Illinois | Equal Employment
Illinois’ antidiscrimination law will be expanded to protect reproductive health decisions and family responsibilities. Reproductive health decisions include, but aren’t limited to , decisions to use contraception, reproductive technologies, prenatal care, or pregnancy termination care. Family responsibilities are defined as an employee’s actual or perceived caregiving for a family member (e.g., the assumption that a woman will be taking care of children or aging parents).
Action Item
Add reproductive health decisions and family responsibilities to your Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policies by January 1, 2025.
Illinois | Whistleblower Law Amended
Illinois has amended its whistleblower law to clarify certain terms and broaden the scope of employee-protected activities, specifically including those who, in good faith, threaten to expose activities they believe pose a substantial danger or are unlawful. Employers that are following best practices with respect to receiving and responding to complaints shouldn’t need to change their policies or practices.
The new law will take effect on January 1, 2025, and covers employers of all sizes.
Illinois | Personnel Records
Beginning January 1, 2025, employers with five or more employees will be required to provide new types of records upon request—these include legally binding employment contracts or agreements, handbooks, written policies related to employment actions, and personnel documents that determine qualifications for compensation or benefits. There are also new types of records that that are exempt from access—these include trade secrets, client lists, sales projections, and financial data.
Illinois | Employment Eligibility Verification Changes
Effective January 1, 2025, employers will be required to provide employees with specific notices and rights when a discrepancy is found in their employment authorization documents. Employer obligations will vary depending on whether the discrepancy was found by the employer, a government agency, or a federal government inspection. Employers must also inform their employees about Form I-9 and employment record inspections within 72 hours of being notified (the Illinois Department of Labor will create a sample notice for this purpose by June 30, 2025).
Illinois | Captive Audience Meetings
On January 1, 2025, employers will be prohibited from taking—or threatening to take—adverse action against an employee to get them to attend, or for not attending, an employer-sponsored meeting if it’s to express the employer’s opinion on religious or political matters. The same applies to receiving or listening to communications for this purpose.
This law defines matters as religious if they relate to religious belief, affiliation, or practice and the decision to join or support any religious organization or association. Matters are considered political if they relate to any of the following:
- Elections for political office
- Political parties
- Proposals to change legislation, regulations, or public policy
- The decision to join or support any political party or any political, civic, community, fraternal, or labor organization
Exceptions
The law doesn’t apply to meetings or communications that are voluntary or communications that are legally mandated or essential to an employee’s job performance. Additionally, employees can still be required to attend training focused on creating a civil workplace or mitigating workplace harassment or discrimination. For employers in higher education, the law doesn’t prohibit meetings or communications that are part of coursework, research, or an academic program.
Finally, the restrictions on religious meetings and communications don’t apply to religious organizations, and the political restrictions don’t apply to political and certain tax-exempt organizations.
Notice
Employers are required to post a notice about these rights within 30 days of the law becoming effective. We don’t know if the state will create a sample notice, but you can check the Illinois Department of Labor poster website for one closer to January 31, 2025.
Action Items
Allow employees to opt out of any meeting or communication covered by this law.
Post the required notice where other employee notices are displayed by January 31, 2025.
Illinois | Cook County Updates Paid Leave Guidance Again
Cook County has amended its Paid Leave rules. While many of the amendments were made to further align with the Paid Leave Ordinance, notable substantive changes include, but aren’t limited to, the following:
- Paid Leave must continue to accrue during an employee’s use of Paid Leave
- Paid Leave must be paid out within the same pay period in which it was used
- Employers must post the county’s Workplace Posting, which can be found on the Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance website
The county also released updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
The amendments to the Paid Leave Ordinance Interpretive and Procedural Rules were approved by the Cook County Board of Commissioners on October 24, 2024, and became effective immediately.
