Professional Webinars and Articles

• The Attorney General’s Workplace Rights Bureau will gain stronger investigatory powers, including subpoenas, sworn interrogatories, record inspections/copying, and employee interviews.
• This increases the importance of clean recordkeeping, lawful recruiting practices, and document-preservation processes.

• Illinois employers with more than 25 employees will need to pay eligible employees at their regular rate while they serve on jury duty. Existing anti-retaliation and job-protection rules remain in place. 

• Affects Illinois employers with 15+ employees and covered employment agencies.
• A posting generally may not require a valid driver’s license unless driving is an essential job function and the requirement is a business necessity. When included, the posting must briefly explain why. This is especially important for recruiters, HR teams, and anyone using job-posting templates. 

• The Illinois Human Rights Act will expressly cover menopause-related conditions and add related reasonable-accommodation and posting obligations.
• Employers should prepare managers and refresh accommodation policies before year-end. 

Illinois regularly updates its employment laws to incorporate the ever-changing needs of its workforce by expanding work leaves, increasing reporting requirements, or responding to new technologies. 2026 will be no different, as many significant legal changes are on the horizon that address these demands and more. Find an outline of the most important changes of which both employers and employees should be aware. Unless otherwise indicated, these changes will take effect as of January 1, 2026.

Illinois amended the Workplace Transparency Act (WTA), introducing new requirements and restrictions on employment agreements such as offer letters, confidentiality agreements, settlement agreements, and termination agreements. The most significant change is the newly expanded scope of the WTA to include workplace safety claims, wage and hour claims, FMLA claims, and claims related to engaging in concerted activities to address work-related issues. The WTA also prohibits employment agreements from including terms that (1) shorten the statute of limitations, (2) apply non-Illinois law to an Illinois employee’s claim, (3) require a non-Illinois venue for an Illinois employee’s claim, or (4) state that confidentiality is the employee’s preference.

Illinois has updated its Human Rights Act to protect employees against discrimination from the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in employment-related decisions. Beginning January 1, 2026, Illinois employers must inform workers and job seekers about their use of AI technology in making employment decisions. Employers are also prohibited from utilizing AI in recruitment, hiring, promotions, disciplinary actions, terminations, or any other aspects of employment if it has the effect of subjecting employees to unlawful discrimination. This means that even without an employer’s intent to discriminate, if AI use results in disproportionately excluding members of a protected class, employers risk a potential discrimination claim.

Effective immediately, the amendment to the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act redefines employer obligations and safeguards workers from unfair employment actions based on potentially inaccurate or misused data. If an employer finds a discrepancy in an employee’s employment verification information or receives notice from a federal agency of a discrepancy, the employer must notify the employee and provide them with the paperwork showing what was deemed to be deficient no more than five days after receipt of the notification.

The Trump Administration issued executive orders attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), portraying many such initiatives as “illegal.” Not long after, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)—the federal agency charged with rooting out discrimination in employment—took inspiration from the orders to issue novel agency guidance on what constitutes “illegal DEI.” So, is DEI now illegal? What can—and what should—employers do in the wake of the new guidance? 

Family Responsibilities: New protected classes will be added to the IHRA. Employers will be prohibited from taking adverse employment actions against employees or applicants based on their “family responsibilities.”

New Law Limits Employer Speech in the Workplace: The Illinois Worker Freedom of Speech Act prohibits Illinois employers from holding mandatory meetings to discuss company views on religion or politics.

Navigating Personnel File Requests: Amendments to the Illinois Personnel Records Review Act (IPRRA) bans non-competes for licensed professionals who provide mental health services to veterans and first responders if the restriction is likely to result in an increase in cost or difficulty for any veteran or first responder seeking mental health services. A second amendment will prohibit Illinois employers from entering into non-compete or non-solicitation agreements with construction workers regardless of whether they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

Pay transparency: Illinois Equal Pay Act (IEPA) Places with 15 or more employees will have to include salary ranges and a description of benefits in all new job postings. In effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Commuter benefits: Illinois Transportation Benefits Program Act: Companies with 50 or more employees must allow workers to exclude public transit and parking costs from taxable income. In effect Jan. 1, 2024.

Child bereavement leave: Employees working for companies of 250 or more full-time workers can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave if their child dies by suicide or homicide. The leave shortens to six weeks for employees at smaller companies. In effect Jan. 1, 2024.

Paying freelancers on time: The Freelance Worker Protection Act (FWPA) law applies to anyone who has been retained as an independent contractor by a contracting entity in exchange for $500 or more within a 120-day period. Under the FWPA, Illinois freelancers must receive a written contract, compensation within 30 days of completing the work, and protection from discrimination and retaliation when pursuing payment. In effect July 1, 2024.

An update to the Illinois Unemployment Insurance Act: The recent amendment expands the definition of “newly hired employee” to also include an individual that performs work for the employer under an IRS 1099 Form. Illinois employers are now required to complete the same new hire reporting protocol for new gig workers and other independent contractors as they do for newly hired employees. Any person your business has classified as an independent contractor needs to be reported to IDES within 20 days of retaining their services, no different than newly hired employees. Deliberately failing to report newly hired employees, including self-employed independent contractors, may result in fines of up to $500 per employee.

The Paid Leave for All Workers Act (PLAWA) in Illinois went into effect on January 1, 2024, requiring employers to provide eligible employees with a minimum of 40 hours of paid leave per year. Employees earn one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours in a 12-month period. Employees can use their paid leave for any reason, and employers can’t require employees to provide a reason for their time off request.

A federal judge on August 20 struck down the U.S. Federal Trade Commission rule that would have banned noncompete provisions in most contracts with workers, and required employers to send notices by September 4 informing workers their noncompetes are unenforceable (the Rule). The Texas-based court in Ryan LLC v. FTC granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment finding that the FTC exceeded its statutory authority in promulgating the Rule. The judge further found the Rule to be arbitrary and capricious “because it is unreasonably overbroad without a reasonable explanation.” Specifically, the Rule imposed a “one-size-fits-all” approach with no end date, which did not bear a rational connection to the facts at issue and was based on “inconsistent and flawed empirical evidence, fails to consider the positive benefits of non-compete agreements, and disregards the substantial body of evidence supporting these agreements.”

The recruiting landscape is always changing. Candidates need to skill up to stand out. Here are a few tips from veteran recruiter, Lynn Hazan on how to navigate this competitive market.

Are those workers full-fledged employees entitled to the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or are they independent contractors? The answer to this question may change if the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed rule concerning independent contractor classification is adopted.

Illinois Governor Pritzker recently passed a law (reported in Chicago Tribune: August 1, 2019) outlawing employers from asking candidates about their current or past salaries. This ban is effective immediately. The penalty for asking about salaries goes up to $10,000. The new law puts the burden on hiring managers to determine the potential employee’s worth.