I’m Quoted in Illinois Bar Journal Article on 2025 Workplace Laws

New laws buttress and expand Illinois workplace protections concerning family responsibilities, reproductive rights, artificial intelligence, and bias.

Gov. JB Pritzker recently signed into law a series of legislative amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act that proponents say will strengthen the Act’s protections. These changes include a longer timeline to file complaints, the addition of new protected classes, and limitations on the use of artificial intelligence by employers.

Many of the recent amendments reflect changes in modern terminology, and some are intended to reduce implicit bias, says Ronald S. Langacker, an employment law attorney in Urbana and chair of the ISBA Human and Civil Rights Section Council.

Langacker adds that the recent amendments generally reflect national trends and are consistent with the purpose of the Act: to ensure that people are being judged on the work they do and to steer employers away from making decisions based on factors not related to employment.

“Some of these categories and definitions needed to be updated or revised,” Langacker says. “I don’t think it’s going to be creating an avalanche of litigation.”

The Illinois Human Rights Act’s scope is broad. The Act prohibits discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and retaliation in connection with employment, real estate transactions, access to credit, public accommodations, and education. The Act protects individuals based on several factors, including age, race, citizenship status, gender identity, religion, marital status, national origin, and military status.

The recent amendments to the Act are just one piece of a “patchwork” of laws at the state and federal level that regulate employers and that have seen major changes in the past several years, says Charles Krugel, a labor and employment lawyer in Chicago and a member of the ISBA Labor and Employment Law Section Council. He notes it is important for businesses to keep up with these changes.

“I think employers need to incorporate a lot of this into their policies and handbooks,” Krugel says. “They need to put it into writing to their employees.”

He adds that some employers are under the mistaken belief that if it’s not in writing “it can’t be used against me.”

Langacker agrees that documentation is more important than ever as one of the recent changes signed into law is an extension of the date to file a charge. Starting on Jan. 1, 2025, the deadline to file a complaint will be two years, more than double the existing deadline of 300 days. Langacker says that while he believes the extended filing deadline will be beneficial to employees, he notes that it does create challenges for employers and employees. He says it is now more important to document incidents when they happen because memories fade over time.

“These cases are fact-specific and time-sensitive,” Langacker says. “You have to be able to address things with the employer while it’s still fresh in everyone’s mind.”

“The protections in Illinois overlap with some other state and federal protections,” says Jill Leka, vice chair of the ISBA Human and Civil Rights Section Council. “I believe there will initially be much confusion over the protections afforded and what is protected and what is not.”

Leka, a partner with Clark Baird Smith LLP in Chicago, adds that because the amendments do not require employers make any accommodations, they will have “less adverse impact on employers.”

“They will, however, have both an indirect effect of eye-opening to current employer practices in place as well as perhaps provide some additional more direct protections to employees that can be enforced at the state level,” Leka says. (Leka notes her comments are also informed by input from her colleague Kelly Coyle, another partner at Clark Baird Smith. )

Family responsibilities & reproduction

The recent legislation also revises the Act to prevent employment discrimination based on family responsibilities. “Family responsibilities” are broadly defined to include an employee’s actual or perceived provision of personal care to a family member. The terms “personal care” and “family member” are consistent with how those terms are defined in the Employee Sick Leave Act.

Langacker says that the law is intended to reduce implicit bias that can negatively impact employees who take on caregiving roles not related to their employment. He says the amendment clearly states that employers cannot make employment decisions related to assumptions about an employee’s capacity to do their work based on their family commitments.

“A large number of working women have children, and statistics show they are less likely to be hired, promoted, or paid the same,” Leka says. “Men increasingly face discrimination when they seek to become involved in the care of family members. These laws are intended to minimize these incidents of discrimination.”

The amendments relating to family responsibilities do not place an obligation on employers to make accommodations or modifications to reasonable workplace rules or policies. Employers can also still enforce reasonable rules and take adverse actions related to leave, scheduling, productivity, work performance, and attendance.

In a separate, but related bill, the legislature also approved an amendment that prohibits discrimination based on reproductive health decisions. “Reproductive health decisions” include decisions regarding a person’s use of contraception; care relating to fertility or sterilization; assisted reproductive technologies; and health care for the continuation or termination of pregnancy and for prenatal, intranatal, and postnatal needs.

“Basically, these amendments preclude an employer from denying employment or promotions, firing an employee, paying an employee less, giving less-favorable work assignments or the like solely because the employee is a ‘caregiver’ or has made a medical decision regarding their reproductive health,” says Leka.

Artificial intelligence

House Bill 3773 (Public Act 103-804) amended the Illinois Human Rights Act to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in employment-related decisions. This makes Illinois the second state to enact regulations relating to the use of AI in the employment sector. Colorado enacted a similar bill earlier this year.

AI is defined as a “machine-based system” that generates outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions. This includes generative AI, which also is defined under the Act, and generally encompasses automated computing systems that simulate human-produced content.

The revised Act allows for the use of AI in connection with employment activities such as recruitment, hiring, firing, and promotion, but not if it has the “effect of subjecting employees to discrimination” on the basis of a protected class, including the use of ZIP codes as a proxy for protected classes. Employers also must provide notice to employees when the employer is using AI to make employment-related decisions.

Housing discrimination

Another legislative action recently signed into law by the governor was House Bill 5371 (Public Act 103-859), the result of collaborative efforts between the Office of the Illinois Attorney General and the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR). A joint press release explained that the goal of the legislation was to clarify and strengthen the protections under the Human Rights Act.

“The Illinois Human Rights Act is an important tool for combating discrimination,” stated Attorney General Kwame Raoul in the release. The bill contained a number of revisions to the Act, including an increase of maximum penalty amounts available in court; clarification that parties have the right to take action to collect a judgment, even if they do not intervene in the state’s enforcement action; and aligning definitions contained in the Act with federal fair housing law. The bill also amended the Freedom of Information Act to establish that reports made to helplines administered by the IDHR and the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes are confidential.

“This measure makes important clarifications to the law to enhance protections against discrimination in housing and employment and will help make the implementation of IDHR’s new hate crimes hotline a success,” stated State Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview), who sponsored the bill in the House.

Amelia Buragas is an attorney and writer who lives in central Illinois.
asburagas@gmail.com