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As employers work on wrapping up the 2024 calendar year, they should prepare for changes 2025 will bring their way. In particular, Illinois employers must be ready to comply with these legal changes that will become effective January 1, 2025.

New Worker Freedom of Speech Act

The Worker Freedom of Speech Act will protect all Illinois employees from mandatory participation in employer-sponsored meetings designed to communicate the employer’s position on religious or political matters. The Act also prevents employees from being compelled to receive or listen to communications from the employer about religious or political matters. Employers will be required to provide notice to their employees of their rights under the Act within 30 days after the effective date as provided by the Act.

Child Labor Law of 2024

The Illinois legislature repealed the Child Labor Law and replaced it with the new Child Labor Law of 2024. All employers that employ minors who are under the age of 16 must familiarize themselves with the provisions of the new statute. These include requirements for employment authorization certificates, limits on the type of work minors may perform, restrictions on the hours minors may work, and requirements for recordkeeping and notices.

Space Force Added to Armed Forces

The Illinois legislature adopted a new statute that specifies that any reference to the armed forces [such as under the Illinois Service Member Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (ISERRA)] now includes the United States Space Force.

Amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act

The Illinois Human Rights Act has been amended to add “reproductive health decisions” and “family responsibilities” as protected characteristics against which employers may not discriminate.

• Reproductive health decisions are 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; or prenatal, intranatal, or postnatal care.
• Family responsibilities consist of the actual or perceived provision of personal care to a child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent as provided by the Employee Sick Leave Act.

Although employers will be prohibited from discriminating against employees on these bases, they will not be required to accommodate family responsibilities or otherwise modify reasonable workplace rules or policies due to family responsibilities.

The Illinois Human Rights Act has also been amended to give aggrieved employees 2 years, not just 300 days, after the alleged civil rights violation to file a written charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

Pay Scale and Benefits Information

The Equal Pay Act will impose new requirements regarding pay scale and benefits information upon employers with 15 or more employees that are hiring for positions that: (a) will be physically performed, at least in part, in Illinois or (b) will report to a supervisor, office, or other work site in Illinois. Pay scale and benefits information is to include a range of the wage or salary and a general description of the benefits and other compensation that may be provided (e.g., bonuses, stock options, or other incentives that the employer reasonably expects in good faith to offer).

Employers will be required to include pay scale and benefits information in any job posting. Employers will also be required to announce, post, or otherwise make known all opportunities for promotion to all current employees no later than 14 calendar days after an external post. If there is no posting for the position, employers will need to disclose the pay scale and benefits information prior to any offer or discussion of compensation or at the employee’s request.

Employers will be required to maintain documentation of the posting and pay scale and benefits information along with the other information that the Act already requires them to maintain. This documentation will need to be preserved for at least five years.

Amendments to the Illinois Personnel Record Review Act

The Illinois Personnel Record Review Act will now require that, in addition to personnel documents, employers make available for an employee’s inspection these three categories of documents:

• employment-related contracts or agreements that are legally binding on the employee
• any employee handbooks that the employer made available to the employee or that the employee acknowledged
• any written employer policies or procedures to which the employee is subject and that concern qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, compensation, benefits, discharge, or other disciplinary action

Existing exceptions to the documents which may be inspected remain. Additional exemptions will now include the employer’s trade secrets, client lists, sales projections, and financial data.

Such records must be made available for inspection upon an employee’s written request, which includes requests submitted electronically through email or text message. Employers will no longer be permitted to require that the request be submitted on a specific form. Instead, they’ll need to comply with any written request that satisfies these five criteria:

• identifies what records are being requested
• specifies if the employee is requesting to inspect, copy, or receive copies of the records
• specifies whether the records should be provided in a hardcopy or electronic format
• states whether a representative of the employee will be obtaining the records on behalf of the employee
• contains a signed waiver if the requested records include medical information/records to be released to an employee’s representative

Pay Stub Requirements Under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act

The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act has been amended to require employers to furnish and maintain pay stubs. A pay stub is defined as an itemized statement reflecting an employee’s hours worked, rate of pay, overtime pay and overtime hours worked, gross wages earned, deductions made from the employee’s wages, and the total of wages and deductions year to date. Pay stubs must be provided to employees each pay period as well as to employees or former employees upon request as specified by the Act. Employers must maintain pay stubs for at least three years after the date of payment, regardless of whether the employee’s employment ends during that period and regardless of whether the pay stub is furnished electronically or in paper form.

Restrictions on the Use of Employment Eligibility Verification

The Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act has been amended to add a new section on the use of employment eligibility verification systems. Employers will be prohibited from imposing work authorization verification or reverification requirements greater than those required by federal law. They will also be prohibited from taking any adverse action against an employee because of a notification from any federal or state agency of a discrepancy as to work authorization status. The employer will be required to provide the employee with certain information and documentation as specified by the Act if one of these four conditions apply:

• there is an inspection of I-9 employment eligibility verification forms or other employment records
• there is a discrepancy in the employment verification information
• there is a discrepancy in the work authorization status
• an inspecting entity determines that the employee’s work authorization documents do not establish that the employee is authorized to work

Expanded Whistleblower Protection Provisions

The Whistleblower Protection Act has been amended in various ways. It will now contain a definition for retaliatory action. The Act will not only prohibit retaliation against employees who disclose information protected by the Act but also those who threaten to disclose such information. The information will include information that the employee has a good faith belief violates law or poses a substantial and specific danger to employees, public health, or safety. Employees will be protected from retaliation if they disclose or threaten to disclose protected information: (a) to a public body conducting an investigation; (b) in a court, administrative hearing, or any other proceeding initiated by a public body; or (c) to a supervisor, principal officer, or board member.

This article provides only an overview of the legal changes that may affect Illinois employers and does not constitute legal advice. Contact HeplerBroom’s Employment & Labor practice group for assistance with your particular circumstances.