In what is likely the most consequential change enacted this year, Governor Pritzker signed the Civil Rights Safeguard Act, which codifies disparate impact discrimination by amendment to the IHRA. 

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed into law another substantial package of employment legislation passed by the Illinois General Assembly, most of which take effect January 1 or June 1, 2027. Together with a major wage-and-hour decision from the Illinois Supreme Court and other rule updates earlier this year, these developments give Illinois employers a full to-do list heading into the new year.

The new updates include both new laws and new requirements under existing laws:

• Codifying disparate impact discrimination under the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) through the new Civil Rights Safeguard Act;
• Restricting employers from requiring a driver’s license in job postings and hiring decisions unless driving is truly necessary for the job;
• Requiring employers with more than 25 employees to pay employees their regular rate of pay for time spent on jury duty;
• Adding new obligations for reporting WARN Act layoffs to the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES);
• Expanding the Illinois Attorney General’s authority to investigate and enforce worker protection laws;
• Imposing new sanitation and lactation accommodation requirements on construction industry employers;
• Extending Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) protections to biomarker testing;
• Updated compliance obligations under the City of Chicago rules for enforcement of the Fair Workweek and Paid Leave and Paid Safe and Sick Leave Ordinances; and
• Modernizing outdated disability terminology throughout the Illinois statutes.

Illinois Codifies Disparate Impact Liability Under the IHRA

In what is likely the most consequential change enacted this year, Governor Pritzker signed the Civil Rights Safeguard Act (Public Act 104-0744), which codifies disparate impact discrimination by amendment to the IHRA. Effective June 1, 2027, under the IHRA it will be a civil rights violation for an employer, employment agency or labor organization to use “criteria or methods” that have the effect of subjecting individuals to discrimination on the basis of a protected class, citizenship status, family responsibilities, work authorization status, arrest record or conviction record. In other words, an employer’s facially neutral policy or practice may now violate Illinois law based on its discriminatory effect alone, even absent any intent to discriminate by the employer.

Employers will recognize the “disparate impact” discrimination theory from decades of federal case law under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Illinois Legislature’s action to write the theory directly into the IHRA follows the April 2025 issuance of Executive Order 14281, which directed federal agencies, including the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), to move away from pursuing claims that were based on disparate impact theories of discrimination. Illinois now joins several other states that have taken legislative action to preserve this theory of liability under state law, regardless of the federal government’s enforcement priorities.

Under the new law, an employer may defend a challenged practice by demonstrating that the criteria or methods challenged by the employee or applicant are job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity. However, a claimant may still prevail by showing that a less discriminatory alternative would serve the same business purpose. The law applies to all Illinois employers and to a wide swath of employment practices. Hiring and applicant screening tools, credential and qualification requirements, scheduling and attendance policies, work authorization procedures and automated employment decision tools (including those using artificial intelligence) all may face added scrutiny. The new law is likely to have the effect of raising new challenges to various screening practices, which may have a disproportionate effect on applicants in certain protected classes.

New Limits on Driver’s License Requirements

Effective January 1, 2027, Public Act 104-0776 amends the Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act (JOQAA), commonly known as the Illinois version of the “ban the box” law, to limit an employer’s right to require that applicants or employees have a valid driver’s license. Unless driving is an essential job function or is related to a legitimate business purpose related to the position, an employer or employment agency may not refuse to hire, segregate or take action with respect to recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure or other terms and conditions of employment on the basis that an applicant or employee does not possess a driver’s license. Beginning January 1, 2027, covered employers may not state in a job posting that an applicant must have a valid driver’s license unless driving is an essential function of the position and the requirement is a business necessity—and if a license is required, the posting must include a brief explanation of why.

The new prohibition applies to employers with 15 or more employees in the current or preceding calendar year, as well as covered employment agencies. Violations may result in penalties imposed by the Illinois Department of Labor, as with other violations of the JOQAA. Many employers may routinely list a valid driver’s license as a “standard” qualification in a job posting or job description. That practice will no longer be permitted for positions where driving is not genuinely part of the job requirements.

Jury Duty Leave Becomes Paid Leave for Most Illinois Employers

Governor Pritzker also signed Public Act 104-0683, which amends the Illinois Jury Act and the Jury Commission Act. Effective January 1, 2027, employers with more than 25 employees must compensate employees at their regular rate of pay for all time spent serving on jury duty. The amendment represents a significant departure from prior Illinois law, which required employers to provide time off for jury service but expressly permitted such time off to be unpaid. Employers with 25 or fewer employees are exempt from the new paid time requirement, but remain subject to the law’s existing job protection and anti-retaliation provisions.

The remaining requirements for an employer’s treatment of employees called to jury duty remain unchanged. Employers may still require the employee to provide reasonable notice by delivering a copy of their jury summons to the employer within 10 days after it is issued, and employers remain prohibited from discharging, threatening to discharge, intimidating or coercing employees because of actual or scheduled jury service. Available remedies for violations, which include lost wages and benefits, reinstatement, injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees, also remain the same.

As with many recent Illinois laws, the amendment leaves several practical wage payment questions unanswered. For instance, the law does not define “regular rate of pay,” leaving open whether the term should be read consistently with the federal meaning of that term (which may require inclusion of certain bonuses and shift differentials) or simply as an employee’s base hourly rate. Nor does the law address how tipped employees should be paid.

Employer Obligations for WARN-Triggering Layoffs Include Additional Notice to IDES

Effective January 1, 2027, Public Act 104-0839 amends Section 700 of the Unemployment Insurance Act (820 ILCS 405/700) to add a new layoff reporting obligation for employers that are subject to the requirements of the Illinois WARN Act. When an employer employing 75 or more employees in Illinois conducts a WARN-triggering layoff or separation that results in 50 or more employees being separated at a single site of employment, the employer must submit specified information concerning the affected employees to IDES in a secure manner prescribed by the department. The data that an employer must submit to IDES includes: the name and Social Security number of each separated employee, the employee’s separation date and, if applicable, anticipated return-to-work date. The required data must be submitted to IDES “as soon as practicable prior to the beginning of any such separation.” The requirement does not apply to construction industry employees covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement. IDES civil penalties apply for noncompliance. Employers planning reductions in force in 2027 should add the IDES submission to their WARN notice checklists.

Additional Changes to Existing Laws and Ordinances

Other new laws and amendments impacting Illinois employers include the following:

Attorney General Act (HB 4725)

Effective January 1, 2027, the Illinois Attorney General’s Workplace Rights Bureau now has expanded investigatory and enforcement authority over violations of state wage, workplace safety, fair employment and other worker protection laws, comparable to that of the Illinois Department of Labor. The Bureau may issue subpoenas for documents, require written answers to interrogatories under oath, enter an employer’s premises during normal working hours to inspect and copy records and interview employees regarding potential violations. If an employer refuses access to nonpublic areas of its premises, the Attorney General may seek an administrative inspection warrant or petition a court to compel compliance. Individuals who cooperate with an investigation may be treated as confidential government informers, and an employer or agent who knowingly removes, conceals, withholds, destroys, alters or falsifies subpoenaed materials may be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. Employers should confirm they have a protocol in place for responding to any government investigations, including on-site visits and document preservation.

Construction Site Temporary Restroom Facility and Sanitary Conditions for Menstruation and Lactation Act (Public Act 104-0850)

This amendment now requires construction industry employers to provide minimum sanitary conditions for workers who menstruate, including a separate designated restroom requirement for worksites with 10 or more workers who include a menstruating worker for three or more workdays, and, upon request, lactation accommodations for workers who are lactating. The law further details the required sanitary conditions and prohibits retaliation and adverse action against workers who request such accommodations. The Illinois Department of Public Health is required to issue guidance on the required accommodations on or before January 1, 2027; impacted employers must comply by July 1, 2027.

Genetic Information Privacy Act

Public Act 104-0642 extends GIPA’s confidentiality protections and employer restrictions on use of an employee’s or applicant’s genetic testing information to also include “biomarker testing” and information derived from it. Effective January 1, 2027, employers may not solicit, request or require biomarker information as a condition of employment and may not use biomarker information to limit, segregate or classify employees in ways that would deprive them of employment opportunities. Biomarker testing is defined as an analysis of tissue, blood or fluid specimens for measurable biological characteristics. The statutory language does not clarify whether drug and alcohol testing, which typically includes blood or fluid specimens, is excluded from the definition of prohibited employer testing. We will monitor developments from the Illinois Department of Labor on its interpretation and guidance on this issue. However, given that GIPA has become a favored vehicle for class action litigation, employers should review pre-employment and fitness-for-duty examinations, wellness programs and any vendor health screenings to confirm that biomarker information is neither requested nor received.

Chicago Fair Workweek and Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinances

For Chicago employers, the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) Office of Labor Standards has adopted new rules governing its administration of the City’s Fair Workweek (FWW) and Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave (PL/PSSL) Ordinances. The FWW took effect on July 1, 2020, and requires covered employers in specific industries (building services, healthcare, hotels, restaurants, manufacturing, retail and warehouse services) to provide at least 14 days’ advance written notice of their work schedule. It also gives employees the right to decline shifts and entitles them to predictability pay for delayed notice of work schedule changes. In the BACP’s first update to its published FWW rules since 2020, the new rules provide significant additional detail and examples addressing what schedule notice information employers must provide to employees, what will be considered a voluntary, employee-initiated schedule change (exempt from predictability pay), and how premium pay is calculated for shifts covered by the “right to rest” requirements.

The PL/PSSL Ordinance took effect on July 1, 2024, and requires employers to allow covered employees to accrue one hour of paid leave, which may be used for any reason, and one hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours of each type of leave earned annually. The BACP’s updated 2026 rules clarify and update definitions, accrual and payout methodologies and other provisions. Notable new provisions include: (1) compliance obligations for joint employers; (2) confirmation that overtime hours worked count toward leave accrual; (3) confirmation that an employer may discipline employees for abuse of paid sick leave; and (4) confirmation that an employer’s PTO policy that meets or exceeds the PL/PSSL requirements and provides at least 80 hours of PTO annually will satisfy the ordinance.

Disability Terminology Updates

Public Act 104-0598 amends references throughout the Illinois statutes to replace the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally handicapped” with an appropriate use of the term “intellectual disability,” and makes similar person-first changes such as replacing “disabled person” with “person with a disability.” The amendments are not intended to make any substantive change to eligibility, benefits or coverage, and the use of the older terms will not invalidate any rule, contract or other document. With these long-overdue changes to official statutory language, Illinois employers can now safely update or remove references to the term “handicapped” from any nondiscrimination, accommodation or other disability-related policies.

Important Illinois Court Decisions on Wage Payment for Employees’ Preliminary or Postliminary Activities

As previously reported, the Illinois Supreme Court held in Johnson v. Amazon.com Services LLC, 2026 IL 132016 (Mar. 19, 2026), that the federal Portal-to-Portal Act’s exclusion of “preliminary” and “postliminary” activities from compensable time under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not apply under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law (IMWL). After answering the question certified by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in a putative class action seeking pay for mandatory pre-shift COVID-19 screenings at Amazon’s Illinois warehouses, the case was returned to the Seventh Circuit for further proceedings.

The Seventh Circuit considered the parties’ additional arguments and concluded that the IMWL’s definition of compensable hours worked does not include the FLSA exception language that the time be undertaken primarily for the “benefit of the employer.” Johnson v. Amazon.com Services LLC, 177 F.4th 904 (7th Cir. 2026) (remanding case to district court for further proceedings consistent with the decision). The Johnson decisions open the door to employers facing class actions brought by employees under the IMWL seeking recovery of unpaid time for security screenings, badge-in and badge-out lines, donning and doffing and similar pre- and post-shift activities that may have been excluded under federal law. Employers should promptly review their timekeeping and pay practices for such activities and consult with counsel regarding any potential changes.

What This Means for Employers

With many of the new requirements already in place or taking effect on January 1, 2027, Illinois employers are encouraged to use the remaining weeks of 2026 to review and update their policies, job postings and employee handbooks, as well as their practices and procedures for compliance with the new obligations.

By January 1, 2027, employers should review their policies, procedures and position documentation to ensure compliance with paid jury duty leave and any driver’s license position requirements. Before June 1, 2027, employers should consider inventorying their facially neutral selection criteria and policies and conducting a privileged self-assessment with legal counsel of the potential for disproportionate outcomes. Finally, employers should review their paid leave and workweek scheduling procedures for Chicago employees, their payroll practices for any pre- and post-work activities by employees, their procedures in place upon notice of any government investigation activity, and their Illinois notice checklists for WARN Act-triggered layoffs.

For More Information

If you have any questions about this Alert, please contact Jennifer Long, any of the attorneys in our Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group or the attorney in the firm with whom you are regularly in contact.

Disclaimer: This Alert has been prepared and published for informational purposes only and is not offered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For more information, please see the firm's full disclaimer.