiceprints, scans of hand or face geometry) and biometric information derived from those identifiers. Employers using fingerprint timeclocks, voice authentication, or facial recognition for any workplace purpose are squarely inside its scope.

What does BIPA require employers to do?

Section 15 imposes five core duties:

• Public written policy establishing a retention schedule and destruction guidelines, with biometric data destroyed when the initial purpose for collection has been satisfied or within three years of the individual's last interaction, whichever comes first.
• Written notice to the individual that biometric identifiers are being collected, why, and how long they will be stored.
• Written release from the individual (the SB 2979 amendment confirms an electronic signature qualifies).
• No sale or profit from biometric data.
• Reasonable safeguards in storage and transmission, with a duty not to disclose without consent or a valid legal basis.

What changed under SB 2979?

SB 2979, signed August 2, 2024 and effective immediately, addressed the Illinois Supreme Court's 2023 Cothron v. White Castle decision that had treated each biometric scan as a separate violation. The amendment provides that collecting or disclosing the same biometric identifier or information from the same person using the same method is a single violation with a single damage recovery.

The Seventh Circuit has held the amendment applies retroactively to pending cases, which substantially shrinks BIPA exposure for employers with thousands of employees clocking in daily on a fingerprint reader. Statutory damages remain at $1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation, plus attorneys' fees, costs, and injunctive relief, but the violation count is now per-person rather than per-scan for repeat collections.

Common BIPA failure modes

Most BIPA litigation arises from a few recurring patterns:

• Vendor-side capture without disclosure. Time and attendance vendors that store biometric data on behalf of employers expose the employer to liability if the vendor's collection happened without notice and release.
• No published retention policy. Section 15(a) requires a publicly available written policy, not just an internal one. Failure to publish is independently actionable.
• Continued retention past separation. Failing to destroy biometric data once the employee leaves runs into the destruction-schedule requirements.
• Cross-border data sharing. Disclosing biometric data to corporate parents, payroll vendors, or analytics platforms without specific consent is a Section 15(d) violation.

Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA)

Illinois's Genetic Information Privacy Act (410 ILCS 513) prohibits employers from soliciting, requesting, requiring, or purchasing genetic testing or genetic information from a person or family member as a condition of employment, and from using genetic information to affect terms or conditions of employment. GIPA pre-dates the federal GINA and reaches further: the Illinois statute extends to family medical history obtained in pre-employment health screenings, even where the employer never explicitly requested DNA testing.

What's driving 2024-2025 GIPA litigation?

A wave of class actions began in 2023 and accelerated through 2024 and 2025, often targeting employers that gathered family medical history during pre-hire physical exams or wellness intake forms. Plaintiffs argue that asking about a parent's diabetes or a sibling's heart disease constitutes solicitation of genetic information. Damages run from $2,500 per negligent violation to $15,000 per intentional or reckless violation, plus attorney's fees and costs. The structure has invited class-action filings comparable to BIPA's first wave.

HR teams running pre-employment medical screening, wellness programs, or onboarding health questionnaires should audit every form question and vendor practice against GIPA's solicitation prohibition. The background investigation walkthrough covers the line between lawful pre-hire screening and disallowed solicitation.

Workplace Transparency Act and NDAs

The Workplace Transparency Act (820 ILCS 96), effective January 1, 2020, restricts how employers can use NDAs, non-disparagement clauses, and arbitration agreements to suppress harassment and discrimination claims. The 2026 amendments significantly expand its reach.

What does the WTA prohibit?

The original Act forbids unilateral confidentiality, non-disparagement, and arbitration agreements that prevent an employee from reporting alleged unlawful conduct to government agencies, testifying in administrative or judicial proceedings, or making truthful statements about alleged unlawful practices. Mutual confidentiality agreements that meet specific carve-outs are still permitted in settlement contexts, with a 21-day consideration period and a 7-day revocation window for the employee.

What's new for 2026?

For agreements signed, modified, or extended on or after January 1, 2026, the WTA expands in two material ways. First, the law now reaches virtually every state and federal workplace law violation, not just harassment and discrimination. Wage, hour, safety, and labor relations claims fall within its scope. Second, every covered agreement must affirmatively state that the employee retains the right to file charges with, and participate in proceedings before, federal, state, or local agencies investigating unlawful employment practices.

Employers running standard separation packages, employment offer letters, or arbitration clauses should re-paper templates ahead of any agreement signing in 2026. The termination process guide covers separation paperwork flow that holds up under WTA review.

For background on NDA boundaries, see the #MeToo bill explainer.

Whistleblower Act and Retaliation

The Illinois Whistleblower Act (740 ILCS 174) prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who disclose, or threaten to disclose, information about activities the employee believes violate the law or threaten public health or safety. HB 5561 expanded the Act materially effective January 1, 2025.

How did HB 5561 change the Whistleblower Act?

Three changes matter most:

• Good-faith standard. Protected disclosures now include reporting of activity the employee in good faith believes violates the law or threatens public health or safety, regardless of whether the underlying conduct ultimately turns out to be unlawful.
• Expanded "adverse employment action." Conduct that "could dissuade a reasonable worker" from disclosing or threatening to disclose information is now actionable, mirroring the federal Burlington Northern retaliation standard.
• New remedies. Damages now include 9% interest on unpaid wages (capped at 90 days), a $10,000 civil penalty, and up to $10,000 in additional damages. The Illinois Attorney General can sue on behalf of the people for systemic violations.

How does the Whistleblower Act interact with other retaliation regimes?

A whistleblower disclosure can simultaneously trigger protections under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act, OSHA Section 11(c), the False Claims Act, the Illinois Human Rights Act's retaliation provision, and the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act. Each regime has its own filing window and remedies, and HR's job in the moment isn't to pick the strongest theory. It's to preserve all of them by handling the report through a documented intake process. The retaliation prevention guide covers the operational moves that hold up across regimes.

Independent Contractor Classification

Illinois doesn't have a single all-industry independent contractor test. The IRS economic-realities approach generally controls for state and federal income tax purposes, the FLSA economic-realities test controls for federal wage-and-hour purposes, and a stricter test applies to construction.

The Employee Classification Act (construction)

The Employee Classification Act (820 ILCS 185) creates a presumption that any individual performing services for a construction contractor is an employee unless the contractor proves all three prongs of an ABC-style test: free from direction and control, performing work outside the contractor's usual course of business or outside the contractor's place of business, and engaged in an independently established trade. The Illinois Department of Labor enforces, and aggrieved workers and interested parties can also file private suits.

Misclassification consequences

A misclassification finding under the Employee Classification Act exposes contractors to civil penalties (up to $1,500 per violation, doubled for repeat offenders), back wages, employment benefits, and treble damages under the Wage Payment and Collection Act for unpaid wages. The Act expressly prohibits retaliation against any worker who exercises rights under it.

Outside construction, Illinois generally tracks the IRS multifactor test for state tax and unemployment insurance, though the Illinois Department of Employment Security applies its own tighter standard for unemployment insurance contributions, focusing on direction and control plus the worker's independence. The 13 reasons employees sue covers misclassification's place in the litigation mix.

Day and Temporary Labor Services Act

HB 2862, signed August 4, 2023, amended the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (820 ILCS 175) to add an "equal pay for equal work" floor for temp workers. After 90 calendar days on assignment to a third-party client, a day or temporary laborer must be paid the same rate of pay as the lowest-paid directly hired employee of the client with the same level of seniority and performing comparative work, meaning work that requires substantially similar skill, effort, and responsibility.

If no comparable directly hired employee exists, the rate floor is the lowest-paid employee with the closest level of seniority. The law also imposes safety training, recordkeeping, and notice obligations on both staffing agencies and the third-party clients that engage them.

A federal district court enjoined enforcement of the equivalent-benefits component of the law, but the equal-pay-rate provision remains in effect for temporary laborers assigned more than 90 days after April 1, 2024. Interested parties who prevail in a civil suit recover 10% of statutory penalties plus attorney's fees, with the remaining 90% directed to the state's enforcement fund.

Freelance Worker Protection Act

Illinois became the first state to enact a Freelance Worker Protection Act (820 ILCS 195) modeled on New York City's earlier ordinance. The Act took effect July 1, 2024 and requires written contracts and timely payment for any freelance engagement worth $500 or more in a 120-day period.

What does the FWPA require?

The Act requires a written contract that includes both parties' names and contact information (including the hiring party's mailing address), an itemized list of products or services, the value, the rate and method of compensation, the date payment is due (no later than 30 days after services are rendered), and any deadline for the freelance worker to submit an itemized list. The hiring party must give the freelance worker a copy and retain it for at least two years.

Penalties

Late payment exposes the hiring party to double the underpayment plus attorney's fees and costs. Failure to enter a written contract is independently actionable for the greater of $500 or the value of the underlying contract. Conditioning timely payment on acceptance of less compensation than contracted is independently prohibited. For workforce-wide contractor onboarding, the employee handbook guide covers the parallel documentation track for direct hires.

Wage Payment and Collection Act

The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (820 ILCS 115) sets the rules for how, when, and how often employees must be paid, plus the penalties for getting it wrong. The 2021 amendment substantially raised the penalty rate, and Illinois HR teams that haven't updated payroll-vendor agreements since then should treat the change as a current item.

What is the Illinois pay frequency rule?

Most employees must be paid at least semi-monthly, with each pay date no later than 13 days after the end of the pay period. Executive, administrative, and professional employees as defined in the FLSA can be paid monthly. Commissions can be paid monthly. Workers paid on a daily basis must be paid at the end of each work day.

When is the final paycheck due?

When employment ends, voluntarily or involuntarily, the employer must pay all final compensation in full at separation if practicable, and in any event by the next regularly scheduled payday. Final compensation includes wages, salaries, earned commissions, earned bonuses, and the monetary equivalent of earned vacation and earned holidays. An employee's acceptance of a disputed paycheck does not release the balance, and employers cannot place release language on the check itself as a condition of payment.

What are the penalties for unpaid wages?

Under the 2021 amendment to Section 14, an employee who recovers unpaid wages can recover:

• Treble damages on the underpayment.
• 5% per month interest on the underpayment, accruing from the date payment was due, with no cap on the duration the interest accrues.
• Attorney's fees and costs.

The 5% monthly damages keep accruing without limit until the employer pays. A wage claim that sits open for two years can multiply far beyond the original underpayment. The Illinois Department of Labor can also assess civil penalties on top of the employee's recovery.

Personnel Records Review Act

The Personnel Records Review Act (820 ILCS 40) gives every Illinois employee the right to inspect and copy their personnel records. HB 3763, effective January 1, 2025, expanded the Act in several material ways.

What records must be produced?

After the 2025 expansion, the Act covers any record used to determine the employee's qualifications for hire, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, discharge, or other disciplinary action, plus:

• Documents used to determine an employee's benefits.
• Any employment-related contracts or agreements the employer maintains are legally binding on the employee.
• Any employee handbooks the employer made available or that the employee acknowledged receiving.
• Any written employer policies or procedures the employer contends the employee was subject to and that concern qualifications, promotion, transfer, compensation, benefits, discharge, or discipline.

How fast does the employer have to respond?

Requests can be made in writing, including by email or text message. Employers must respond within seven working days, with one seven-day extension available where seven days is not practicable. Employees can make at least two requests per calendar year. Employers cannot pass through the cost of duplication time, copy machines, computer equipment, software, or similar items to the requesting employee.

Pregnancy Accommodation

The Illinois Human Rights Act's pregnancy accommodation regime is broader than the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in several ways.

• Coverage: the IHRA covers employers with one or more employees in Illinois, while the federal PWFA covers 15 or more.
• Conditions: the IHRA defines "pregnancy" to include pregnancy, childbirth, and medical or common conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth, with backaches, cramping, headaches, morning sickness, frequent urination, fatigue, lifting impairments, swollen extremities, and lactation among the listed examples.
• Reproductive health decisions: the IHRA's January 1, 2025 amendments added decisions about contraception, fertility treatments, and abortion as protected.
• Filing window: the IHRA gives the employee two years (versus 300 days under federal law) to file with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

For employers that already comply with the federal PWFA, the most common Illinois-specific issues are reproductive-health-decision discrimination claims and accommodation requests from very small employers that fall outside federal coverage.

VESSA: Victims' Economic Security and Safety Act

VESSA (820 ILCS 180) requires every Illinois employer to provide unpaid leave to employees who are victims (or whose family or household members are victims) of domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or any other crime of violence. Leave entitlement scales with employer size:

• 1 to 14 employees: up to 4 workweeks per 12-month period.
• 15 to 49 employees: up to 8 workweeks per 12-month period.
• 50 or more employees: up to 12 workweeks per 12-month period.

Leave can be used to seek medical care, legal assistance, counseling, safety planning, court appearances, and similar protective activities. The 2024 amendment added two workweeks (10 workdays) of unpaid leave for an employee whose family or household member dies as a result of a crime of violence, completed within 60 days of notice.

Employees must give 48 hours of advance notice where practicable. Leave can be intermittent or on a reduced schedule. Employers must keep all VESSA-related information confidential and cannot retaliate against an employee for using or seeking to use leave.

Family Bereavement Leave Act

The Family Bereavement Leave Act (820 ILCS 154), expanded January 1, 2023, applies to employers with 50 or more employees and gives eligible employees up to two weeks (10 working days) of unpaid leave per 12-month period for a covered loss. Leave must be completed within 60 days of the employee receiving notice of the event.

What counts as a covered loss?

After the 2023 expansion, covered losses include:

• Death of a covered family member, with leave usable for the funeral, an alternative to a funeral, or related arrangements.
• A miscarriage.
• An unsuccessful round of intrauterine insemination or assisted reproductive technology procedure.
• A failed adoption match or contested adoption.
• A failed surrogacy agreement.
• A diagnosis that negatively impacts pregnancy or fertility.
• A stillbirth.

Covered family members include the employee's child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent.

Cannabis and the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act

Illinois legalized recreational cannabis effective January 1, 2020 under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (410 ILCS 705). The Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act (820 ILCS 55) protects an employee's off-duty use of "lawful products," which includes recreational marijuana under state law. The 2019 amendments preserve the employer's right to maintain a drug-free workplace policy.

What can employers still do?

Employers can prohibit on-the-job possession or impairment, conduct reasonable workplace drug testing (including pre-hire and random testing) under a written policy, and discipline or discharge employees who fail a drug test or who are reasonably suspected of impairment at work. The Cannabis Act expressly disclaims any cause of action for actions taken under a reasonable workplace drug policy.

Federal contractors and employers in safety-sensitive industries face additional federal preemption considerations that the state law does not displace.

E-Verify Limits and Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act

SB 508, effective January 1, 2025, amended the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act to limit how Illinois employers use E-Verify and respond to work authorization issues. Employers cannot impose work authorization verification requirements that go beyond what federal law mandates, and they cannot use E-Verify to discriminate. When a "no match" arises, employers must:

• Provide the employee with the specific document or documents deemed deficient.
• Explain the reasons for the deficiency.
• Provide instructions on how to correct the deficiency.
• Inform the employee of the right to representation during related meetings.

Federal Form I-9 obligations remain unchanged, and the federal Immigration and Nationality Act anti-discrimination provisions still apply. SB 508 sits on top of those federal duties as a state-law overlay.

Worker Freedom of Speech Act (Captive Audience Meetings)

Effective January 1, 2025, the Illinois Worker Freedom of Speech Act prohibits employers from requiring attendance at meetings, or from requiring participation in communications, conveying the employer's opinion on:

• Political matters.
• Religious matters.
• Public policy proposals.
• The decision to join or support a labor or other organization.

Employers cannot retaliate against employees who decline to attend such a meeting or participate in such a communication. Employees can opt out without losing pay, scheduled work, or any term or condition of employment. The law carves out communications required by law and certain political nonprofit activities.

Noncompete and Nonsolicitation Agreements

The Illinois Freedom to Work Act (820 ILCS 90) sets the rules for noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2022. Three thresholds matter most:

• Noncompete salary threshold: employees earning $75,000 or less per year cannot be subject to noncompetes.
• Nonsolicitation salary threshold: employees earning $45,000 or less per year cannot be subject to customer or employee nonsolicitation agreements.
• Indexing: both thresholds rise on January 1 of 2027, 2032, and 2037.

Procedurally, the employer must give the employee at least 14 calendar days to review the agreement and must advise the employee in writing to consult an attorney before signing. Adequate consideration is required: continued employment alone for less than two years generally is not enough.

What changed in 2025?

Two new categorical bans took effect for noncompetes signed in 2025:

• SB 2737: noncompetes and nonsolicits prohibited for licensed mental health professionals serving veterans and first responders.
• SB 2770: noncompetes and nonsolicits prohibited for construction workers, regardless of collective bargaining status.

For separated employees subject to enforceable noncompetes, the underlying agreements remain valid, but Illinois courts apply rigorous reasonableness review to scope, duration, geography, and consideration.

Illinois WARN Act

The Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (820 ILCS 65) is more protective than federal WARN. It applies to Illinois employers with 75 or more full-time employees (versus 100 federally) and requires 60 days advance notice of a plant closing or mass layoff.

What's a plant closing or mass layoff?

A plant closing under Illinois WARN is the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single site of employment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single site, that results in employment losses for 25 or more full-time employees during any 30-day period. A mass layoff is a reduction in force at a single site, not the result of a plant closing, that results in employment losses during any 30-day period of 25 or more full-time employees if they constitute one-third or more of the full-time employees at the site, or 250 or more full-time employees regardless of the percentage.

Who must be notified?

Notice must go to affected employees and their representatives, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and the chief elected official of each municipal and county government within which the employment loss occurred. Employers that have received state or local economic support under the Business Economic Support Act must also notify the Governor, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House, the President and Minority Leader of the Senate, and the mayor of each Illinois municipality where the employer operates.

Penalties

An employer that fails to provide proper notice is liable to each affected employee for back pay and benefits for the period of violation, up to 60 days. The employer can also face a civil penalty of up to $500 per day of notice violation, payable to the affected unit of local government.

For layoff and reduction-in-force planning generally, the RIF compliance walkthrough covers the procedural sequence that satisfies both Illinois and federal WARN.

Workplace Safety: Illinois OSHA Jurisdiction

Illinois operates an OSHA-approved public sector State Plan covering state and local government workers under the Illinois Department of Labor's Safety Inspection and Education Division. Federal OSHA retains jurisdiction over private sector workplaces in Illinois.

For private employers, federal OSHA standards control: 29 CFR Part 1910 (general industry), Part 1926 (construction), the Hazard Communication Standard, the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, the OSHA 300 log, and the rest of the federal framework. The Illinois state plan only reaches public sector employers (state agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts, and similar).

Workplace violence prevention plans are not separately required by Illinois law for private employers, although collective bargaining agreements and industry-specific obligations (healthcare, retail late-night operations) often impose program-specific duties. For workplace violence program design, the California SB 553 framework walks through the program elements that are spreading across other state regimes, and the SB 553 compliance product page shows the workflow side of program design.

Nursing Mothers and Lactation Accommodation

The Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act (820 ILCS 260) requires employers to provide reasonable break time and a private space for an employee to express breast milk for a nursing child. Effective January 1, 2026, the breaks must be paid at the employee's regular rate of pay, and the employer cannot deduct the time from other paid leave balances or reduce the employee's compensation. The space cannot be a bathroom and must be shielded from view and free from intrusion.

The federal PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act break-time provisions, and the federal PWFA pregnancy accommodation rules layer on top of the state Act. Where they conflict, the rule most protective of the employee controls.

Blood and Organ Donation Leave

The Illinois Blood Donation Leave Act and the Organ Donor Leave Act, as expanded for 2026, allow Illinois employees to take leave to donate blood or to serve as an organ donor. Effective January 1, 2026, both full-time and part-time employees are eligible for up to 10 days of leave within a 12-month period to serve as organ donors. Blood donation leave permits the employee to take time off as needed for blood donation, with the employer's approval.

Illinois Department of Labor and the Other State Agencies

Illinois employment law is enforced by several state agencies, and HR teams handling complaints or charges need to know which agency owns which statute.

• Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL): Minimum Wage Law, Wage Payment and Collection Act, Equal Pay Act of 2003 and EPRC, Day and Temporary Labor Services Act, Employee Classification Act, Personnel Records Review Act, ODRISA, Paid Leave for All Workers Act, Freelance Worker Protection Act, Whistleblower Act enforcement support, Illinois OSHA (public sector), and posting requirements.
• Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR): Illinois Human Rights Act enforcement, including discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment training, retaliation, and the AI discrimination ban.
• Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission: workers' compensation claims, retaliatory discharge claims related to compensation claims, and approval of settlements.
• Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES): unemployment insurance contributions, claims, and worker classification for UI purposes.
• Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO): WARN Act notification recipient.
• Chicago Office of Labor Standards (OLS): Chicago Minimum Wage, Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave Ordinance, Wage Theft Ordinance, and Fair Workweek Ordinance enforcement.
• Cook County Commission on Human Rights: Cook County Human Rights Ordinance and the Cook County Earned Sick Leave / Paid Leave Ordinance.

A typical complaint can land in two or three agencies at once. A pay equity claim might involve IDOL (Equal Pay Act), IDHR (sex discrimination under the IHRA), and the EEOC (Title VII and the federal Equal Pay Act). HR teams that route every complaint through a documented intake workflow preserve options across all three forums. The employee relations case workflow walks through the routing decisions that hold up across agencies.

Filing Charges and Statute of Limitations

Illinois employment claims have varying filing windows. Missing one can blow a claim entirely.

• Illinois Human Rights Act: two years from the alleged violation, effective January 1, 2025 (up from 300 days). Cross-filing with the EEOC dual-files Title VII claims.
• Wage Payment and Collection Act: 10 years for written contract wage claims, five years for oral contract claims, plus the IDOL administrative process.
• Illinois Minimum Wage Law: three years.
• Whistleblower Act: claims arising on or after January 1, 2025 follow the expanded HB 5561 framework.
• BIPA: the Illinois Supreme Court has held a five-year statute of limitations applies for all sections.
• VESSA: three years.
• Personnel Records Review Act: three years.
• Paid Leave for All Workers Act: three years.

Recordkeeping for Illinois Employers

Illinois layers state-specific retention rules on top of the federal framework. The longest applicable period controls for any document covered by multiple statutes.

• Wage and hour records: three years under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law and the Wage Payment and Collection Act.
• Personnel records: generally retained while employment continues plus the three-year personnel-record limitation period; longer if a charge is pending.
• EPRC records: the IDOL recommends retention sufficient to support the data submitted in any certification, with a five-year horizon as a practical floor.
• BIPA records: destruction triggered by satisfaction of the initial purpose or three years from last interaction, whichever is first; the destruction itself must be documented.
• Paid Leave for All Workers Act records: three years.
• Freelance Worker Protection Act contracts: two years.
• VESSA confidentiality: the employer must maintain the confidentiality of all VESSA-related information; the records that exist must be segregated and access-controlled.

A litigation hold or open agency charge extends every relevant retention obligation until the matter resolves. The 12 elements of a workplace investigation report covers the documentation depth that holds up under IDHR, IDOL, or EEOC review.

How AllVoices Helps

Illinois employment law generates more documentation than almost any other state framework. The Equal Pay Registration Certificate alone produces an annual data submission with employee-by-employee compensation and demographic detail. BIPA requires a published retention policy and documented consent for every biometric collection. The Whistleblower Act and the IHRA both punish employers whose intake workflows lose track of a complaint or send the report to the wrong owner. The Personnel Records Review Act forces a seven-day production turnaround on any electronic request. Effective compliance requires infrastructure, not just policy.

AllVoices is an employee relations platform built for the cases Illinois law turns into work:

• Centralized intake for harassment, discrimination, retaliation, safety, wage, accommodation, ethics, and biometric privacy concerns. Reports flow through structured forms that capture the data IDHR and IDOL investigators ask for, plus an anonymous reporting channel that satisfies whistleblower workflow expectations.
• Structured investigations covering IHRA harassment matters, Whistleblower Act retaliation reports, BIPA consent reviews, EPRC pay equity inquiries, and PLFAW or Chicago/Cook County paid leave disputes on a single workflow. The workplace investigations module tracks task assignments, evidence, witness statements, and audit-ready reports.
• Vera, the AI co-pilot built into case management, drafts intake summaries, suggests interview questions, and surfaces recurring patterns. The pattern view helps catch pay equity inconsistencies before an EPRC submission, harassment hotspots before they trigger an IDHR charge, or biometric collection issues before a BIPA suit.
• HRIS integrations with Workday, Rippling, Paylocity, BambooHR, and other platforms keep manager hierarchy, employee status, location, and pay data synchronized. The accuracy matters for Illinois because PLFAW, Chicago Paid Leave, Cook County Paid Leave, and EPRC all depend on correct work-location and headcount data.
• Pulse surveys and trend analysis spot cultural risks (harassment hot spots, retaliation patterns, accommodation backlog) and shore up psychological safety before issues escalate to charges.
• SOC 2 Type II certified with role-based access controls, so investigators and HR partners see only what they need, which is relevant for VESSA confidentiality, BIPA biometric data review, and the Personnel Records Review Act.

Illinois HR teams running multistate operations face an additional integration challenge: federal Title VII and FMLA, the Illinois layer (IHRA, BIPA, EPRC, PLFAW, Whistleblower Act), and the local Chicago and Cook County overlays each generate their own intake, investigation, and recordkeeping requirements. The platform handles all three layers on a single case file. The 2024 case management software comparison walks through how teams evaluate options at different stages of company growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Illinois minimum wage in 2026?

The statewide Illinois minimum wage is $15.00 per hour throughout 2026, with $9.00 per hour as the cash wage for tipped workers (with up to a $6.00 tip credit). Chicago's minimum wage rises to $16.20 per hour effective July 1, 2026, with no tip credit for tipped workers. Cook County's minimum wage is $15.00 per hour as of July 1, 2025, though more than 100 municipalities have opted out, dropping the rate inside their borders to the state floor.

Does the Paid Leave for All Workers Act apply to Chicago and Cook County employers?

The state Act exempts employers already covered by a municipal or county paid leave ordinance as of January 1, 2024. Employers with employees in Chicago follow the Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance. Employers in Cook County (outside Chicago) follow the Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance unless the municipality opted out. Employers operating in multiple Illinois locations often run all three regimes simultaneously: Chicago workers under the Chicago ordinance, suburban Cook County workers under the county ordinance, and downstate workers under the state Act.

Who has to file an Equal Pay Registration Certificate?

Every private business with 100 or more Illinois employees on December 31 of the year preceding the reporting deadline must obtain and maintain an EPRC, with renewal every two years. Illinois employees include workers physically based in Illinois plus 100% remote employees who report to Illinois management. The EPRC submission includes the employer's most recent EEO-1, individual employee compensation data, demographic data, and a signed compliance attestation.

How does BIPA apply to fingerprint timeclocks?

Fingerprint timeclocks fall squarely within BIPA. Employers must publish a written retention and destruction policy, give written notice to each employee that biometric identifiers are being collected, obtain a written release (electronic signatures qualify after SB 2979), avoid sale or profit from the data, and use reasonable security in storage and transmission. Statutory damages run $1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation, but the SB 2979 amendment treats repeated scans of the same person using the same method as a single violation.

When is sexual harassment training required in Illinois?

Every Illinois employer must provide annual sexual harassment prevention training that meets the IDHR's model standards under Section 2-110 of the Illinois Human Rights Act. The requirement covers every employee. Restaurants and bars must provide supplemental training tailored to their work environment. Chicago employers must provide one hour of harassment prevention training for all employees, two hours for supervisors and managers, and one hour of bystander training annually.

Can Illinois employers still ask about salary history?

No. Illinois prohibits employers from asking applicants about wage or salary history, screening applicants based on prior wages, or requiring disclosure of pay history as a condition of hiring. An applicant can voluntarily and unprompted disclose expected compensation, but the employer still cannot use prior pay to set new pay. HB 3129 layers a job-posting pay disclosure obligation on top, requiring employers with 15 or more employees to post pay scale and benefits in any job posting for an Illinois-connected role.

Are noncompetes enforceable in Illinois?

Yes, with significant limits. Under the Illinois Freedom to Work Act, noncompetes are prohibited for employees earning $75,000 or less per year, and nonsolicitation agreements are prohibited for employees earning $45,000 or less. Both thresholds rise in 2027, 2032, and 2037. The employer must give the employee at least 14 days to review the agreement and must advise the employee in writing to consult an attorney. Noncompetes are categorically prohibited for construction workers (SB 2770) and for licensed mental health professionals serving veterans and first responders (SB 2737).

How does the Illinois Whistleblower Act compare to federal whistleblower laws?

The Illinois Whistleblower Act (post-HB 5561) protects good-faith disclosures of conduct the employee believes violates the law or threatens public health or safety, with no requirement that the underlying conduct actually be unlawful. Adverse employment action is defined broadly to include anything that could dissuade a reasonable worker from reporting. Damages include 9% interest on unpaid wages, a $10,000 civil penalty, and up to $10,000 in additional damages, alongside Sarbanes-Oxley, OSHA Section 11(c), False Claims Act, and other federal protections that may apply to the same disclosure.

The Bottom Line

Illinois employment law moved aggressively in 2024 and 2025, and the 2026 calendar adds two more layers of compliance work. The priorities for HR teams operating in Illinois:

• By June 2026: audit AI tools used in hiring, promotion, discipline, and termination decisions for compliance with the IHRA AI discrimination ban, including the notification requirement and the ZIP-code-as-proxy prohibition.
• By June 2026: review every employment, severance, and settlement template against the 2026 Workplace Transparency Act amendments, including affirmative agency-participation language and expanded coverage of all workplace law violations.
• By July 1, 2026: update Chicago payroll rates to the new $16.20 minimum wage and confirm tipped workers receive the full minimum (no tip credit).
• By the next EPRC due date: assemble employee-level compensation, demographic, and EEO-1 data for the IDOL submission, and re-verify Illinois headcount on December 31 of the preceding year.
• Ongoing through 2026: audit BIPA notice, release, and retention practices for any timeclock, voice authentication, facial recognition, or biometric vendor relationship, including data shared with HRIS, payroll, or analytics platforms.
• Ongoing through 2026: reconcile Paid Leave for All Workers Act, Chicago Paid Leave, and Cook County Paid Leave accruals across multistate operations, with attention to municipal opt-out lists.
• Ongoing through 2026: apply the IHRA's two-year filing window to retention plans, intake routing, and investigation timelines. Claims that previously aged out at 300 days now stay live for 24 months.
• Ongoing through 2026: handle Personnel Records Review Act requests within seven working days, including handbook, policy, contract, and benefit-determination documents added by HB 3763.
• Ongoing through 2026: document harassment prevention training annually for every Illinois employee, with supplemental training for restaurants and bars and Chicago bystander training where applicable.

For the federal baseline that Illinois law builds on, and for state-by-state comparisons across the rest of the country, the federal compliance guide and the California, New York, Texas, and Florida pillars are the right next stops. To see how an employee relations platform carries the documentation load Illinois compliance generates, the HR case management overview covers how the workflow scales from a single complaint to the full case lifecycle.