New Employment Laws – Illinois 2024

By Laura Balson, Managing Partner, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP

It seems that Illinois is constantly making changes to the way that business owners must work with their employees. The state has become very “employee friendly” and it seems that they annually pass new laws and regulations that business owners need to consider in their ongoing policies. If you don’t implement these changes, there are often fines and penalties coming your way. But the most important thing is that you don’t need to totally revamp how you work with your employees to stay ahead of these regulations.

In order to reach compliance in the simplest way possible, it takes more than just reading a summary of the new rules and regs. I’ve found that a sharp employment attorney can not only keep you out of trouble but can show you simple changes that you can make to stay current with these new rules. I met with Laura Balson, Managing Partner of the Chicago office for Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete. She provided a fresh and current look at the new regulations for Illinois.

Top five new employment laws taking effect in IL in 2024 (with links, where available):

1. Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act: Paid Leave for All Workers Act (illinois.gov). Takes effect on January 1, 2024. Applies to all private employers in Illinois and most public employers. Guarantees all employees up to 40 hours of paid time off, for any reason, in every 12-month period. Allows for certain exceptions if an employer has an existing paid time off policy before the law goes into effect which complies with key aspects of the new law.

   Potential Penalties – An employee may file a complaint with the Department of Labor alleging violations of the Act within 3 years after the alleged violation. Liability includes damages in the form of the actual underpayment, compensatory damages, and a penalty of not less than $500 and no more than $1,000, plus reasonable attorney’s fees; reasonable expert witness fees, and other costs of the action, which shall be paid by the employer to the employee. The Department can also impose a civil penalty of $2,500 for each separate offense.

2. Illinois Family Bereavement Leave Act: Family Bereavement Leave Act (illinois.gov). Expanded the existing Child Bereavement Leave Act. Requires employers to provide up to 10 days of unpaid time off for employees to attend funerals, make arrangements or simply to grieve the death of a covered family member or a pregnancy / fertility or adoption loss. The leave is available for 60 days after the death or loss. Covered family members include an employee’s child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent.

   Potential Penalties – An employee has a right to file a complaint with the Department of Labor or in court to enforce compliance, and to seek monetary penalties for violations.

3. Transportation Benefits Program Act: 820 ILCS 63/ Transportation Benefits Program Act. (ilga.gov). Effective as of January 1, 2024. Requires employers with 50 or more employees who live within a mile of any CTA or RTA stop to provide employees the opportunity to have their monthly commuting expenses deducted from their paychecks on a pre-tax basis.

   Potential Penalties — Though the Act itself does not contain any explanation of the enforcement mechanism, employers who do not offer this benefit program could find themselves defending claims from employees seeking the value of the additional taxes that the employees had to pay as a result of the employer’s failure to provide the pre-tax program.

4. Illinois Equal Pay Act Amendments: Does not go into effect until January 1, 2025, but will require changes to all job postings, both internal and external, even when posted by third parties on an employer’s behalf. The new amendments require employers to provide the wage or salary amount or range, general descriptions of benefits and any other compensation offered for each position in the job posting. This will apply to positions that are in Illinois or positions that are fully remote but report to a supervisor, office or worksite in Illinois. If your company does not currently put pay and benefit information in job postings, this will require substantial work to be ready for when this law takes effect, especially if the final compensation offered is subject to discretion by the hiring manager or department. Publishing this information will also make it easier for existing employees to see how their pay compares to what is being offered to new hires, so we recommend doing a full internal pay audit before deciding what figures to share in these postings.

   Potential Penalties — The penalties for a job posting that violates these rules are: 1) $250 or $500 for a first offense (depending on whether the posting is still active at the time of the notice of violation); 2) $2,500 for a second offense; and 3) $10,000 for a third offense.

5. Illinois Freelance Workers Protection Act: Goes into effect on July 1, 2024. For any independent contractors who are individual people (not entities), companies must provide a written contract for the services or products that the contractor is being asked to provide. The contract must be kept on file for two years after the engagement is finished, must include names, complete contact information, itemization of all products and service and their value, the rate and method of payment, dates for payment and for invoices from the contractor, if any.

   Potential Penalties — The Act also provides that all payments to the contractor must be made within 30 days and provides contractors with the ability to file suit to recover double the amount of any underpayment, injunctive relief, costs of suit, and all reasonable attorneys’ fees.

As you can see, these new rules and regulations affect nearly every business in Illinois, and that includes you. Unless you have an attorney on staff who is steeped in Employment Law, you should be cognizant of not just how these new regulations will affect your relationships with your employees, but also put your company at risk for penalties and fines as a result of non-compliance.

Also, be aware that even though some of these regulations look like they will require a significant change in how you manage your relationship with your employees, there are ways of addressing some of these by altering your existing employee handbook, segmentation of benefits, or providing information or posting of these new rules. If you are unsure of how to get into and stay in compliance, please reach out to a knowledgeable professional.