New Illinois Employment Laws Taking Effect January 1, 2027: What Changes for Payroll and HR

Six Illinois employment laws switch on the same day as your first payroll of 2027, and a seventh follows on June 1. Every law-firm roundup will tell you what each one says. None of them will tell you which setting in your payroll system has to change before that run. This guide does both: each new law in plain language, who it covers, and what to set up in Paylocity before January 1.

At a glance: Illinois employment laws taking effect in 2027

• Paid jury duty leave (HB 4844, Public Act 104-0683): covered employers pay the regular rate for time on a jury.
• Civil Rights Safeguard Act (SB 3777, Public Act 104-0744; effective June 1, 2027): practices with a discriminatory effect violate the Illinois Human Rights Act, intent or not.
• Menopause Equity and Care Act (HB 5284, Public Act 104-0793): reasonable accommodation and a required notice for menopause-related conditions.
• Driver’s license requirements in job postings (HB 4758, Public Act 104-0776): 15+ employees; a license only when driving is essential, and the posting says why.
• Emergency responder leave (HB 1353, Public Act 104-0581): the bar widens from “terminating” to “penalizing”; no forced use of PTO.
• Attorney General Worker Protection Unit (HB 4725, Public Act 104-0676): subpoena, inspection and interview powers on wage and safety matters.
• Biomarker privacy (SB 2886, Public Act 104-0642): biomarker test results protected like genetic information under the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA).

Paylocity lists the first three in its own compliance alert, 2026 Illinois Employment Legislation Updates (August 19, 2026). The sections below go through all seven.

Illinois employment laws taking effect in 2027

Five of the seven 2027 laws reach every Illinois employer; two turn on a headcount line, and one does not start until June.

Thresholds and dates as the Public Acts state them. The right-hand line is the Paylocity task each law lands on.

LawWho it reachesEffective

Paid jury duty leave

PA 104-0683 · a paid-leave earnings code and a time-off policy

More than 25 employees

Jan 1, 2027

Civil Rights Safeguard Act

PA 104-0744 · hiring-criteria review in Recruiting

All employers

June 1, 2027

Menopause Equity and Care Act

PA 104-0793 · IDHR notice and handbook upload

All employers

Jan 1, 2027

Driver’s license in job postings

PA 104-0776 · posting templates in Recruiting

15 or more employees

Jan 1, 2027

Emergency responder leave

PA 104-0581 · a time-off reason code

All employers

Jan 1, 2027

Attorney General Worker Protection Unit

PA 104-0676 · pay-stub and register export

All employers

Jan 1, 2027

Biomarker privacy (GIPA)

PA 104-0642 · wellness and benefits data review

All employers

Jan 1, 2027

Source: Illinois General Assembly, Public Acts 104-0683, 104-0744, 104-0793, 104-0776, 104-0581, 104-0676 and 104-0642 (ilga.gov), read October 19, 2026. “Employees” counted as each Act counts them; the Jury Act does not say how.

Paid Jury Duty Leave: Regular Pay for Covered Employees

Illinois protects an employee’s job while they serve on a jury. Starting January 1, 2027, House Bill 4844, now Public Act 104-0683, adds pay. It amends the Jury Act and the Jury Commission Act. In the statute’s words, employers “shall be required to compensate an employee at their regular rate of pay for time serving on jury duty,” and “the requirements of this subsection do not apply to employers with 25 or fewer employees.”

Three things the law does not change. Employers still cannot fire, threaten or discipline an employee for responding to a summons. The notice rule stands: an employee gives “reasonable notice” by delivering a copy of the summons to the employer within 10 days of its issuance, and the Act’s protections attach once that notice is given. And the stipend the court pays a juror is the court’s money, not yours. The Act does not mention that fee, so it gives an employer no basis to reduce the pay it owes by the amount the court paid.

Employers with 25 or fewer employees are exempt, so the first question is your headcount. The Act does not say how to count employees or whether part-time staff count, so until a court or state guidance says otherwise, count everyone on payroll and treat 26 as the line.

Paid jury duty leave · Public Act 104-0683 · January 1, 2027

The new jury-duty law adds one obligation, pay, and leaves the four existing rules exactly as they were.

New

Pay at the regular rate for time serving on jury duty

The statute: employers “shall be required to compensate an employee at their regular rate of pay for time serving on jury duty.” It “does not apply to employers with 25 or fewer employees.”

Unchanged

1. Job protectionNo discharge, threat, intimidation or coercion over jury service, at any employer size.
2. NoticeThe employee delivers a copy of the summons within 10 days of its issuance.
3. The court’s feePaid by the court to the juror. The Act does not mention it, so there is no offset against the employer’s pay.
4. Leave statusTreated as furlough or leave of absence; seniority and benefit eligibility continue.

Source: Public Act 104-0683 (HB 4844), amending the Jury Act 705 ILCS 305/4.1 and the Jury Commission Act 705 ILCS 310/10.1, subsections (b), (c), (d) and (g); ilga.gov, read October 19, 2026.

One more line from the Act shapes the policy. A reinstated employee is “considered as having been on furlough or leave of absence.” They keep their seniority and stay eligible for insurance and other benefits under the employer’s leave rules, so the time should be set up as a leave of absence, not a break in service.

In Paylocity. Set up a dedicated paid-leave earnings code for jury service, separate from PTO, so the hours show on the register and the W-2 as what they are. Pair it with a time-off reason or policy that does not draw down the employee’s PTO balance. For non-exempt staff, the pay is at the regular rate, so check how the code handles shift differentials and other regular-rate components. Run a headcount report against the threshold before year-end and note the date you checked.

Civil Rights Safeguard Act: Disparate Impact Returns to the Human Rights Act

Senate Bill 3777, now Public Act 104-0744, amends the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA). It is the one law in this guide that does not start on January 1: it takes effect June 1, 2027. From that date, an employer’s practices are judged by their effect, not only their intent. The new Section 2-103.5 makes it a civil rights violation to use “criteria or methods” that have the effect of discriminating “on the basis of unlawful discrimination, citizenship status, family responsibilities, work authorization status, arrest record, or conviction record.” A practice survives only if the employer shows it is “job related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity,” and even then it fails if the complainant shows the same need “could be served by another employment practice that has a less discriminatory effect.”

This is the second hiring-criteria law in two years for Illinois employers. The amendment on artificial intelligence in employment decisions, House Bill 3773, has been in force since January 1, 2026. Together they mean every screening rule you use, automated or not, needs a reason you can state.

In Paylocity. Review your job-posting templates and screening questions in Recruiting for blanket requirements: a degree where experience would do, a clean record where the role does not require one, a schedule rule that lands hardest on caregivers. Where a requirement stays, write down why it is necessary for the role and keep that note with the posting. If you use any automated ranking or screening, confirm you can explain what it weighs.

Menopause Equity and Care Act: Accommodation and Notice

House Bill 5284, now Public Act 104-0793, adds menopause-related conditions to the Illinois Human Rights Act by folding them into the Act’s definition of pregnancy. The duties employers know from pregnancy accommodation now reach perimenopause, menopause and the conditions that come with them, which the Act lists as “vasomotor symptoms, sleep disruption, cognitive or mood changes, and osteoporosis-related changes.” An employee may request a reasonable accommodation, and the employer engages with the request. The required notice is one the Illinois Department of Human Rights prepares or approves, and it has to be posted where other employee notices go and included in the handbook.

Practically, that means two documents and one process. The notice, the handbook update, and a way for an employee to make a request that gets to the right person.

In Paylocity. Watch the Department of Human Rights’ website for the updated notice, then upload it and the revised handbook page to the employee document library and record the acknowledgment. If you track accommodation requests in a workflow or case tool today, add this category so requests are logged and dated. If you do not, this is a good reason to start, because the IHRA protects the employee who asks.

Driver’s License Requirements in Job Postings

House Bill 4758, now Public Act 104-0776, amends the Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act. An employer with “15 or more employees in the current or preceding calendar year” may not state in a job posting that an applicant must have a valid driver’s license “unless driving is one of the essential functions of the posted job and is a business necessity.” When it is, the posting has to carry “a brief description explaining why a valid driver’s license is required.”

The problem it targets is the template. “Valid driver’s license required” sits in postings for roles where no one drives, and it screens out applicants who cannot get one.

In Paylocity. Open your job-posting templates in Recruiting and search them for the license line. Remove it from roles where driving is incidental. For roles where driving is essential, keep it and add the sentence that says why. Do this before you post your first 2027 requisition, because the rule applies to the posting, not the hire.

Emergency Responder Leave: Broader Protections

House Bill 1353, now Public Act 104-0581, amends the Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection Act. Illinois already barred terminating a volunteer firefighter, EMT or other emergency worker for being absent or late because of a call. From January 1, 2027, the Act bars an employer from terminating “or penalizing” that employee, and it extends the protection to training the volunteer is required to attend. An employer may still treat the lost time as unpaid, but it “may not require the employee to take vacation time or other compensatory time” to cover it.

Employers keep two things under the Act. They may request “a written statement from the supervisor or acting supervisor of the volunteer fire department or governmental entity” confirming the response and its time and date. And the employee has a duty to “make a reasonable effort to notify” the employer when a call will make them late or absent.

In Paylocity. Add or rename a time-off reason code for emergency-responder leave so the hours are recorded without drawing from PTO. Update the leave policy text your managers see so “penalizing” is understood as the standard, not just “terminating.”

The Attorney General’s Worker Protection Unit

House Bill 4725, now Public Act 104-0676, gives the Illinois Attorney General’s Worker Protection Unit the power to issue subpoenas for documents, require written answers under oath, inspect an employer’s premises and copy the employment records kept there, and interview employees on site during working hours. Whether or not an inspector ever visits, every employer should be able to answer the question one would ask: can you produce three years of pay records for any employee, quickly, in a form someone else can read?

That question has a 2025 answer. Illinois’s pay-stub law, Public Act 103-0953, in force since January 1, 2025, requires a pay stub every pay period and a copy kept “for a period of not less than 3 years after the date of payment, regardless of whether the employee’s employment ends during this period.” The new unit is the enforcement side of the same record. The same law gives employees, current or former, the right to a copy of their pay stubs on request, and the employer has 21 calendar days to furnish them. That is the clock a records request will run on.

In Paylocity. Confirm that pay stubs carry every required element and that former employees can still get theirs through self-service or a defined request path. Run one payroll-register export for a past period and time how long it takes. If the answer is “ask someone,” fix that now.

Biomarker Privacy Under GIPA

Senate Bill 2886, now Public Act 104-0642, amends the Genetic Information Privacy Act so that biomarker testing is treated like genetic testing. An employer may not “solicit, request, require, or purchase” biomarker testing or biomarkers, or administer a biomarker test, “as a condition of employment, preemployment application, labor organization membership, or licensure.”

The likelier exposure for an HR team is a wellness program, not a hiring decision, and the Act spells out when biomarker data may be used there. The employer has to be offering health or genetic services. The employee gives written authorization. Results go only to the employee and the clinician, and the employer sees nothing but aggregate data that cannot identify anyone. The Act also bars penalizing an employee who declines to disclose biomarkers or to join a program that requires disclosure.

In Paylocity. Review any wellness or benefits integration that moves health data into your system, and confirm that nothing biomarker-shaped is stored against an employee record. If a vendor collects it, the question goes to the vendor.e.

Already in Force: Six Laws Worth Re-Checking Before January

New laws get the attention. The ones already in force are where year-end reviews find the gaps. Six Illinois laws are in effect today that a review before the first 2027 payroll should touch.

1. Pay stubs and three-year retention (Public Act 103-0953, January 1, 2025). Each stub carries the required elements; records are kept three years. In Paylocity: confirm the stub template and the retention of registers.
2. Pay transparency in job postings (Public Act 103-0539; 15 or more employees; January 1, 2025). Postings carry the pay scale and benefits. In Paylocity: the Recruiting template fields that hold them.
3. AI in employment decisions (Public Act 103-0804, January 1, 2026). Notice to employees when AI is used in hiring, promotion, discipline or other employment decisions; no discriminatory effect; no zip codes as a proxy for a protected class. In Paylocity: the same screening review as the Civil Rights Safeguard Act section above.
4. Paid lactation breaks (Public Act 104-0076, January 1, 2026). Break time to express milk is paid. In Paylocity: a paid break or earnings treatment that does not deduct the time.
5. NICU leave (Public Act 104-0259, June 1, 2026). Unpaid leave while a child is in neonatal intensive care: 10 days at employers with 16 to 50 employees, 20 days at 51 or more. In Paylocity: a leave type and policy so the absence is tracked, not improvised.
6. My Illinois Savings, formerly Illinois Secure Choice (at least 5 Illinois employees in every quarter of the prior year, in business two years or more, and no qualified retirement plan). Automatic payroll deduction into the state program. In Paylocity: the deduction code and the remittance file.

Illinois Minimum Wage: No Change for 2027

The Illinois minimum wage reached $15.00 an hour on January 1, 2025, and the statute schedules no further increase. Bills to raise it to $27 by 2032 were filed in 2026 and sent back to committee in March and June without a vote; as of October 2026 nothing is scheduled for 2027. Chicago and Cook County set their own rates and re-index them on July 1 each year. If you have employees working inside either jurisdiction, the figures that apply to your first 2027 payroll are the ones set in July 2026. Every rate, limit and wage base for 2027, with its source and announcement date, lives in our numbers guide.

What to Do Before Your First 2027 Payroll

Work the list in order of payroll impact. Everything above collapses into these steps.

October.

• Count employees against the lines that matter here. Jury duty pay: more than 25. Driver’s-license postings and pay transparency: 15 or more. NICU leave: 16 or more (10 days) and 51 or more (20 days). My Illinois Savings (Secure Choice): at least 5 in every quarter of last year, two years in business, no qualified plan. Record the count and the date.
• Pull your job-posting templates and mark every license line and every blanket requirement.

November.

• Build the jury-duty earnings code and time-off policy; add or rename the emergency-responder reason code.
• Update the handbook for menopause accommodation and upload the required notice; set up the request path.
• Rewrite the posting templates. If new hires start in January, their onboarding packets should carry the updated handbook; the Paylocity onboarding flow is where that acknowledgment is captured.

December.

• Run the pay-stub and register export test; confirm former-employee access to pay records.
• Review wellness and benefits integrations for biomarker data.
• Confirm the settings you touched. If you are not sure which Paylocity module owns one, the modules and features guide maps them.

First January payroll. Check the register for the new earnings codes and the regular-rate calculation on any jury-duty hours, then file the headcount note with your year-end records.

Summary

Six Illinois employment laws take effect on January 1, 2027: paid jury duty leave, the Menopause Equity and Care Act, driver’s-license limits in postings, emergency responder leave, the Attorney General’s Worker Protection Unit, and biomarker privacy. The Civil Rights Safeguard Act follows on June 1, 2027. Four change a payroll or Recruiting setting. Three change a document or a process. Six older laws, from pay stubs to My Illinois Savings, deserve the same year-end look. The figures for 2027 live on their own page, so this one stays current when the numbers move.

If you would rather not work the list alone, we’ll go through your earnings codes, leave policies and posting templates with you before January. Schedule a free consultation, or see how managed payroll keeps the year-end list off your desk.

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FAQ: Illinois Employment Laws 2027

Do Illinois employers have to pay employees for jury duty in 2027?

Yes, unless the employer has 25 or fewer employees; Public Act 104-0683 exempts those employers from the pay requirement. The court’s daily juror fee is a separate payment, and the Act says nothing about offsetting it against the employer’s pay. Employers at or under 25 keep the duty to protect the employee’s job and still cannot “discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate or coerce” an employee over jury service; they are not required to pay.

Which of the new Illinois laws for 2027 apply to employers with fewer than 15 employees?

Five apply regardless of size: the Civil Rights Safeguard Act, the Menopause Equity and Care Act, emergency responder leave, the Attorney General’s powers and biomarker privacy. Paid jury duty leave does not apply to “employers with 25 or fewer employees.” The driver’s-license posting rule defines an employer as one with “15 or more employees in the current or preceding calendar year.” An employer under both lines is exempt from those two.

What changed for Illinois employers in 2026, compared with 2027?

In 2026: the AI-in-employment amendment and paid lactation breaks (both January 1) and NICU leave for employers with 16 or more employees (June 1), on top of the 2025 pay-stub and pay-transparency laws. In 2027: the six January 1 laws in this guide, then the Civil Rights Safeguard Act on June 1. A year-end review covers both lists, because an auditor will.

Did the Illinois minimum wage change for 2027?

No. The state rate is $15.00 an hour, unchanged since January 1, 2025, with no increase scheduled. Chicago and Cook County adjust their own rates each July 1. The 2027 figures that do change, from the Social Security wage base to retirement limits, are in our numbers guide.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. For your specific situation, consult a qualified professional.