Illinois Governor JB Pritzker recently signed into law several bills affecting employers (all of which are effective January 1, 2025, unless stated otherwise), including the following:
- Currently, under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, Illinois employers are required to provide each employee with an itemized statement of deductions made from the employee’s wages for each pay period. The Act has now been amended to instead require employers to provide each employee with a pay stub for each pay period.
- Illinois has amended the state’s Human Rights Act by adding “family responsibilities” as a protected class under the Act. “Family responsibilities” means an employee’s actual or perceived provision of personal care to a family member. “Personal care” means activities to ensure that a family member’s basic medical, hygiene, nutritional, or safety needs are met, or to provide transportation to medical appointments, for a covered family member who is unable to meet those needs himself or herself. “Personal care” also means being physically present to provide emotional support to a covered family member with a serious health condition who is receiving inpatient or home care.
- Illinois has passed the Worker Freedom of Speech Act, which prohibits an employer from discharging or otherwise penalizing an employee:
- because the employee declines to attend or participate in an employer-sponsored meeting or declines to receive or listen to communications from the employer if the meeting or communication is to communicate the opinion of the employer about religious matters or political matters;as a means of inducing an employee to attend or participate in such meetings or receive or listen to such communications; orbecause the employee, or a person acting on behalf of the employee, makes a good faith report, orally or in writing, of a violation of the Act.
- because the employee declines to attend or participate in an employer-sponsored meeting or declines to receive or listen to communications from the employer if the meeting or communication is to communicate the opinion of the employer about religious matters or political matters;
- as a means of inducing an employee to attend or participate in such meetings or receive or listen to such communications; or
- because the employee, or a person acting on behalf of the employee, makes a good faith report, orally or in writing, of a violation of the Act.
- Illinois has amended its Personnel Record Review Act to require employers, upon written request from an employee, to provide the following information:
- any personnel documents which are, have been or are intended to be used in determining that employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, compensation, benefits, discharge, or other disciplinary action (subject to certain exceptions);
- any employment-related contracts or agreements that the employer maintains are legally binding on the employee;
- any employee handbooks that the employer made available to the employee or that the employee acknowledged receiving; and
- any written employer policies or procedures that the employer contends the employee was subject to and that concern qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, compensation, benefits, discharge, or other disciplinary action.
- Illinois has amended its Human Rights Act to include reproductive health decisions as a protected class under the Act. “Reproductive health decisions” means a person’s decisions regarding the person’s use of:
- contraception; fertility or sterilization care;assisted reproductive technologies; miscarriage management care;healthcare related to the continuation or termination of pregnancy; orprenatal, intranatal, or postnatal care.contraception; fertility or sterilization care;assisted reproductive technologies; miscarriage management care;healthcare related to the continuation or termination of pregnancy; orprenatal, intranatal, or postnatal care.
- contraception; fertility or sterilization care;
- assisted reproductive technologies; miscarriage management care;
- healthcare related to the continuation or termination of pregnancy; or
- prenatal, intranatal, or postnatal care.
- Illinois has amended its Human Rights Act to address the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace. It is now considered a civil rights violation under the Act to, with respect to recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure, or the terms, privileges, or conditions of employment, for an employer to use artificial intelligence that has the effect of subjecting employees to discrimination on the basis of protected classes under the Act. Employers are required to provide notice to an employee whenever the employer uses artificial intelligence for the purposes described above. The amended Act takes effect on January 1, 2026.
