Each approaching new year presents an opportunity for employers to review their employment policies to ensure compliance with newly enacted laws, and 2027 will be no different for Illinois employers.
Although the Illinois Legislature did not devote as much attention to employment-related legislation as it did in prior years, several key legislative changes are worth noting, including a few that will prompt necessary updates to employment policies and procedures. Unless otherwise stated, the recently enacted laws take effect January 1, 2027.
What You Need to Know
- Menopause-Related Conditions Expressly Protected: A new law amends the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) to require reasonable accommodations for employees experiencing menopause-related conditions.
- Disparate Impact Liability Codified: Another amendment to the IHRA will counter current federal policy regarding the availability of civil rights claims arising from facially neutral policies.
- Numerous Small but Significant Adjustments: Other new and existing statutes may require changes to recruitment practices, employment agreements containing restrictive covenants, and leave policies.
Anti-Discrimination Protections for Menopause-Related Conditions
The Illinois Menopause Equity and Care Act (IMECA) amends the IHRA to increase educational efforts, broaden access to insurance coverage, and expand workplace protections for menopause-related conditions. For employers, the most significant provisions amend the IHRA’s definition of “pregnancy” to also include any “menopause-related condition.”
“Menopause-related condition” means perimenopause, menopause, and associated symptoms, including vasomotor symptoms, sleep disruption, cognitive or mood changes, and osteoporosis-related conditions. The amendment makes clear that it is unlawful discrimination to make employment decisions, such as those relating to hiring, firing, promotion, training, and other decisions that affect the terms and conditions of employment, on the basis of any employee’s menopause-related condition.
The expanded definition of “pregnancy” also means that employers now must provide reasonable accommodations to employees experiencing any menopause-related condition, unless the employer can show that the accommodation would cause an undue hardship on the business. The IMECA further provides that flexible scheduling, modified work hours, and temperature or climate-adjusted workspaces are presumptively reasonable accommodations.
Employers must also post a notice to employees in a conspicuous location informing them of their rights under the IHRA and IMECA, including the right to reasonable accommodations for pregnancy and menopause-related conditions.
New Statutory Grounds for Disparate Impact Claims
In July 2026, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Civil Rights Safeguard Act (SB 3777) into law. SB 3777, which goes into effect on June 1, 2027, amends the IHRA to codify disparate impact liability for unlawful discrimination.
Disparate impact refers to the disproportionate effect that a facially neutral policy or practice has on members of a protected class. Under a disparate impact theory, discrimination does not need to be intentional. Rather, an employee may show that a generally applicable policy or practice, such as a requirement that applicants pass a written examination to qualify for a certain job position, operates to disproportionately exclude members of a protected group.
SB 3777 provides that it is a violation of the IHRA for any employer, employment agency, or labor organization to use “criteria or methods”—defined to mean “practices, policies, and groups of practices or policies”—that subject individuals to discrimination on the basis of any protected characteristic, citizenship status, family responsibilities, work authorization status, arrest record, or conviction record. Unlawful discrimination is established unless the employer demonstrates that the “criteria or methods” are job-related and consistent with business necessity.
The disparate impact theory is not new. The Supreme Court of the United States has recognized disparate impact liability in the context of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) for decades, and Title VII itself provides that employment practices can be illegal if they have a disparate impact. Recent federal government pronouncements have deemphasized disparate impact claims, however. President Trump’s Executive Order 14281, titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” for example, directs federal enforcement agencies to reassess the appropriateness of the disparate impact theory. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has accordingly declined to prosecute disparate impact claims in recent months. With SB 3777, the Illinois Legislature has stepped into this gap to preserve state-law discrimination claims that are based on a disparate impact theory.
The takeaway for employers is that Illinois agencies may be more likely to investigate and bring disparate impact claims on behalf of employees given the lack of federal enforcement.
Paid Jury Service Leave for Illinois Employees
HB 4844 amends the Illinois Jury Act and Jury Commission Act to provide paid jury leave for most Illinois employees. Starting January 1, 2027, employers with more than 25 employees must pay employees wages at their regular rate of pay for time they are out of work serving on a jury.
All prior Illinois protections for jury duty remain in place. While employees must provide their employers with reasonable notice of their jury duty, employers must provide time off regardless of the employee’s scheduled shifts. In addition, as before, employers cannot use an employee’s jury service as grounds to discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce the employee.
Job Postings
An amendment to the Illinois Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act, also known as the “Ban the Box” Law, will prohibit job postings that require applicants to have a valid driver’s license for the position, unless driving is an essential function of the job and a business necessity. Any job posting that contains a driver’s license requirement must also include a brief description explaining why a valid driver’s license is required for the position.
The amendment is intended to reduce barriers to employment for applicants who do not drive or hold a valid driver’s license. The law applies to employers with 15 or more employees in the current or preceding calendar year.
Expanded State Investigatory Powers to Enforce Fair Employment Laws
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office will have broader authority to investigate potential violations of state labor and employment laws under HB 4725.
The Attorney General Act created the Workplace Rights Bureau (“Bureau”) to protect Illinois employees from employers that violate the state’s workplace protection laws. Specifically, the Bureau is charged with investigating businesses that underpay their employees, force their employees to work in unsafe conditions, or seek to gain an unfair competitive advantage by avoiding their tax and labor responsibilities. The Bureau also has the authority to initiate or intervene in legal proceedings to enforce employers’ obligations to pay wages, provide safe workplaces, and otherwise comply with fair employment practices.
HB 4725 expands the statutory authority of the Bureau in the following ways:
- Legal Enforcement: The Bureau is deputized to prosecute employers’ violations related to the payment of wages, working conditions, and fair employment practices. HB 4725 makes clear that such violations may relate to any law regarding labor or employment, and not just the specific laws previously identified by the Attorney General Act.
- Investigatory Powers: HB 4725 provides that the Bureau may, in the course of investigating potential workplace violations:
- require an employer to provide written answers under oath to interrogatories,
- inspect an employer’s premises and make copies of employment records, and
- interview employees at an employer’s premises.
- Subpoena and Inspection Enforcement Procedures: HB 4725 enacts procedures by which the Bureau can seek to enforce subpoenas for documents or testimony and compel inspections of an employer’s premises or records. Notably, the Bureau can seek an administrative inspection warrant when the Attorney General believes evidence of a violation is in the possession of the employer and the employer has refused to cooperate.
Bargaining Rights for Rideshare Drivers
In August 2026, Illinois took a big step in providing collective bargaining rights to rideshare drivers. The Transportation Network Driver Labor Relations Act, which became effective immediately, authorizes drivers to unionize and collectively bargain with covered transportation network companies (TNCs) for a sectoral bargaining agreement. The law sets forth a process to determine which rideshare companies will be designated as TNCs and thus subject to mandatory bargaining requirements. Once a labor representative is certified, covered TNCs must bargain over compensation, benefits, paid leave, deactivation appeals, and other working conditions.
The Transportation Network Driver Labor Relations Act is notable because Illinois became one of just three states this year—along with California and Massachusetts—to guarantee collective action rights to rideshare drivers, who are generally considered to be independent contractors and outside the scope of the National Labor Relations Act.
Rising Thresholds for Noncompete and Non-Solicit Agreements
The Illinois Freedom to Work Act, as amended in 2022, sets compensation-based thresholds that limit which employees may be parties to an enforceable covenant not to solicit or a noncompete agreement. Legislators built in automatic adjustments to these amounts to take effect every five years; the first increases are scheduled for January 1, 2027, such that the minimum annual compensation required will be $47,500 for a non-solicit and $80,000 for a noncompete. These amounts will rise again in five years (in 2032) by $2,500 and $5,000, respectively.
What Illinois Employers Should Do Now
- Update equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination policies to ensure that menopause-related conditions are expressly mentioned as protected characteristics.
- Revise leave policies to provide paid jury service leave (if you have more than 25 employees).
- Train human resources (HR) professionals and supervisors to recognize and appropriately respond to requests for accommodation based on any menopause-related condition.
- Ensure that HR and internal recruiters understand that job postings should not require applicants to have a valid driver’s license unless driving is an essential function of the job and a business necessity.
- Review the compensation level of any employee who is a party to existing agreements containing covenants not to compete or solicit and compare it with the new statutory minimums so that such contracts remain enforceable.
- Seek legal counsel in connection with any correspondence from the Bureau regarding an investigation into suspected violations of fair employment laws in order to navigate the new, enforcement-friendly procedures.
About Epstein Becker Green
Epstein Becker Green is a national law firm focused on health care and life sciences; employment, labor, and workforce management; and litigation and business disputes. Our attorneys advise clients at every stage of their business lifecycle, delivering practical, results-driven counsel that shapes strategy, accelerates growth, and safeguards what matters most. We serve organizations of every size, from emerging startups to Fortune 100 companies, across the health care, life sciences, financial services, retail, hospitality, and technology industries, with sound legal solutions they can depend on when it counts. www.ebglaw.com
Staff Attorney Elizabeth A. Ledkovsky assisted with the preparation of this Insight.
