Illinois Labor and Employment Laws Taking Effect in 2026: What Employers Need to Know

Quick Hits

• Governor Pritzker signed into law new employment–related enactments, such as the Workers’ Rights and Worker Safety Act.
• Existing laws, such as the Illinois Human Rights Act, the Illinois Workplace Transparency Act, and the Employee Blood and Organ Donation Act, have been amended.
• Most notably, effective June 1, 2026, the new Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act will allow parents time off when their children are receiving care in hospitals’ neonatal intensive care units.

New Illinois Employment Laws

House Bill (HB) 2978 (Public Act 104-0259), or the “Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act,” establishes a requirement for employers to provide unpaid leave while an employee’s child is in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). An employer with sixteen to fifty employees must provide ten days of leave, while an employer with more than fifty employees must provide up to twenty days of leave.

Senate Bill (SB) 1976 (Public Act 104-0161), or the “Workers’ Rights and Worker Safety Act,” states that if, after April 28, 2025, a federal Occupational Safety and Health Act standard is revoked, repealed, or amended to become less effective in providing “safe and healthful employment and places of employment,” the Illinois Department of Labor “shall, as soon as practical … adopt a standard that incorporates the federal occupational health or safety standard as it existed prior to being repealed, revoked, amended, or newly interpreted.”

Expansion of Current Illinois Employment Laws

HB 3638 (Public Act 104-0320) amends the Illinois Workplace Transparency Act. While the law previously stated that no contract or agreement could restrict an employee from reporting unlawful employment practices, it has now been expanded to prohibit contracts or agreements restricting employees from “engaging in concerted activity to address work-related issues.” The definition of “unlawful employment practice” was also amended from “unlawful discrimination, harassment, or retaliation” actionable under certain laws, to “any practice made unlawful” by the Illinois Human Rights Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other state and federal laws governing employment.

Additionally, employment agreements that purport to shorten any applicable statute of limitation, apply non-Illinois law to an Illinois employee’s claim, or require adjudication of an employee’s claim in a venue outside of Illinois are now against public policy, void, and severable from an otherwise enforceable contract. The amendments also clarify that as part of a separation or settlement agreement, any valid, bargained-for consideration in exchange for confidentiality related to unlawful employment practices must be separate from any consideration provided in exchange for a release of claims. And, while confidentiality related to unlawful employment practices must be “the documented preference of the employee” in order to be included as part of a separation or settlement agreement, employers are now prohibited from unilaterally including any clause in the agreement that states the promises of confidentiality are the preference of the employee.

HB 1278 (Public Act 104-0171) amends the Illinois Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act to state 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, including domestic violence and sexual violence, committed against the employee or their family or household member. Employers are also prohibited from depriving an employee of employer-issued equipment because the employee used the device to record or attempt to record such violence, and employers are required to provide an employee access to any photographs or recordings related to a crime of violence stored on an employer-issued device.

HB 1616 (Public Act 104-0193) amends the Employee Blood and Organ Donation Leave Act to allow part-time employees to take leave for organ donation. Previously, only full-time employees could use leave time for organ donation.

SB 0212 (Public Act 104-0076) amends the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act to require employers to provide nursing mothers reasonable break time compensated at the employee’s regular rate of compensation. This amendment makes clear that an employer is prohibited from requiring an employee to use paid leave or otherwise reducing the employee’s compensation during this break time.

SB 0220 (Public Act 104-0078) amends the Family Military Leave Act, now titled “The Military Leave Act,” to require employers with fifty-one or more employees to provide employees up to eight hours per calendar month to participate in a funeral honors detail, up to a total of forty hours per year. An employee qualifies for this leave if the employee (1) is trained to participate in a funeral honors detail; and (2) is either a retired or active member of the armed forces, including the Illinois National Guard, or an authorized provider or registered member of an authorized provider. An employee taking leave under this act is entitled to pay at his or her regular rate of pay and may take this leave in lieu of using paid leave, including vacation or personal leave.

HB 3439 (Public Act 104-0307) amends the Child Care Act of 1969 to require that an employee or volunteer of a day care center, day care home, or group day care home undergo a criminal background investigation every five years. This amendment establishes a secure background check program administered by the Illinois Department of Early Childhood in which day care centers, day care homes, and group day care homes may hire an employee or volunteer on a probationary basis after receiving a qualifying result as determined by the Department of Early Childhood.

SB 2487 (Public Act 104-0425) amends the Illinois Human Rights Act to make fact-finding conferences discretionary instead of mandatory for charges of discrimination filed on or before the effective date of the amendatory act.

Next Steps

Employers may want to evaluate their existing employment practices and determine if any new laws will require revisions in their company policies or practices.

Ogletree Deakins’ Chicago and St. Louis offices will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Illinois blog as additional information becomes available.

In addition, the Ogletree Deakins Client Portal tracks developments and provides real-time updates on Illinois employment laws. (Full law summaries and template policies are available for Premium-level subscribers; Snapshots and Updates are available for all registered client-users.) For more information on the Client Portal or a Client Portal subscription, please reach out to clientportal@ogletree.com.

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