As usual, the Illinois Legislature has been busy this past session, passing one new employment law and making changes to numerous others. The following is a summary of the changes that have been enacted thus far and a preview of those likely to come in the very near future.
Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act – Paid Leave Required
On August 1, 2025, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law SB0212, which is an amendment to the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act. Effective immediately, the Act requires employers to provide reasonable break time to an employee who needs to express breast milk each time the employee has the need, for one year after the child’s birth.
The amendment to the Act provides that the employer shall compensate the employee during the break time at the employee’s regular rate of compensation, and shall not require the employee to use paid leave during the break time or reduce the employee’s compensation during the break time in any other manner.
Employers will need to change their timekeeping practices to eliminate the reduction in hours by nursing mothers.
Equal Pay Act - Changes in Certificate Requirements
On June 30, 2025, Governor Pritzker signed into law HB2488, which made certain changes to the Equal Pay Act (EPA). Effective immediately, the amendment removed references to the federal EEO-1 report, which previously was an option for employers providing certain required information to the Illinois Department of Labor. Now, any business subject to the EPA (i.e. with 100+ employees in Illinois), not just employers who are required to complete EEO-1 reports, must submit a list of all employees during the past calendar year, separated by gender, race, and ethnicity categories. Employers must also include the county in which the employee works, the date the employee started working for the business, and other information the Department deems necessary to determine if pay equity exists among employees, and report the total wages paid to each employee in the past calendar year.
The Equal Pay Compliance statement must also include a statement that the average compensation for its female and minority employees is not consistently below the average compensation for its male and non-minority employees within each “job category.” This was changed from the previous reference to “the major job categories in the Employer Information Report EEO-1.” “Job category” is now defined as one of the following: 1) executive/senior-level officials and managers, 2) first/mid-level officials and managers, 3) professionals, 4) technicians, 5) sales workers, 6) administrative support workers, 7) craft workers, 8) operatives, 9) laborers and helpers, and 10) service workers.
Employers should prepare for these changes by tracking wages of employees in the above categories and continually assessing their pay practices to ensure that minorities and women are receiving equal pay to men and non-minorities.
Family Military Leave Act Becomes “Military Leave Act” and Adds Paid Leave for Funeral Honors
On August 1, 2025, Governor Pritzker signed into law SB0220, which changes the Family Military Leave Act to the Military Leave Act. Effective immediately, the amendment also adds the requirement for employers who have 51 or more employees to provide paid leave for anyone performing “funeral honors details.” Qualifying employees may use up to 8 hours per calendar month, up to 40 hours in a calendar year (or more if the employer authorizes) to engage in funeral honors details. A qualifying employee is one who is trained to participate in a funeral honors detail at the funeral of a veteran and is either a retired or active member of the armed forces or is an “authorized provider” or registered member of an organization that is an authorized provider of such funeral honors details. Employers must pay the employee his or her regular rate of pay for the leave taken under the Act and must not reduce the number of available hours of other forms of paid leave. Employees must provide reasonable notice as is practicable, and employers may request proof of the need for the leave. Employers may deny leave requests in certain limited circumstances, such as if the leave would, at an independent living facility, assisted living facility, nursing home, or any similar congregate care facility, or at a facility that provides 24/7 care, reduce staffing levels to below the established minimum or impair the safe and efficient operations of the facility.
Employment Law Changes Likely Coming Soon
The following are bills that have been sent to Governor Pritzker for signature. We will provide a more detailed review of each as they are signed into law.
HB2978 will create the Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act. The new law will apply to employers with more than 15 employees and allow employees to take a certain amount of unpaid leave (depending on the size of the employer) if they have a child in a neonatal intensive care unit.
SB2487 would amend the Illinois Human Rights Act to make fact-finding conferences optional and would also increase the civil penalties that can be imposed based on the employer’s prior history of violations.
HB1278 would amend the Victim’s Economic Safety and Security Act pertaining to an employee’s personal use of an employer’s equipment.
HB3638 would amend the Workplace Transparency Act, clarifying and limiting what cannot be included in settlement or other employee agreements, including information related to various “concerted activities.” One of the key changes, which we will explore in more detail when the law is enacted, is that settlement and termination agreements will need to recite separate, valid, bargained-for consideration for confidentiality agreements to be enforceable.
HB 1616 would amend the Employee Blood and Organ Donation Leave Act and require employers to provide leave for certain blood and organ donations to all employees (not just full-time as the law currently states). The current version of the amendment, which passed both chambers, is still unclear regarding whether the leave must be paid, on top of whatever other leave the employer provides.