The Illinois Human Rights Act (775 ILCS 5/)

The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in Illinois with respect to employment, financial credit, public accommodations, housing and sexual harassment, as well as sexual harassment in education.

State of Illinois Public Act 103-0973

Illinois Public Act 103-0973 amended Section 7A-102 of the Human Rights Act by extending the deadline to submit an alleged civil rights violation with the Department of Human Rights from 300 calendar days to two-years.

Illinois Public Act 103-0785

Public Act 103-0785 amended Sections 1-102 and 1-103 of the Human Rights Act by adding reproductive health decisions as a basis for unlawful discrimination. Now it is unlawful for employers to discriminate on the basis of reproductive health decisions.

Although not explicitly imposing any new leave or accommodation requirements on employers, employers should be aware of their employees’ rights to be free from discrimination on the basis of reproductive health decisions.  “Reproductive health decisions” is defined as 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.

Public Act 103-0797

Public Act 103-0797 amended Sections 2-101, 2-102, 2-104, and 6-101 of the Human Rights Act adds family responsibilities as a basis for harassment. Now it is unlawful for employers to harass employees on the basis of family responsibilities.

“Family responsibilities” is defined as an employee’s actual or perceived provision of personal care to a family member.

“Family member” includes an employee’s child, stepchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, parent, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent.

“Personal care” includes activities to ensure that a covered family member’s basic medical, hygiene, nutritional, or safety needs are met. Andto provide transportation to medical appointments for a covered family member who is unable to meet those needs himself or herself.”  Additionally included are being physically present to provide emotional support to a covered family member with a serious health condition who is receiving care, whether it be home care or inpatient care.

However, Public Act 103-0797 amended the Human Rights Act to clarify that employers are still authorized to take adverse action or otherwise enforce reasonable workplace rules or policies. So long as the adverse action, workplace rules or policies are related to leave, scheduling, productivity, attendance, absenteeism, timeliness, work performance, referrals from a labor union hiring hall, and benefits against an employee with family responsibilities.

State of Illinois Public Act 103-0804

Public Act 103-0804 amended Sections 2-101 and 2-102 of the Human Rights Act. Employers are prohibited from using artificial intelligence (“AI”) to discriminate in connection with employment decisions. Additionally, the new law requires employers to notify employees when AI is being used for employment-related reasons.

“Artificial intelligence” is defined as a machine-based system which, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments.

Included in this definition is generative artificial intelligence which is an automated computing system. This system when prompted by a human query, prompt, or descriptions, may produce outputs that simulate human-produced content. This content may include, but is not limited to:

1. Textual outputs, such as short answers, essays, poetry, or longer compositions or answers;
2. Image outputs, such as fine art, photographs, conceptual art, diagrams, and other images;
3. Multimedia outputs, such as audio or video in the form of compositions, songs, or short-form or long-form audio or video; and
4. Other content that would be otherwise produced by human means.

The Illinois Personnel Record Review Act (820 ILCS 40/)

The Illinois Personnel Record Review Act provides an employee with a right to review, copy and correct personnel records. It also provides rules for the gathering and use of information by the employer of the employee.

Public Act 103-0727

Public Act 103-0727 amended Sections 2, 9, 10 and 12 of the Personnel Record Review Act. Now employees have the right to make a request in writing to inspect, copy, and receive copies of the following documents:

1. Any personnel documents which are, have been or are intended to be used in determining that employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, benefits, discharge, or other disciplinary action;
2. Any employment-related contracts or agreements that the employer maintains are legally binding on the employee;
3. Any employee handbooks that the employer made available to the employee or that the employee acknowledged receiving; and
4. 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.

Employers are required to comply with the employee’s request within seven working days after receipt of the request. There is an exception however, if the employer can reasonably show that this deadline cannot be met, the employer may have an additional seven days to comply with the request.

If the records are maintained in a manner and fashion that is already accessible by the employee, the employer may instead provide the employee with instructions on how to access that information. Employers who do not maintain any personnel records are exempt from this requirement-although I doubt many employers don’t keep any type of record.

The following documents are also exempt from the employee’s right to inspection:

1. Letters of reference for that employee or external peer review documents for academic employees of institutions of higher education.
2. Any portion of a test document, except that the employee may see a cumulative total test score for either a section of or the entire test document.
3. Materials relating to the employer’s staff planning, such as matters relating to the business’ development, expansion, closing or operational goals, where the materials relate to or affect more than one employee, provided, however, that this exception does not apply if such materials are, have been or are intended to be used by the employer in determining an individual employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, or additional compensation, or benefits, or in determining an individual employee’s discharge or discipline.
4. Information of a personal nature about a person other than the employee if disclosure of the information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of the other person’s privacy.
5. Records relevant to any other pending claim between the employer and employee which may be discovered in a judicial proceeding.
6. Investigatory or security records maintained by an employer to investigate criminal conduct by an employee or other activity by the employee which could reasonably be expected to harm the employer’s property, operations, or business or could by the employee’s activity cause the employer financial liability, unless and until the employer takes adverse personnel action based on information in such records.
7. An employer’s trade secrets, client lists, sales projections, and financial data.

If an employer does not maintain records in one or more of the required categories requested, the employer may notify the employee in writing that the employer does not maintain records in that category. The employer must still permit inspection, copying, and receipt of copies of any other category requested.

The inspection must take place at a location reasonably near the employee’s place of employment and during normal working hours. The request for the personnel record must be made in writing to the employer. A letter, email, or text message shall constitute a writing. Additionally, the employer may charge a fee limited to the cost of duplicating the requested record but may not include the costs of time spent duplicating the information, the purchase or rental of copying machines, the purchase or rental of computer equipment, the purchase, rental, or licensing of software, or any other similar expenses.

Lastly, an employee may commence an action in the local circuit court to enforce the provisions of the Personnel Record Review Act.

The Illinois Whistleblower Act (740 ILCS 174/)

The Whistleblower Act makes it unlawful for an employer to retaliate against an employee for disclosing an employer’s potentially unlawful activity to a government agency or law enforcement agency.

State of Illinois Public Act 103-0867

Illinois Public Act 103-0867 amended Sections 5, 15, 20, 20.1, 20.2, 25, and 30 of the Whistleblower Act. Public Act 103-0867 also added Sections 31 and 32 to the Whistleblower Act.

Public Act 103-0867 amended the Whistleblower Act by expanding the definitions of “employer” and “employee,” while clarifying the definitions of “adverse employment action,” “public body,” “retaliatory action” and “supervisor.” Employers are subject to greater penalties for retaliating against employees for disclosing their employer’s potentially unlawful activities pursuant to the Whistleblower Act.

The definition of “employee” was further clarified to mean any individual permitted to work unless:

1. The individual has been and will continue to be free from control and direction over the performance of his or her work, both under his or her contract of service with his or her employer and in fact;
2. The individual performs work which is either outside the usual course of business or is performed outside all of the places of business of the employer unless the employer is in the business of contracting with parties for the placement of employees; and
3. The individual is in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business.

The definition of “employer” was expanded to include any person acting within the scope of his or her authority, express or implied, on behalf of those entities in dealing with its employees. “Supervisor” means any individual who has the authority to direct and control the work performance of the affected employee; or any individual who has managerial authority to take corrective action regarding a violation of the law, rule, or regulation disclosed by an employee in accordance with Section 15. “Public body” means any of the following: the State; any officer, board, political subdivision, or commission of the State; any institution supported in whole or in part by public funds; units of local government; and school districts.

An “Adverse employment action” is an action that a reasonable employee would find materially adverse. An action is materially adverse for purposes of the Whistleblower Act when it could dissuade a reasonable worker from disclosing or threatening to disclose an activity, policy or practice of the employer that the employee has a good faith belief that such activity, policy or practice violates a state or federal law, rule or regulation or poses a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.

“Retaliatory action” means an adverse employment action or the threat of an adverse employment action by an employer or agent to penalize or any non-employment action that would dissuade a reasonable worker from disclosing information under this Act. Including but are not limited to the following:

1. Taking, or threatening to take, any action that would intentionally interfere with an employee’s ability to obtain future employment or post-termination retaliation to intentionally interfere with a former employee’s employment;
2. Taking, or threatening to take, any action prohibited by subsection (G) of Section 2-102 of the Illinois Human Rights Act; or
3. Contacting, or threatening to contact, United States immigration authorities, or otherwise reporting, or threatening to report, an employee’s suspected or actual citizenship or immigration status or the suspected or actual citizenship or immigration status of an employee’s family or household member to a federal, State, or local agency.

The following are not included:

1. Conduct undertaken at the express and specific direction or request of the federal government;
2. Truthful, performance-related information about an employee or former employee provided in good faith to a prospective employer at the request of the prospective employer; or
3. Conduct undertaken if specifically required by state or federal law.

If an employer takes retaliatory action against an employee for disclosing the employer’s potentially unlawful activity, the employee may now bring a civil action against the employer for all relief necessary to make the employee whole, including but not limited to the following:

1. Permanent or preliminary injunctive relief;
2. Reinstatement with the same seniority status that the employee would have had, but for the violation;
3. Back pay, with interest of 9% per annum up to 90 calendar days from the date the complaint is filed and front pay;
4. Liquidated damages of up to $10,000;
5. Compensation for any costs incurred damages sustained as a result of the violation, including litigation costs, expert witness fees, and reasonable attorney’s fees; and
6. Additionally, the court shall award a civil penalty of $10,000 payable to the employee.

Finally, Public Act 103-0867 grants the Attorney General the authority to initiate or intervene in a civil action whenever the Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe that any person or entity has engaged in a practice prohibited by the Whistleblower Act.

The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (820 ILCS 115/)

The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act establishes when, where and how often wages must be paid and prohibits deductions from wages or final compensation without the employee’s consent.

Public Act 103-0953

Public Act 103-0953 amended Sections 2, 10, and 14 of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act by requiring employers to maintain copies of an employee’s pay stub for at least three years after the date of payment, regardless of whether the employee’s employment ends during this period. Employers must provide pay stubs to current and former employees within 21 calendar days after their request.

“Pay stub” is defined as an itemized statement or statements 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.

This request must be made to a person responsible for maintaining the employer’s payroll. Some examples would be:

the employer’s human resources department;

employee’s supervisor;

payroll department;

department manager; OR

an individual designated in the employer’s written policy.

The employer must provide the employee or former employee with a copy of the pay stubs within 21 calendar days of the employee’s request. Pay stubs may be delivered in either a physical or electronic format, as chosen by the former employee.

The employer may require the employee submit the request in writing and is not required to grant an employee’s request for a copy of pay stubs more than two times during a 12-month period.