Happy New Year!
Significant changes are coming to the Illinois workplace in 2026. The Illinois legislature has passed a series of new and amended employment laws. Here is what you need to know about the most significant Illinois employment law changes taking effect in 2026:
Expanded Workplace Transparency Act
The Workplace Transparency Act is one of the most impactful changes in 2026. The Act now includes broader employee protections, by expanding the definition of “Unlawful Employment Practice.” It will now include any unlawful practice under a state or federal law governing employment. Furthermore, this allows the term to include a wider array of workplace issues such as wage and hour violations, safety concerns, and labor disputes beyond discrimination.
Additionally, the Act addresses concerted activity rights. Contractual agreements that prohibit, prevent, or restrict current, prospective, or former employees from engaging in concerted activity will be unlawful. This means both current and former employees cannot be prevented from discussing workplace issues or discrimination claims. Employers are prohibited from including unilateral conditions of employment that prevent employees from making truthful statements about unlawful employment practices and may no longer enforce certain one-sided contract provisions.
AI Usage in Employment Decisions
New Artificial Intelligence regulations are a significant part of new legislation. The law addresses the use of AI when employers, employment agencies, and labor organizations make decisions like hiring, promotions, and terminations. Employers must ensure AI tools do not discriminate based on protected characteristics like race, gender, age, or disability. Additionally, organizations must provide notices to employees when AI is used for employment decisions. Lastly, employers must ensure to explain its purpose and the characteristics it will assess. Illinois is among the first states to regulate AI usage employment decisions, preventing biased algorithms from perpetuating discrimination. These regulations specifically prohibit using a candidate’s zip code to infer neighborhood demographics or minority status. The regulations prohibit using zip codes in any employment-related discriminatory manner, even if it is unintentional due to AI usage.
Why does this matter?
As AI use becomes more popular everywhere, including in HR tools, these changes in employment law will ensure fairness and help protect employees and jobseekers from bias that automated systems may introduce.
Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act
The new Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act will apply to employers with more than 15 employees and allow employees to take a certain amount of unpaid leave if they have a child in a neonatal intensive care unit. Employers with sixteen to fifty employees must provide ten days of leave. Additionally, an employer with more than fifty employees must provide up to twenty days of leave.
These breaks may run concurrently with existing break periods, but employers cannot require employees to use paid leave or reduce their compensation during this time. Also, employers must maintain the employee’s health coverage during the leave.
Why does this matter?
This Act expands family leave rights for parents with infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).
Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act
The Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act requires paid breaks, reducing financial stress for new parents. The law clarifies that employers must provide paid break time for employees to express breast milk for one year after childbirth, unless doing so would cause an “undue hardship.” It also emphasizes that employers should compensate employees during the break time at the employee’s regular rate of pay.
Why does this matter?
This employment law ensures that new parents are being treated fairly, reduces financial stress, and ensures that new mothers are being fairly compensated for break time.
Victims Economic Security and Safety Act
The Victims Economic Security and Safety Act will expand protection for employees who are victims of certain crimes. Employees are expressly permitted to use employer-issued electronic devices to record incidents of domestic violence, sexual violence, gender violence, or other crimes committed against themselves or their family or household members.
The amendment clarifies that an employer cannot discharge, refuse to hire, discriminate against, or retaliate against an employee because the employee used employer-issued equipment to record a crime of violence. Additionally, employers are required to provide an employee with access to any photographs or recordings related to a crime of violence stored on an employer-issued device.
Expanded Leave for Organ Donation and Blood Donation
The expansion expands eligibility for blood and organ donor related leave to part-time employees. Employers with 51 or more employees will now be required to provide up to 10 days of paid leave in any 12-month period for organ donation.
Why does this matter?
This broadens access to important medical leave to a wider group of employees.
