New year, a new set of obligations—here is what Illinois employers should have on their radar now.
Every year, Springfield hands employers a little homework, and 2027 is no exception. But this year’s assignment is different in character. The 2026 changes were largely about leave and pay—concrete, line-item adjustments to a handbook. The 2027 changes reach deeper: they redraw who is protected, expand how discrimination can be proven, and hand the state a bigger stick for enforcement. In other words, some of these are not policy tweaks; they are shifts in your legal exposure.
Most of the new rules switch on January 1, 2027, with one important exception—the codification of disparate impact liability—arriving June 1, 2027. That staggered timing is a gift if you use it well: it means the highest-stakes change also gives you the longest runway to prepare.
Below, we walk through each development, what it actually requires, and the practical move it calls for. Treat it as a checklist you can work through this fall, well before the deadlines force your hand.
Illinois Menopause Equity Care Act: (Effective January 1, 2027)
On August 7, 2026, Governor Pritzker signed HB 5284, the Illinois Menopause Equity Care Act. Effective January 1, 2027, the law amends the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) to add menopause-related conditions as a protected status. Employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees on the basis of menopause-related conditions.
Just as importantly, the Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with menopause-related conditions—think flexible scheduling, modified work hours, and temperature- or climate-adjusted workspaces. Employers must also update workplace postings to reflect the right to accommodations for menopause-related conditions, and noncompliance risks a civil rights charge before the Department of Human Rights.
Note that the Act also amends the Illinois Insurance Code to impose new coverage requirements for menopause and perimenopause-related care, but those insurance provisions take effect January 1, 2028, not 2027.
What do businesses need to do?
Review and update your accommodation policies, anti-discrimination training materials, and workplace postings to incorporate this new protected category, and be ready to engage in the interactive accommodation process.
Job Postings: Driver’s License Requirement Restrictions (Effective January 1, 2027)
On August 7, 2026, Governor Pritzker signed HB 4758, amending the Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act. Effective January 1, 2027, the law prohibits job postings that require applicants to have a valid driver’s license unless possessing one is essential to the job. If a posting does contain a driver’s license requirement, it must also briefly explain why a license is necessary.
The goal is to stop employers from unnecessarily screening out applicants who may be fully qualified for a position but do not hold a driver’s license—a requirement that can have a disparate impact on certain populations.
What do businesses need to do?
Review all job postings and templates to remove blanket driver’s license requirements. Where a license is genuinely essential, add a brief written explanation of the business necessity.
Mandatory Jury Duty Pay at Regular Rate (Effective January 1, 2027)
On July 31, 2026, Governor Pritzker signed HB 4844, amending the Illinois Jury Act and the Illinois Jury Commission Act. Effective January 1, 2027, covered employers must compensate employees at their regular rate of pay for time spent serving on a jury. This obligation applies to Illinois employers with more than 25 employees.
Before this change, Illinois law did not require employers to pay employees their regular wages during jury service, so this is a new, direct cost for affected employers.
What do businesses need to do?
Employers with more than 25 employees need to update their jury duty leave policies to reflect this new compensation requirement and budget accordingly for maintaining regular pay during jury service.
Genetic Information Privacy Act Expanded to Biomarkers (Effective January 1, 2027)
On July 24, 2026, Governor Pritzker signed SB 2886, amending the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA). Effective January 1, 2027, the amendment expands GIPA’s protections to include biomarkers and biomarker testing.
GIPA already prohibits employers from soliciting, requiring, or purchasing genetic testing or genetic information as a condition of employment, and from using such information to affect the terms and conditions of employment. Extending those protections to biomarkers—measurable biological indicators that can reveal a person’s health status or predispositions—significantly broadens the scope of information employers may not collect or use. This matters especially for wellness programs and health screenings, which increasingly gather biomarker data.
Violations carry real teeth: liquidated damages of $2,500 per negligent violation and $15,000 per intentional or reckless violation, plus attorney’s fees.
What do businesses need to do?
Work with your benefits administrators to audit wellness programs, health screenings, and any other activities that collect biomarker data, and make sure they do not solicit or use biomarker information in ways that would violate the amended GIPA.
Expanded Protections for Volunteer Emergency Workers (Effective January 1, 2027)
On July 24, 2026, Governor Pritzker signed HB 1353, amending the Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection Act. Effective January 1, 2027, the amendment expands protections for Illinois volunteer emergency workers by prohibiting employers from:
- Discharging or otherwise penalizing employees for participating in training required for their voluntary emergency work;
- Discharging or otherwise penalizing employees who are absent or late to work because they responded to an emergency; and
- Requiring volunteer emergency workers to use vacation or other compensatory time to respond to emergencies or participate in required training.
What do businesses need to do?
Update your attendance and leave policies so that volunteer emergency workers are not penalized for absences or tardiness attributable to emergency response activities or required training.
Expanded Workplace Rights Bureau Investigatory Powers (Effective January 1, 2027)
On July 31, 2026, Governor Pritzker signed HB 4725, expanding the investigatory powers of the Workplace Rights Bureau within the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Effective January 1, 2027, the Bureau is authorized to issue subpoenas for documents, require written answers under oath to written interrogatories, inspect an employer’s premises, and conduct interviews with employees. The amendment also allows the Attorney General to obtain an administrative inspection warrant if an employer refuses an inspection and there is reasonable cause to believe an immediate investigation is necessary.
In short, Illinois intends to investigate and enforce workplace rights violations more aggressively.
What do businesses need to do?
This one is less about a single policy edit and more about readiness. Keep thorough employment records, tighten your internal compliance programs, and be prepared for the possibility of more frequent and more intrusive investigations.
Illinois Freedom to Work Act — Higher Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation Thresholds (Effective January 1, 2027)
The Illinois Freedom to Work Act (IFWA) contains pre-scheduled earnings-threshold increases that take effect January 1, 2027. Under the IFWA, an employer may not enter into a non-compete unless the employee’s actual or expected annualized earnings exceed the applicable threshold—and that threshold increases from $75,000 to $80,000 per year on January 1, 2027.
Non-solicitation agreements follow the same logic: they are void and unenforceable unless the employee’s earnings exceed the applicable threshold, which increases from $45,000 to $47,500 per year on January 1, 2027. (For planning purposes, these thresholds are scheduled to rise again on January 1, 2032, and January 1, 2037.)
Any non-compete entered into on or after January 1, 2027 with an employee earning between $75,000 and $80,000—or any non-solicit with an employee earning between $45,000 and $47,500—will be void and unenforceable under the new thresholds.
What do businesses need to do?
If you use non-compete or non-solicitation agreements, review your existing agreements and confirm that any new agreements comply with the updated thresholds as of January 1, 2027.
Civil Rights Safeguard Act — Codification of Disparate Impact Liability (Effective June 1, 2027)
On July 31, 2026, Governor Pritzker signed SB 3777, the Civil Rights Safeguard Act. Effective June 1, 2027, this amendment codifies disparate impact liability directly into the IHRA. It adds criteria or methods—including practices, policies, and groups of practices or policies—that have the effect of subjecting individuals to discrimination to the list of civil rights violations in employment.
This is a structural change. Previously, disparate impact claims in Illinois were largely governed by federal law frameworks. Now, facially neutral employment policies—such as certain testing, screening, or scheduling practices—that disproportionately affect members of a protected class may constitute a civil rights violation under the IHRA even without any proof of discriminatory intent. Liability can attach where the criteria or methods are not necessary to achieve a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest, or where a less discriminatory alternative exists.
What do businesses need to do?
Audit your employment policies, hiring criteria, and screening tools for potential disparate impact exposure before June 1, 2027. This is the most significant liability change of the year, so give it a head start.
One to Watch: AI in Employment Decisions
In June 2026, the Illinois Department of Human Rights temporarily withdrew and postponed its proposed rules on notice requirements for the use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions. The underlying IHRA amendment addressing AI in employment (HB 3773, effective January 1, 2026) remains in effect, but the specific implementing guidance is on hold. Employers using AI tools in recruitment, hiring, or promotion should continue to monitor IDHR for rescheduling and ensure compliance with the existing statutory framework in the meantime.
The Bottom Line
If there is a theme running through the 2027 changes, it is scope. Illinois is widening the circle of who is protected, broadening the ways liability can be established, and equipping the state to look harder at how employers actually operate. None of it requires a fire drill—but all of it rewards employers who move early and treat compliance as an ongoing practice rather than a year-end deadline.
The smartest approach is to work backward from the two dates that matter: January 1 for most of these rules, and June 1 for the disparate impact change that carries the greatest exposure. Pull your handbook, your job postings, your wellness programs, and your restrictive covenants onto the table now, and you turn a stack of new mandates into a manageable fall project instead of a January scramble. Employers who plan ahead rarely regret it; those who wait usually do.
If you have questions about the content of this blog or employment law needs, contact Navigant Law Group, LLC at (847) 253-8800 or email us at hello@navigantlaw.com.
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