Given the lengthy list of expanded employee protections passed in 2025, Illinois employers are encouraged to review and update their policies, procedures and employee agreements—in both form and practice—for compliance with all the new requirements

In just one day, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed into law over 200 bills passed by the Illinois General Assembly. More than a dozen new and amended laws create new employee rights and expand obligations for Illinois employers, most of which became effective immediately or will take effect by January 1, 2026.

Two New Employment Laws

Workers’ Rights and Safety Act

Illinois joins several other states that have recently taken legislative action to freeze employee protections by relying on definitions or terms provided under federal laws or regulations as they existed in early 2025. The new law states that if a federal wage-and-hour or coal miner safety law, regulation or guidance changes in a manner that reduces the employee protections provided to Illinois employees, then Illinois state agencies with enforcement responsibilities must revise or adopt Illinois regulations or guidance so that they revert to the more protective 2025 version of the federal laws. Agencies can continue to take action to further protect employees and must report to the Legislature any actions taken to comply with the new law’s requirements.

Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act

Effective June 1, 2026, Illinois employers must provide covered employees with job-protected, unpaid leave if the employee has a newborn child who is being treated in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). An employee’s NICU leave time will cover the duration of the child’s NICU stay up to a maximum of 10 days for employers with 16-50 employees, or 20 days for employers with more than 50 employees. The employee may take continuous or intermittent leave in minimum increments of two hours, with other job protections similar to those available under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). NICU leave time available under the new law is in addition to eligible employees’ leave time under the FMLA.

Expansion or Changes to Many Existing Employment Laws

Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA)

For charges of discrimination filed by aggrieved employees after January 1, 2026, Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) investigators will no longer be required to hold fact finding conferences (FFCs) as part of every investigation. Rather, FFCs will be held at the IDHR’s discretion or upon the written request of both parties to the charge of discrimination. In addition, the Illinois Human Rights Commission may impose specific civil enforcement penalties against employers “to vindicate the public interest.” The new civil penalty amounts range from $16,000 to $70,000 or higher per offense, based on the number of prior adjudicated violations against an employer or whether the perpetrating individual previously violated the IHRA.

Workplace Transparency Act

With limited exceptions, amendments to the Workplace Transparency Act further restrict confidentiality clauses that Illinois employers commonly include in employment, separation and severance agreements with employees. Any agreements with employees entered into after January 1, 2026, may not include confidentiality provisions that restrict an employee from engaging in “concerted activities” to address work-related concerns, such as those for the purpose of collective bargaining or as otherwise provided under the National Labor Relations Act (as it existed in early 2025) and other laws enforced by state and federal agencies. The new restrictions also require consideration for any confidentiality provision contained in a separation or settlement agreement be separate from consideration offered in exchange for a release of claims and prohibit non-Illinois choice of venue or choice of law clauses and any provisions that shorten applicable statutes of limitations.

Wage Payment and Collection Act (WPCA)

Effective immediately and retroactively, final administrative wage payment orders entered by the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) are considered debts to the state of Illinois if not timely paid by the employer within 35 days of the time period to seek review of the decision. This seemingly technical change greatly streamlines the IDOL’s ability to collect such debts against employers by allowing collections to proceed similarly to any other civil judgment, rather than under the prior lengthy multistep process. The amendment to the WPCA also increases the penalties and fees assessed against an employer for unpaid wage orders.

Military Leave Act

The Illinois Legislature renamed the former Family Military Leave Act to the Military Leave Act. With limited exceptions, the law now requires employers with 51 or more employees to provide up to eight hours of paid leave per calendar month, or a maximum of 40 hours annually, to employees who are trained for and called to perform military funeral honors details.

Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act

The updates for this law now require all lactation breaks to be paid time for up to one year after the birth of the employee’s child. Employers may not require employees to use paid leave or reduce the employee’s pay in any other way for “reasonable” breaks, though “reasonable” break remains undefined in the law as amended. Employers may still require lactation breaks run concurrently with existing break time.

Equal Pay Act

The amendments to the Illinois Equal Pay Act broaden the definition of a covered employer to include all employers with 100 or more employees working in or reporting to locations or supervisors within Illinois. The law previously only covered private employers required to file an annual employer information EEO-1 report with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Victims’ Economic Safety and Security Act (VESSA)

Following prior expansions of VESSA requirements in 2020, 2022 and 2024, the 2025 amendment adds another protection available to employees or their family members who use an employer-issued device to record or document an incident of domestic, sexual, gender or other criminal violence. Employers must grant covered employees access to images or documentation on the employer-issued device and may not take adverse action against a covered employee, including revocation of the employer-issued device, solely because the device was used to capture or contains evidence of an incident of violence. However, the amendment confirms that employers may continue to enforce reasonable employment policies regarding such devices and comply with investigations or court orders involving the device’s content.

More Changes to Current Laws

Other amendments to existing laws include changes that permit unemployment insurance compensation eligibility if an employee leaves a job due to a mental health disability; extend pre-tax commuter benefit plan eligibility to part-time employees; extend paid leave rights to part-time employees who are organ donors; and clarify that employees who are called to military service are entitled to differential compensation for any shift that the employee would have worked, regardless of the length of shift or when it was scheduled.

Other Impacted Industries

Still other amendments target employers in certain industries such as:

• Public works construction: Prevailing Wage Act now covers more public works projects and has expanded enforcement provisions and increased penalties for violations.
• Gaming: Updated background check and identification badge occupational licensing requirements under Gambling Act.
• Child care facilities: Expanded criminal background check requirements under Child Care Act.

More Legislation and Regulations on the Way

We continue to monitor the Illinois Legislature for further developments in the pipeline, some of which have included proposed bills that sought further restrictions, or even an outright ban, on employers’ use of noncompetition and nonsolicitation covenants against former employees. We also await the IDOL’s final rules on the recently amended Day and Temporary Labor Services Act, which should offer much needed clarity on the IDOL’s enforcement priorities for employers who use temporary staffing agency workers.

What Does This Mean for Employers?

Given the lengthy list of expanded employee protections passed in 2025, Illinois employers are encouraged to review and update their policies, procedures and employee agreements—in both form and practice—for compliance with all the new requirements. Employers exploring or using artificial intelligence in employment decisions should also revisit our prior Alert on other laws and amendments that take effect January 1, 2026.

For More Information

If you have any questions about this Alert, please contact Daniel O. Canales, 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.