December 29, 2025
The following changes to Illinois employment law take effect on January 1, 2026, and apply to employers of all sizes unless otherwise noted.
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ORGAN DONOR LEAVE APPLIES TO PART-TIME EMPLOYEES
The state’s paid organ donation leave law, which applies to employers with 51 or more employees, will be expanded to cover part-time employees. During leave, employers must pay part-time employees at a rate equal to their average daily pay from the previous two months of employment.
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Action Item
Update your blood and organ donor leave policy or, if you use our Smart Employee Handbook, accept the update if you haven’t already.
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EMPLOYEE PROTECTIONS FOR CRIME RECORDINGS
Employers can’t “deprive” employees of the use of employer-issued equipment because the employee used it (or tried to use it) to record a violent crime committed against them or their family or household member. While deprive is not defined, we assume this includes taking the equipment away entirely or restricting its use (e.g., telling an employee they can no longer use the camera or video features).
Employers must also provide employees access to any digital files stored on the equipment—including photos and recordings—related to the crime and can’t take adverse action against an employee because that equipment was used to make the recordings.
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Action Item
Make sure the necessary parties (HR, managers, IT) are aware of employees’ rights and update policies if needed.
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USE OF AI IN EMPLOYMENT
Employers are required to give employees notice if they use artificial intelligence (AI) for employment purposes such as recruiting, discipline, or selection for training. The law doesn’t indicate the type or form of notice that’s required! Additionally, employers are prohibited from using AI to discriminate based on protected classes and from using ZIP codes in a way that targets protected groups (for instance, as a filter in resume screening).
The Illinois Department of Human Rights can adopt rules to further explain these requirements, but we don’t know if or when it will.
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LACTATION BREAK PAY CLARIFIED
Employers with six or more employees must compensate paid lactation breaks at an employee’s regular rate of pay. (This is how the law should have been interpreted before, but now it’s crystal clear.) The update also clarifies that employees can’t be forced to use other types of paid leave (e.g., PTO) during lactation break time.
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Action Item
Update your lactation policy if needed.
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Source: Mineral
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Throughout our membership in the Unemployment Savings Program, First Nonprofit understood our demands, community dynamics, and the importance of seamless services; that allowed us to serve our constituents better.
Because INCS advocates for the operating conditions that allow charter public schools to provide high quality public education, partnering with First Nonprofit was an easy decision. First Nonprofit’s unemployment programs provide our member schools two operating elements crucial to their ability to provide high quality public education: savings and budget certainty. Capable, committed teachers are the key to student success. By participating in the unemployment insurance savings plan, charter public schools gain peace of mind and are able to invest more money in their teachers.
It has been our sincere pleasure to maintain a strong, vibrant business partnership with First Nonprofit. We greatly admire their strong industry knowledge, technical expertise, constant professionalism, knowledgeable and dedicated staff. They are always extremely responsive, personable and provide us with the necessary guidance and recommendations on a numerous variety of employment scenarios.
NYCON members who use First Nonprofit’s programs enjoy enduring savings and improved efficiency. Our association knows that success, because from the beginning, we achieved the same great benefits. Great savings, seamless technology, and responsive service. NYCON highly recommends First Nonprofit’s remarkable unemployment solutions.
Visually Impaired Preschool Services has been a client of First Non-Profit since it was first offered as a benefit of VisionServe Alliance. We completed a thorough evaluation of cash savings to our agency before taking advantage of this wonderful benefit and it has been a very wise decision. Our experience with the processes from accounting to claims have been professional, expeditious and easy.
The Ensight Skills Center has enjoyed working with First Nonprofit for several years. We are enrolled in their Unemployment Savings Program and although we have not required a lot of intervention, there have been a few times. I know others have dealt with the same problem of unemployment fraud over the last year and in our case, a call to First Nonprofit (they actually answer their phones) cleared up the issue. They also sent us a letter to send to all our employees telling them what they needed to do to prevent this in the future and protect themselves. What a relief! Over the years if I have questions or concerns, they are happy to listen, advise and help if they can. Another BIG advantage of using First Nonprofit is that all the money that is paid into the Unemployment Savings Program lives on my balance sheet as an asset. The money continues to be Ensight’s not the governments. First Nonprofit has certainly given me peace of mind.
In addition to their money-saving purpose on behalf of nonprofit organizations like AHS, First Nonprofit’s Nonprofit Unemployment Fund streamlines the information we need to efficiently manage unemployment claims. Our relationship with NU Fund gave us access to such things as advice on planning for what’s ahead and how to analyze cost scenarios when unexpected events occurred. Both experiences were very helpful.
We have had a great experience with FNP. During Covid, when there was the chance that reimbursable nonprofits would have to pay 50% of the unemployment costs, FNP went to bat for us. We would receive weekly information on the Unemployment claim and how they were working to reduce the costs to reimbursable nonprofits. They have a great service also working with [our claims administrator] to make sure all the paperwork is completed correctly for any unemployment claim.