New Legal Compliance Requirements for Illinois Employers
Equal Pay Act Amendment: All employers with 100 or more employees must obtain a “equal pay registration certificate from the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL, ironically), whether or not that employer must file an EEO1 form with the EEOC.
2 Amendments to the Wage Payment and Collection Act: Wages, penalties, damages, fines or fees that are unpaid after 35 days automatically become debts to the state. Also, non-waivable administrative fees have been increased to $500 - $1250, up from their prior level of $250 – $500.
Employers with 51 or more employees must provide up to 40 hours of paid leave per year for qualified employees to serve on a military funeral honors detail. To be eligible, employees must be specifically trained for the detail and be either (1) a retired, active, or reserve member of the US armed forces, including the Illinois National Guard; or (2) an authorized provider or registered member of a nonprofit or other authorized provider organization. This is tallied separately from any other leave.
Effective August 14, 2025, SB 1976 enacted the Workers’ Rights and Worker Safety Act and the Illinois Safe and Healthy Workplace Act, and amended the Illinois Occupational Safety and Health Act. Together, these laws preserve certain worker protections as they existed on April 28, 2025, including in the event that applicable federal benefits are reduced.
SB 2339 amended the state’s Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act to extend work authorization protections to employees. Effective December 12, 2025, if an employer receives a written notification from any federal agency or other “outside vendor” not responsible for enforcement of immigration law (e.g., the Social Security Administration or the Internal Revenue Service) of a “discrepancy as it relates to an employee’s individual taxpayer identification number or other identifying documents,” an employer is prohibited from taking any adverse action against such employee based solely on the receipt of the notification.
